Keep your eyes peeled this holiday season for the Crazy Christmas Wagon, a compact car covered in more than 200 lights and three rolls of garland.

Jay Messier began decorating his car 16 years ago after seeing a tractor-trailer with a single strand of Christmas lights. At the time, working as a pizza deliveryman, he thought how cool it would be to deck out an entire car with lights. Now the car is considered a portable “Clark Griswold house” and Messier is a “hardcore Christmas dad.”

It takes five rolls of duct tape to position the 225 lights and 77 batteries, which he has to change once a week, to keep it lit while he drives at night.

It takes a day and a half to set up the lights and garland, which spell out “Christmas” and “Hope” on either side of the car, and that’s with 16 years of practice. This year the car was finished by Thanksgiving, getting its inaugural ride that night.

Driving around in a completely lit-up car, Messier gets a lot of attention. Kids are always fascinated by the car, which can’t be missed at night. They often ask how the lights stay on, always hearing “Christmas magic.” He often gets thumbs up, screams of “merry Christmas” and a lot of appreciation from passers-by. Then last year he began to have people ask him if he was decorating his car for charity and he thought why not, using the decorated car as a promotion.

Since he started too late last year to join any official organization’s efforts, he turned to social media looking for referrals for families in need. Messier ended up “adopting” seven families, posting to Facebook what each family needed and the toys the children would appreciate.

“We really try and give each family a care package for the holidays with clothes, foods and toys,” Messier said.

Last year, all of the gift-wrapped donations were delivered on December 23. Messier even brought fresh donated pizzas to the family.

This year, Messier continued with the idea of adopting needy families during the holidays and already has committed to a dozen different families. He prefers to adopt later in the year, hopefully reaching out to those families who missed out on participating in more official programs.

He sees himself as a seasonal charity safety net for families and individuals that experience unexpected circumstances throughout the season, such as the loss of a job or a death in the family. He hopes to adopt more families this year than last.

“Because we aren’t super official, we can help out when the bad times come as a surprise,” Messier said. “We are going to help anyone we can”

Messier believes people connect with this fundraiser because it stays local. He receives referrals from the community, posts detailed lists of what each family is in need of on Facebook, drops everything off personally and on delivery night he posts updates online for everyone who donated to see.

He said, “It’s more personal than dropping some money in a bin. These are people we know.”

He says the project is still a “work in progress.” He would like to set up an event to display the car and receive donations, although he says he has already gotten a lot from people who also donated last year.

Messier said that although this started out as “simply a car with lights,” it has grown to become so much more than that. Originally, he just thought it was a cool idea to decorate his car, but now he feels a responsibility to do it every year, to add a little joy, hope and lightheartedness.

“People say my car has made their day, put a smile on their face. It is making people happy,” he said. “Even more than the charity we do, I think it’s become a beacon of hope for people.”

Messier has partnered with Boneheads Wing Bar and will be selling raffle tickets for $5 each; 100 percent of the proceeds will benefit the families in need the Crazy Christmas Wagon adopts. The winner of the raffle will receive a dinner for two at Boneheads as well as a ride in the Crazy Christmas Wagon to visit four of the most decked out houses in the area, which will take place next Sunday.

For more information, donation items or how you can help, visit Jay Messier’s Facebook page, Wicked Beautiful RI.