An otherwise dark suburban street in Garden Grove is well-lit on a cold December evening by Christmas lights draped on rooftops and trees, Santa figurines greeting passersby and Rudolph’s nose shining bright.

Except for one house, where the only outdoor decor is a solitary yard sign. But through distorted glass doors, twinkling blue lights beckon.

Bill and Lily Petro have opened up their home to visitors since 2009 to showcase their sprawling holiday village and model railroad display. One year, after neighbors posted on social media, the couple hosted approximately 500 visitors who came by to revel in the decor.

“It all started with him,” said Lily Petro, gesturing toward her husband. “The very first house was the Hershey Chocolate Factory.”

Bought in 1979, that house kickstarted a collection of more than 450 pieces, including restaurants, toy stores and their latest addition, an observatory.

The village is broken into different sections: a philosopher’s corner has William Shakespeare, George Washington and Charles Darwin statues; an ode to Paris is complete with a couture house and manicured gardens; the ski slopes have working gondolas; little gnomes surround a brewery in the slice of Germany; and an intricately carved cathedral and, of course, an opera house sits in a Viennese-themed area.

A man cave — with a barber shop, Lowe’s, Home Depot and cobbler — rounds out the display.

“This is like my vision of what Christmas should be like,” said Lily Petro. “It’s not the ‘Christmas Story’ vision at all. It’s more ‘It’s A Wonderful Life.’”

And this year’s display has a first.

“We’re trying to mimic Disneyland with the fireworks,” said Bill Petro. Just like in the amusement park, Sleeping Beauty’s castle takes center stage while carousels are within arm’s reach for little visitors.

Lily Petro, a biology teacher, also set up a mini zoo. Originally, her husband placed the panda figurine alongside the polar bear in the ice zone — but that just would not do. She quickly changed that by shifting the white and black bear to a bamboo-enclosed space.

Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, pays homage to Bill Petro’s roots along with a figurine of Union Oyster House.

“We can actually see where George Washington sat, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams,” he said about one of the oldest restaurants in the U.S.

The display is complete with five operating HO railroads (referring to a popular scale of model railroads for hobbyists) on over 350 feet of track on two levels.

Bill Petro, a CFO by profession, has also engineered the tunnels with lighting. And sometimes, the trains are in sync, coming and going through the tunnels simultaneously, Lily Petro said.

Bill Petro begins work on the display in September, wiring the different model houses with thousands of lights to create a seamless working village. It’s not only lights that twinkle — bells peal, carousels turn and ice skaters glide.

And it’s all connected to one switch, Lily Petro noted. None of the wirings are visible either; they are all tucked away into footbridges built by Bill Petro.

The decor and design are Lily Petro’s forte. And last year, even though she was recovering from a battle with tongue cancer, she still set up the display.

After Christmas, each section is painstakingly broken down. The houses are stored on specially designed shelves while other parts are put away in the attic for next year.

Visitors can check out the display between 6-9 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays at the Petros’ home at 12842 Alonzo Cook St. in Garden Grove. There is no entry cost.

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