The Rumor Mill is working overtime
Half fact, half rumor and half wild speculation.

The big man in red gave us a night off. We aimed the satellite dish toward Europe and the TV picked up the grand concert in front of Buckingham Palace celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Wow. The Brits sure know how to have a good time. Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Tom Jones, Paul McCartney and plenty of others were on stage and singing the oldies-but-goodies. We were mesmerized by the lights and pyrotechnics on the stage. Every now and then they would show the front of the palace that had become a giant movie screen. Pretty amazing watching the palace fall apart… at least that’s what was being projected. A few elves said all the special effects seemed pretty anemic compared to some of the Christmas displays they had seen in 2011. I dunno. I’m hoping some of you aren’t getting too carried away with how the holiday season is celebrated. As Chuck says, ‘decorators want to make lifelong memories,’ but subjecting your neighbors to ‘light abuse’ might be making the wrong kind of memories. In this old elf’s humble opinion, over-the-top decorators need to be careful of not becoming too-over-the-top and alienating the folks you live next to the rest of the year.
One would think this issue of PlanetChristmas magazine was a salute to that little company in upstate New York called Light-O-Rama. I’ve watched the company grow from nothing. It’s pretty good at breaking the rules. Where most companies seem to focus and sales and marketing hoping the products live up to expectations, Light-O-Rama focuses on engineering solid products and knows the sales will follow. Obviously the paradigm works. Great products carry the day. This North Pole elf salutes all of those LOR elves making for some very special Christmas displays.
Got a call from a sleep deprived elf last week saying Light-O-Rama was finally going to expand its really short list of ten off-the-shelf sequences. It’s about time. Word has it they combined several of the ‘World’s Best’ Christmas tune lists to decide what to add to their repertoire. I’m hoping ‘Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer’ doesn’t make it. I’m also hoping ‘Wizards in Winter’ misses the line-up. No offense to TSO, but WiW isn’t the only great holiday tune that lends itself to lights dancing to the music.
I’m hearing too many reports that Christmas vendors are getting strong-armed to attend 2013 events after losing money at those same 2012 events. I’m no capitalist, but I do know companies that keep losing money don’t stay around long. Seems word is out Christmas Expo never treated vendors like dirt, which must explain why there are always so many. I remember a big election in the USA years ago where the mantra was “it’s the economy, stupid.” Gotcha.
The same vendors longing for Christmas Expo reminded this elf they hate American presidential election years. Seems people resist buying until the election is settled. Doesn’t matter who wins. I sense opportunity. With the election on track for November 6, you better order now or you’ll be waiting in a really long line to get your stuff for this holiday season.
This article was included in the July 2012 issue of PlanetChristmas Magazine.
By Master Elf N. B. Scuttlebutt