2010

Already planning for this season
Are you ready for the 2010 holiday season? I know I’m excited and it’s only a month until I start decorating the inside of our home. Besides, here in Texas it has been too darn hot to work outside. We’ve been at 99 or higher since May and humidity-temps have been well over 105 for weeks. I have been reworking many of my frames but in the comfort of the cool air conditioning. As usual, I have been on the hunt for additions to the display this year and have been pretty successful. I found several new animated figures from…
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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 a good ear for music. Chances are if you dance like a rock, you’ll have a difficult time starting from scratch but that doesn’t mean all is lost. The newest versions of the Light-O-Rama S2 sequencing software have put some very powerful tools in the hands of every sequencer out there, including the newbie. Now it just becomes your task to quickly figure out how to best use all of…
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Too many blowmolds?
Over the years many of us have seen this question asked over and over in the PlanetChristmas blow mold forum: “How many blow molds do you have?” It’s a funny thing, but it seems that a lot of enthusiasts/displayers/collectors cannot answer this simple question. I know I can’t. Blow molds have a tendency to multiply over time. Ask any enthusiast on the forum. I recently saw a signature line that read “Blow molds are like potato chips, you can’t have just one.” This is so true! Once the plastic bug bites you, it doesn’t like to let go. Before you…
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The rumor mill
I dragged my wife to the last performance of the Trans Siberian Orchestra 2009 concert tour. Jiminy Christmas! I’ve never seen so many stage lights, lasers, light curtains and flame throwers so amazingly choreographed to the music. On occasion I could even see one of the band members on the stage through the haze. My wife was worn out after the first tune but TSO didn’t get to Wizards in Winter until two hours later. They say you can never get too much of a good thing. Idunno. My overly large ears are still hurting from that in-your-face sound system.…
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Getting into synchronized lighting
Over-the-top decorators with computerized displays are constantly being asked “How did you do that?” When we answer “I spent three weeks setting up everything in the yard and another three weeks hunched over a computer getting the timing just right…” most people are impressed and intimidated at the same time. More and more budding decorators want to shift from a static display to a dynamic show by adding music and making the lights dance in sequence to the beat. It’s not as tough as you might think but you do need to commit major time to learn the basics on…
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A view from the UK
For 2009 in the UK there were more Christmas displays than ever. It was estimated that approximately one house in four had some sort of decoration and in some streets it was more like one in two. That may not sound like much but when you realise that in parts of the UK Christmas had been banned for over 400 years then it makes the whole thing all the more remarkable. Christmas banned for four hundred years… It doesn’t seem possible. Yet it is perfectly true. During the reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries, Christmas became an ordinary day…
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GFCIs
We all love to drive around and look at Christmas lights. We compare, critique and gather new ideas (aka: copying someone else’s) while commenting on everyone’s design, but as soon as it rains, what happens? Everything goes dark. What causes it? A protection we electricians call GFCI (Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupters) is a must for your safety when around a Christmas display. A ground-fault occurs when there is a break in the low-resistance grounding path from a tool or electrical system. The electrical current may then take an alternative path to the ground through the user, resulting in serious injuries or…
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Extreme Christmas lighting?
The immediate thought that comes to my mind concerning the trends in extreme Christmas decorating is that everyone who can scrape together a few more discretionary dollars in 2010 will be grabbing those Washington’s and throwing them into that bottomless money pit previously known as their front yard. We’re going to need more mini-strands, LEDs, lighted wire frames, extension cables, cube taps, controllers, plastic hangers, electrical tape, time in front of a computer (yuk) and endless hours in the front yard assuming positions that man is not intended to assume. As a result, there will be a lot less time…
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Christmas pain
Stupidity could be broadly defined as being ignorant, refusing to learn from past experiences on account of ego and in an informal sense as not being alert both physically as well as mentally. Why do I give you this definition? Well… I was asked by my friend Tim if I would help him decorate four medium sized trees at the church we both attended. I was done decorating my display so I said “Sure.” We were to meet that night at 7:00. That afternoon, I packed all the Christmas lights and cords in my car. Later, several people came over…
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Starting a Christmas business
In the last three editions of PlanetChristmas magazine, I’ve written about sequencing a display for others, planning your own large scale display and a behind the scenes look at two large commercial displays. This month I’d like to take the column in a slightly different direction by sharing with you why I started a Christmas lighting business and how I balance a start-up opportunity with a full time job. Ask twenty owners of small businesses why they started and you are likely to get twenty different answers. Most will say they wanted to control their own fate or they had…
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