All the lights and accessories are now down and put away, thanks to our friend Jim, who came over from St. Louis to help, and son Brett, who was in town from Raleigh due to his grandmother’s serious illness.

For those who didn’t, or weren’t able to stop and see this year’s display, and those out-of-town, we have videos to share with you. In some you’ll notice that the HD is off. Click on that to see the video in a larger, HD, version. You can also see a larger version in SD by clicking on the video name directly below it. Here is the introduction by our three elves, Jingle, Jangle & Elf Judy:

2008 Christmas Lights Display – Introduction from Tim Dorr on Vimeo.

That was followed by The Holidays Are Coming performed by Melanie Thornton. This may be a familiar song because it was used in the Coke commercials with modifications.

2008 Christmas Lights Display – The Holidays Are Coming from Tim Dorr on Vimeo.

Jingle is excited about the holidays coming, and we move to Wonderful Christmas Time, with music performed by Sir Paul McCartney.

2008 Christmas Lights Display – Wonderful Christmas Time from Tim Dorr on Vimeo.

Jangle asks Jingle the name of her favorite Christmas song. “Why Jingle Bells, of course” she replies. This comes from the Elf movie soundtrack and is sung by Jim Reeves.

2008 Christmas Lights Display – Jingle Bells from Tim Dorr on Vimeo.

While Jangle likes Jingle Bells, his favorite Christmas song is Carol of the Bells. This is a mix of four different interpretations, performed by David Foster, Mannheim Steamroller, Johnny Mathis, and Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

2008 Christmas Lights Display – Song Four from Tim Dorr on Vimeo.

We get another joke from Jingle and Jangle,and then segue into We Need a Little Christmas performed by the Ray Conniff Singers.

2008 Christmas Lights Display – Need A Little Christmas from Tim Dorr on Vimeo.

The boss, Santa Claus in this situation, joins the elves to sing White Christmas.

2008 Christmas Lights Display – White Christmas from Tim Dorr on Vimeo.

We did a voice over that never made it to the light of day, but after the song, Jingle says, “We sounded pretty good, but he’s no Bing Crosby.” Which leads us to the last song of the night, We Wish you a Merry Christmas. We also get our last elf joke of the night before the elves wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

2008 Christmas Lights Display – We Wish You A Merry Christmas from Tim Dorr on Vimeo.

So that was our 2008 Christmas Lights Display. I hope those who stopped to see it enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed you all watching it live. Now it’s on to the 2009 Christmas Lights Display. Plans are well underway. We’ll have some new features, more lights, and the elves will be back. More on that later.

And one last item. Take a look in the upper left hand corner of the home page. A countdown to the lights going on Thanksgiving night at 6PM has been added. There is a lot to do between now and then on the Christmas display, let alone a first time Halloween sound and lights display.

Again, we’re sorry for any incovenience if you drove by last night and found a dark front yard. We’ve got to find out a way to minimize this problem, but not sure what the solution is at this point.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

We also have been written up on another webpage, http://www.kansastravel.org/kansascitychristmasdisplays.htm, which lists known displays of significance in the Johnson County Kansas area.  Check it out and stop by the other displays with family and friends.

If you’re wondering about the heading, this year has been a real challenge to keep the lights on. The LEDs that I purchased for the mega tree and the two front oak trees were meant for a static display and not one that produces an animated show where the lights are on/off, and fade in and out. I bought them from the same source as the ones from last year, which worked very well, but the source used a new vendor in China. Evidently the QC wasn’t the best. The result is that I’ve replaced around 40 strings of lights, and that task is very difficult when working on the mega tree.  On top of that, its been very cold, and I find that I need the dexterity of bare hands to do the switch out. The good news is that I can turn all of the lights in for replacements with 2009 lights that, I’m assured, will have been thoroughly tested while being driven by animated light controllers.

So every night I cross my fingers that everything will be working properly. Especially the week of Christmas as it is anticipated that we will have a lot of people stopping to enjoy the show. I would be very disappointed to have people stop and they weren’t able to see the show as planned.

I’m also working on video of the show. I did some shooting last week, but cars kept getting in the way. So Friday morning, I was out front at 7:15am to shoot video. Unfortunately I didn’t time the sunrise properly because it got light early than anticipated. I’ve decided I need to be shooting at 6:30am instead. However, the temperature has been just above 0ºF the last couple of morning, so I’ve passed. Don’t want to turn into a popsicle  three days before Christmas. I’ll get it accomplished and uploaded as soon as everything comes together.

Sorry again for any inconvenience, but sometime it’s hard to fight mother nature.

If you came by the house Saturday night to see the Christmas Lights Display and you either saw the lights acting erratically, or off completely, we’re sorry that you weren’t able to see the show. When it rains, some of the connections get wet which trip the GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) that powers all of the controllers and thus the lights. The whole purpose is to shut off power to an outlet when a wet condition is detected by the circuit, thus eliminating the possibility of someone getting a severe shock, or worse, electrocution.

