2009

Host a mini-PLUS
Back in 2002 several PlanetChristmas enthusiasts started talking about having some sort a gathering where really serious decorators could come together, share experiences and learn from each other. From that mere glimmer of an idea sprang what we now call PLUS (PlanetChristmas Lights Up Symposium) and it is our official worldwide expo where we come together and talk all things Christmas. There’s nothing better than being around others with the same interests as you. The first PLUS was held in late July, 2003 just south of Nashville where 125 people came together and had a great time. With each succeeding…
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JUMP: Jack Up Mega Pole
For six years I had pondered an easy and safe way to lift a heavy duty, stand alone telescoping pole. Jackie (my wife) and I had demonstrated telescoping poles along with the Portable Hole at the PlanetChristmas Lights Up Symposium 2003 in Nashville. Our method of lifting a telescoping pole was to grip the heavy pole and pick it up about a foot while another person put a pin in an existing hole. This was a strenuous and somewhat hazardous task. Doing all of this while standing on a ladder certainly didn’t help. As the years went by we kept…
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LOR’s CTB16PC light controller
It’s the Light-O-Rama PlanetChristmas Light Controller Board. aka: CTB16PC You’re ready to take the big step into computerizing your lights. There are almost too many options out there to choose from today. Typically you call a vendor, tell them what you want, pay a wad of hard earned money and soon everything is delivered to your door. Hook up some extension cords, plug the controllers into your computer and you’re good to go. For a 16 channel light controller board, the list pricing ranges from to $270 to $320. Quick math shows it breaks down to about $17-$20 per channel.…
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Over The Top decorating contest winner
My wife Heather and I recently got married in July of 2007. We purchased our house and last year was the first year we decorated our home. In years past I installed lights for others and had a pretty good size display at my parent’s house. Once I had my own house, I was free to go “wild” with the Christmas Lights. We are located in Hobbs, New Mexico. This is my first year with a computerized display. This year we have 155,000 lights on 224 Light-O-Rama channels. We have voice-overs in between each song. Many of the voice-overs remind…
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Decorating inside the house
So you’ve thought about it and have decided you want to turn the INSIDE of your home into a fantasyland for Christmas. That’s wonderful! Where do I start, what can I do, do I have the right materials, and how much will it cost? All these questions and many more will come to mind once you decide to take the leap into the indoor decorating world. Be careful, decorating your home on the inside can become as addicting as creating that awe-inspiring show that you have outside. Envision your dream. What areas or rooms do you want to decorate? Some…
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Performance Art
I have been fairly busy since writing the last article for PlanetChristmas. Soon after the first article I was involved with the installation of the multi media show that runs for the summer at Cedar Point Park in Sandusky, Ohio. Next I was involved with lighting the George Strait concert for the grand opening of the new Cowboy Stadium in Arlington, Texas and on July 4th I provided part of the production for The Jonas Brothers, SheDaisy and host Glen Beck for America’s Freedom Festival in Provo, Utah. In the middle of all that I had the pleasure of spending…
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LEDs facts and fiction
When Chuck Smith asked me to put together a column for PlanetChristmas magazine that was a little more on the technical side of things I was nervous at first. Would average readers want something “more technical” or would this level of detail bore them? I agreed to give it a shot, but I wanted to present technical concepts in a way that everyone could understand. I hope I’ve achieved that goal. Let’s start off with a simple statement: LEDs will save your life. Really. They will also help you all but eliminate your electric bills, find the car keys, restore…
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How I became a pro Christmas decorator
When I sat down to write this column for PlanetChristmas magazine, I was trying to put everything that happened to me over the last four years in perspective. I went quickly from decorating my house for fun to making a living being an animation lighting professional. After thinking about my Internet video, the newspapers and press, the notoriety and everything else that happened, I realized I happened to upload the right video, at the right time and got lucky. That was just my start but there are many stories of people taking their hobby to the next level. I will…
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Take your Christmas display to the next level with DMX-512
When each of us purchased our favorite software and hardware systems to create an extreme computerized Christmas light display, we were given the opportunity to show the world, or at least the next door neighbors, our passion for Christmas decorating. We didn’t give a second thought about how the technology worked. We just loaded the software, took a controller out of the box, threw a light string on the floor and jumped in head first with the biggest ear-to-ear smile on our face since discovering presents under the Christmas tree as a kid. When Chuck Smith asked if I would…
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Is it time to blink those lights?
You’ve taken the big step away from static Christmas displays and decided to blink those lights. For starters your electric bill will be cut in half (and probably much more since the lights will no longer be all on all the time.) People who used to spend a few seconds looking at your display will now not want to leave and you’ll have to start thinking about how to handle traffic. Best of all, you now have the power of tapping into people’s emotions by matching the right music with just the right lighting effects. You’re able to tell a…
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