Trivia:

Recent Topics

    Freakonomics talks about Christmas Lights

    Freakonomics ‘The Economics of Everyday Things’ did an episode on Christmas lights.  About 15 minutes in you get to hear a little from Chuck Smith at PlanetChristmas. Listen to the podcast…

    So Many Santas!

    One guy, a camera, computer and too much time. John Wernega plays his music arrangement of “Jolly Old Saint Nicholas.” This video shows some of the fun, crazy things that…

    Where are Christmas Lights Made?

    Ever wonder where all the Christmas lights come from in the 21st century? My first thought was Walmart… Thanks to our friends at Christmas Designers, we can gain insight into…

    Time to fix that Christmas Light string

    The best time to fix troublesome Christmas light strings is during the off-season. Here’s a pretty good video for attacking those cheap incandescent light strings:

    We’ve made it too complicated!

    Remember chaser strings from long ago?  Wrap one of those around your Christmas tree and suddenly it had personality.  The string had a controller at the end about the size…

    PlanetChristmas way back in 2023!

    Here’s a short video (just over a minute) that shows the highlights of PlanetChristmas 2023. The last major light display at the PlanetChristmas world headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee was back…

    A Better/Cheaper RGB Pixel Matrix Solution?

    I’ve been thinking about adding some sort of pixel matrix to my Christmas display so I could do more messages, graphics and video.  A P10 RGB panel display or pixel…

    Thinking about RGB pixels?

    Back in the old days you would plug in a string of Christmas lights and they would just turn on.  Easy. Technology started getting involved about a decade ago. Think…

    Make your own wireframe for the yard

    Ready to create your own wireframes to continue the theme you have evolving in your Christmas display?  You can always go to a local welding shop but it gets expensive…

    How to fix a blow mold?

    Does your Christmas blow mold need some tender-loving care?  John Yanik created an excellent video to guide you through the process.  Check it out! Standby while we load this from…

    How do they make Christmas lights?

    So, how does the factory make a string of Christmas Lights?  It really helps to have a specialized machine and a lot of automation.  This YouTube video is a bit…

    Holiday Lights at Cheekwood Trains 2022

    What happens when you mix a giant model trains layout with Christmas lights dancing to the music?  You end up with Holiday Lights down at the TRAINS! display at Cheekwood…

    Really worth reading...

    Some of our favorite articles:

      Sequencing time savers

      Learning how to sequence the lights to music in your display can be a daunting experience. It takes a lot of time, patience, a knack for using your computer and…

      Off season in the Christmas business

      It’s that time of the year again when the earth is shifting on its axis, the days in the northern hemisphere are getting longer and the Christmas lighting off-season is…

      Made in the USA?

      That’s a question that we hear frequently and truthfully – though we’ll admit that we may get a bit tired of repeatedly answering that question – we’re not really tired…

      Music Review

      If you hear some new holiday tunes blasting from Santa’s sleigh as he hits your rooftop this Christmas Eve, you have someone to thank. Christmas with Mrs. Claus is a…

      Not the rumor mill again?

      All this time us elves thought we were watching Mother Nature’s Northern Lights up in the sky but we’re no longer so sure. My shift is still talking about those…

      Top 10 Christmas Spirit definitions

      It’s a little too easy to get caught up in all the Christmas hype this time of year. If you were from another galaxy and landed here in the middle…

      So many LED based Christmas lights

      I’m not worried. Well, maybe a little. It’s been the oddest thing. Until this year we’ve been quite self-sufficient at the North Pole. When we needed raw material to build…

      Full backstage pass

      I wrote an article entitled “A Day in the Life” for the August 2009 issue of PlanetChristmas magazine. I received emails from people who were amazed by the amount of…

      The Rumor Mill keeps grinding it out

      Santa gave us Labor Day off with one little caveat. We had to promise to return the next day ready to work around the clock until December 24. Seems the…

      Chicagoland Christmas Conference (aka: C3)

      In 2005, Carrie Sansing thought about holding a small gathering of Christmas decorators to be held at her suburban Chicago home. The event was originally intended to draw Midwesterners for…

      Then there are the rumors...

        The rumor mill

        Ahhhhh. The sound of wedding bells were recently heard in the Christmas decorating world. Our very own Melissa at Christmas…

        Rumor mill ruminations

        What an interesting summer with the war of the Christmas shows, each on the same weekend of July in Conroe,…

        The Rumor Mill has found more… rumors.

        Santa gave all the elves the afternoon off in early November so I wandered down to the well heated North…

        The Rumor Mill keeps grinding it out

        Santa gave us Labor Day off with one little caveat. We had to promise to return the next day ready…

        People like to be respected

        The other day I went out to my car and found the glove box open and the owner’s manual lying…

        The rumor mill ends another year

        What’s the big decorating trend this year? I really hope it’s not those dress manikins shaped like Christmas trees. Creepy.…

        So many LED based Christmas lights

        I’m not worried. Well, maybe a little. It’s been the oddest thing. Until this year we’ve been quite self-sufficient at…

        Marking your territory

        There’s a morgue under the house according to my wife. It’s where I store most of the Christmas decorations because…

        The Rumor Mill is working overtime

        The big man in red gave us a night off. We aimed the satellite dish toward Europe and the TV…

        Here we go with the rumor mill

        This can’t be good. There’s been another data-dump onto the world from WikiLeaks. I just did a quick search for…

        The rumor mill again

        Government overthrows, earthquakes, tsunamis, nuclear meltdowns. What in the world is going on with everyone down south? Sounds like the…

        Rumor mill rumblings

        The workshop has been buzzing about all that recent presidential excitement in the USA. We’ve never had an election here…

        Where are the forums?

        The PlanetChristmas Forums are on an extended sabbatical. 

        If you want to engage with the decorating community, head on over to our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/planetchristmas

        If you really want to see the PlanetChristmas Forums come back on-line, send an email to Chuck (chuck at planetchristmas-com.preview-domain.com)

        No matter what, remember our three rules.  We are:

        1. Positive
        2. Family Friendly
        3. Christmas-centric
        Back to top button