John Farias is a very hardworking man around the holidays. Not only does he bake 600 carrot cake loaves and muffins for the neighbors and the students in his schoolteacher daughters’ classes, he also puts on elaborate yard displays at his home at 1255 Wilhelmina Rise in Kaimuki.

“My birthday is on Halloween, so I do a Halloween display then,” said Farias, 70. “Then we do a bigger one for Christmas.”

He’s been doing Christmas displays for about 20 years, first for his four daughters and now for his five grandkids and other youngsters lucky enough to stop by.

“The children see it and remark about how nice it is,” he said. “Then about six years ago, I added my first inflatable and they were really excited because it was big, and they love big.”

Farias, who is married to Hawaiian entertainer Karen Keawehawai‘i and is also her manager, said the annual tradition was inspired by the Akau family across the street, which “was always putting up decorations, ever since the ’70s — but it’s a friendly competition.”

The retired Hyatt Regency Waikiki bartender said he began the decorating challenge with a plastic Nativity scene in his front yard and white lights strung along his rain gutters. As time went on, the Nativity scene fell by the wayside, but colored lights were added to the fence surrounding his yard and wrapped around a plumeria tree.

Now there are four tall plastic candles attached to the fence fronting his home, and three artificial Christmas trees atop the garage. When the family’s pet dog, Kita, died in 2009, a kukui tree was planted on the makai side of the property as a memorial, and all-white lights adorn that tree for a “serene” effect, he said.

“A few years ago I hung large, colored balls from different trees in the yard. Red is Christmassy; purple is my daughter’s and granddaughter’s favorite color so there’s a tree for them; and then there’s a green-and-gold one for my high school — the Kaimuki Bulldogs!”

Farias estimates he uses 60 light strands in all.

Crowded into the yard are a host of lighted inflatable figures, or “balloons,” as Farias calls them, due to their propensity to fly away during high winds. There is a reindeer couple, a giant snowman, characters from the movie “Frozen,” Santa in a sleigh with reindeer, and Santa in an igloo.

“I like to surprise the family each year with a new inflatable, which I keep secret until we put it up,” Farias said.

This year’s addition is Kris Kringle piloting an “Air Santa” 747 jetliner with elves ready to take wing to deliver presents. It stretches 18 feet across his yard and is 9 feet tall.

He said he had to upgrade the entire electrical system of his house in order to handle the power load, but his holiday-season bill went down to about $24 from $400 after installing a photovoltaic solar system with custom-built electrical panels under the eaves of the house to plug into. The lights can be turned on and off via a control panel inside the house.

The inflatables cost up to $100, but as with the electricity, “cost should never be a factor during Christmas,” Farias said.

“If you’re going to be stingy, don’t do it.”

The yard decorations appear right after Thanksgiving, and it takes the whole family a day or two to set everything up.

“The kids in the neighborhood love it, the parents love it,” Farias said. “The parents thank you for doing it, but it’s a deep reward when the kids are thanking you. I enjoy it.”