New York City-based photographer Danelle Manthey has spent almost a decade traveling around the country photographing people with their Christmas lights. Manthey spends about an hour or more with them, after she’s already spent hours researching her subjects and setting up the shoot in advance. Her series, “Christmas USA,” was inspired by the holidays she spent with her family in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. “My family would load up the car and travel around our town looking at houses covered in lights,” Manthey says. “I’ve come to view holiday decorating as a form of American Folk Art that is constantly evolving over time. It is really quite amazing to me how all of this effort is made for a few weeks of splendor. Some people open their homes to strangers and have thousands of people strolling about.”