By SHEILA ANNE FEENEY Daily News Staff Writer

To some people, Christmas just ain't Christmas without a trip to see the Rockefeller Center tree or the window displays of Manhattan department stores.

Then there are those who glory in the grass-roots side of Christmas: the Con Ed wonderlands of residential facades converted into theme parks of Yuletide excess.

The "miracle mile" of Christmas lights in New York is between 10th and 12th Aves. on 84th St. in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn. Three families there have taken holiday decoration into the realm of folk art and topped it off with a healthy dose of friendly neighborhood rivalry.

There's Alfred Polizzotto (1145 84th St.), who had a mechanical designer rig 29-foot-high toy soldiers to stand guard, waving their arms. Polizzotto also has 2,000-pound horses rearing and galloping, and a quartet of dancers almost 10 feet tall pirouetting in a massive ode to "The Nutcracker Suite." Polizzotto, a real estate lawyer and cancer survivor who got seriously involved in the Christmas madness to thank God for his illness' remission, estimates that the block draws 150,000 visitors a year.

The crowds also come to the home of Lucy and Angelo Spata across the street (1152 84th St.) to marvel at the "imaginary world" of motorized dolls, miniature villages and fabled creatures that the couple has created inside. The home itself boasts 15,000 lights, armies of illuminated soldiers and choirboys, a creche and more make-believe creatures than you'll find in "Star Wars."

Down the street, Michael Caso (1062 84th St.) hired a designer to make 29 life-size characters for his front-yard diorama of the 1970 movie "Scrooge."

" 'A Christmas Carol' is my favorite Christmas movie," Caso says. The two Halloween ghouls in the guise of a skeleton and Darth Vader are not what they seem: "That's the ghost of Christmas past and Christmas future!" While Polizzotto broadcasts a wide range of Yule tunes, Caso specializes in amplifying the "Scrooge" soundtrack.

This year Polizzotto is buying 5,000 to 8,000 toys (probably Spice Girls yo-yos and Matchbox cars) for Santa Claus to give out. "Mrs. Spata's a little mad at me because I'm having Santa Claus," he says proudly. (Everyone knows the Spatas host Santa.)

Christmas Central also has become an attraction for charities, which gently solicit for causes such as Xaverian High School scholarships, the American Cancer Society and the Little Italy church St. Anthony of Padua. Caso collects for St. Jude's Hospital for Children, and says that he sometimes rakes in more than $10,000 for the charity.

Tourists, who come to gawk from as far away as Japan, turn the ordinarily sleepy residential neighborhood into a Christmas carnival. The block has become so famous that even the NYPD pitches in to control traffic.

"It's gotten so crowded, it's hard to get the emergency vehicles in," should an unfortunate event occur, says Officer Jerry Sheehan, who was there last year.

But witnessing the magic of Christmas is definitely worth the hassle. So make it worth your time: Once in Dyker Heights, make sure to check out some of the surrounding blocks. In fact, 83rd St. from 14th through 10th places second only to 84th in terms of effort and crowds.

This year, vows Polizzotto, is the last chance to see his "Nutcracker" display. "We're revamping everything for the year 2000," he says in a conspiratorial whisper. "We have top-secret plans. Next year it's going to be a blowout."

A Light Note

When: Now! Early birds flip the switch on their light gardens the day after Thanksgiving — and most homeowners keep their decorations up through the first few days of the new year, but the best viewing is in the two weeks before Christmas.

Where: Dyker Heights. Drivers should take the Belt Parkway and get off at Exit 4. Do yourself a favor and park before you get to 84th and 12th. Then walk up 84th until 10th Ave., and also take a gander at some of the lovely houses on 83rd St.

How to Get There: Take the M or B subway to 18th Ave. or the R train to the 86th St. stop. The best method of touring the festival of lights, of course, is by partymobile — renting a luxury van (cost is less than $200) and appointing a designated driver. Make sure you reserve a vehicle without tinted windows or you'll miss the whole point of the light tour.