It's About Time! 

Welcome to your January 2006 edition of the PlanetChristmas newsletter!  It is published every month and covers relative topics for the Christmas decorating enthusiast.   

Recovering from Christmas 2005 

The lights are down (at least in most cases), Santa has put away the suit, crowds have disappeared and you’re exhausted.  Christmas 2005 is over but it was the best ever! 

Now is the perfect time to reflect on Christmas 2005, learn from any mistakes and start contemplating 2006.  Believe it or not, really great Christmas displays require some sort of work 12 months a year.  While things are still fresh in your mind, do the following: 

Setup a file folder called “Lessons Learned from Christmas 2005.”   

If you received any press attention, put newspaper clippings and/or any video you might have in the folder. 

If your display is still assembled, walk around with a digital camera and take pictures of anything and everything.  Burn the pictures to a CD-ROM or get them printed and put everything in the file folder.  You would be amazed how useful the pictures will be when setting up the display again. 

Now for the really hard part: get in a quiet room and create three lists titled “What I did right,” “What I did wrong” and “What I could do better.”  Nothing is too big or too small to write down.  Be really honest with yourself.  This exercise can be painful but you’ll end up focusing on the stuff really needing improvement and those items will be on the “What I did right” list for 2006. 

Here’s an example:  “My choir of blowmold angels looked too small compared to the rest of my display.”   Start searching eBay now while people are trying to generate some post-Christmas cash by dumping their holiday decorations.  During Christmas 2006, your angels will not be a problem. 

Here’s another example:  “Traffic in front of the house picked up so much the week before Christmas there were two fender benders and one fist fight.  I really didn’t like having to call the police.”  Spend the next few months redesigning your display so the maximum number of people can see it and stay in a good mood. 

Go ahead and work out a rough game plan of what needs to be done and by when with everything leading to the big reveal of your 2006 display.  Doing a little bit each month is much better than suffering through the sleepless nights in November and then not being totally satisfied with the results because you ran out of time.   I work on my new stuff during the dead of winter while watching football/basketball.  During the hottest part of the summer, I’m refurbishing light strings while sitting in air conditioned comfort and watching baseball.  Put that idle time to use! 

I used to be embarrassed to admit I was working on my Christmas display in February.  Now I take great pride in saying it and people can’t wait to see what I’ve done.  Make Christmas decorating a year-round hobby so you really shine in December!   

Tip of the Month

Our tip of the month was sent in by one of our newsletter readers that didn’t want to share their name.  Tired of all your light strings getting knotted together when you store them?  Buy gallon sized plastic bags and put one string in each bag.  Storage, counting and sorting is now a breeze. 

Is this the Year to Computerize? 

Thinking about using a computer to control your light display?  If you didn’t see the “Wizard in Winter” video of the Carson Williams home that swept the Internet and finally ended up on a nationally broadcast TV commercial, you must have been hiding during December 2005.  Carson synchronized his outdoor Christmas lights to the music of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "Wizard in Winter" (from The Lost Christmas Eve album found at http://www.trans-siberian.com/intro.html).  It was a perfect example of taking a normally static Christmas display and making it dynamic by combining light and music.  Carson has been flashing his display for years, but it’s not as hard as you think.  Now’s the time to figure out if this is something you can handle.  Start at http://www.planetchristmas.com/WhereToStart.htm.  Here’s something to remember though:  crawl, walk, run.  Start small, get comfortable and grow a little each year.  You’ll be amazed at what can be accomplished.

What’s New at PlanetChristmas?

The Worldwide Christmas Decorating Contest for 2005 winners have been announced.  Go to http://www.planetchristmas.com/WWContest2005.htm for all the details.  The judges commented to me they were very impressed with originality this year.  Watch the videos and you’ll understand why the winners walked away with the prizes.  An extra special thanks go to Bright Ideas Incorporated, Lori's Lighted D'Lites, BuyInflatables, Light-O-Rama and Christmas Done Bright for sponsoring the contest.

I had the opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes tour of the three million light Osborne display at Walt Disney World in December.  Read about it at http://www.planetchristmas.com/Osborne2005.htm

Checked the Chatroom Lately? 

As I write this newsletter, we’ve just topped 1,800 registered users in the PlanetChristmas chatroom.  Talking about a gold mine of information, this is the place!  If you haven’t found it yet, go to http://www.planetchristmas.com/talk.htm.  You can also create your very own PlanetChristmas blog as well as instant message with other enthusiasts in the PlanetChristmas community.

Help us Grow for PLUS2007! 

If you attended either of our major PlanetChristmas Lights Up Symposium (PLUS) events, you know what a great time it is.  Not only is there so much being taught by the experts, but you learn even more networking and sharing information with other enthusiasts. 

The key to success for PLUS2007 is the continued growth of the PlanetChristmas community.  Check the PlanetChristmas chatroom for the possibility of a local mini-PLUS in your area during 2006 while waiting for PLUS2007. 

Newsletter Suggestion? 

Have a suggestion for a main topic or want to write an article for a future PlanetChristmas newsletter?  Send us an email:  newsletter@planetchristmas.com!  If you know someone that really should subscribe to your newsletter, send them to http://www.planetchristmas.com/Newsletters.htm 

Next time: look forward to more Christmas decorating tips. 

Chuck Smith of PlanetChristmas