This has happened the past two years and I’ve taken steps to reduce the possibility of a tripped GFCI, but somewhere in a couple of circuits, those steps weren’t enough. Thus the show shut down. I’ll work on it tomorrow and hopefully find the problem, fix it, and the show will be up and running again. But before you stop by, please check the website for updated information.

Again, I apologize for this happening, but it is better to have the GFCI trip than to have someone killed.

Then during the testing phase, some of the lights wouldn’t come on. Find out you actually need to plug them into the controller. Who would have thought?

So how about some statistics?

30,863 lights including 14,400 on the mega tree

When all the lights are on, the display draws 62 amps

5,000 feet of extension cords

Eleven 16-channel Light-O-Rama controllers

335 hours devoted to this year’s display, not including research on the Internet at the various Christmas websites, or running around town for supplies.

On Tuesday, November 25, we had our annual preview show for the neighbors. What a great night. Cool but calm. Our neighbors across the street, Sean and Ann Marie, had a firepit going, and after the show, the kids roasted marshmellows. Things went well, but I spotted some things that needed tweaking. I’ll probably see more things as the days roll by.
And last night, Thanksgiving night, the show kicked off for the rest of the world at 6pm. We had two cars there at 6 to see it. Here is a picture of the display with all lights on:

So for those in the KC area, we look forward to having you stop by.

7909 Fontana
Prairie Village, KS
6-10:30pm through New Year’s Eve

Tune your car radio to 91.1FM to “Listen To The Lights”

Thanks for everyone’s support, and we hope you enjoy this year’s Christmas LIghts Display. I’ll be posting video as soon as possible for those outside of the area.

We’ve also spent about 15 hours this weekend getting more of the lights up. All of the grounded lights are strung, and the frames to display our elves are up on the roof, held down with tube sand that weighs 60# per tube. I did have help from neighbors across the street, Rick and his son Andrew. And the three elves were here too.

From left to right, Jingle (Taylor), Elf Judy (Brooke) and Jangle (Fisher). Fisher has quite an arm as he was able to throw a tennis ball with a string tied through it up over the high tree limbs so we could string our grounded lights. Couldn’t have done it without him.

It has also turned cold. Yesterday never made it out of the 30’s and a good wind, so wind chill was down around freezing. And no sun. Today we did get better weather with highs in low 40s, calm and sunny.

We’ve also had people stop to say hello and tell us how they enjoyed our past shows and are looking forward to this year’s display. That’s what it’s all about. Joy and memories.

We had beautiful weather, sunny with a high in the low 70’s. And with just a little over three weeks to go before the lights shine out, I need to take advantage of every good day I can get. In fact, later this week it is suppose to rain with highs in the low 50’s. So for the next couple of days, the lights will continue to go up.

But there is still more to do behind the scenes. I’m about 95% done sequencing the sixth song, We Need a Little Christmas by the Ray Conniff Singers, so that leaves two to go. The next is White Christmas, which will be a challenge because this is the song the elves sing. Getting their mouths to move with the words has been trying, but I think the final product will be worth it. Hope it is for everyone who sees the show, too. And I’ve only got two voice overs to go, so when the weather is yucky, or it’s dark outside, sequencing is the name of the game.

We also went out shopping today. Got a lot of Halloween props for next year. We’re going to do a Halloween light show over at daughter Tracy’s home, so today was a good day to get Halloween bargins. But we also picked up some Christmas lights supplies. One being tube sand. I need to weigh down the frames that will hold the elves (see post 2008-2 below) so thought tube sand would do the trick. Waterproof and heavy. 60 lbs heavy. It was enough loading them into and out of the car, but to get them up on the roof should be a real challenge. May have to call on some of the younger neighbors.

Also things change in the display set-up. As I stand out in the front yard imagining what things will look like, things change. When I start to plan on how things are going to go up, things change. And when things actually go up, things change. But that’s the fun of it. And I’m sure that once I see the show in living color, instead of on a computer screen, some of the songs will have to have a little sequence tweaking.

Check back for updates as we move to the lights on Thanksgiving night.

I’ve also started to sequence the elves, Jingle, Jangle, and Judy. Takes a little different technique, but it looks good on the computer. I’m going to do a real test with the actual “elves” to see what it looks like live.

Time keeps clicking by with only 42 days before the lights go on. And the plan is to start putting up the display sometime shortly after November 1. At least I’ve got a little more time this year than last. Also a lot will depend on the weather.

 79 DAYS FROM NOW

I’ve tried to keep track of the time working on this year’s display and as of last night at 10:55, I’ve recorded 133 hours. Time flies when you’re having fun.

And during that time, I’ve completed cannibalizing a perfectly good computer ATX power supply to run the LOR (Light-O-Rama) DC Controller that in turn will turn on and off the MR16 LEDs that will be used as wall wash color. Then all of the elves have been completed. Here is Elf Judy and her voice, Brooke.

We’ve (Mary and me) have put together the 38 MR16 LEDs in their holders, which are plastic champagne glasses. It will be interesting to see them lit up outside.

So now the biggest task ahead is sequencing the remaining six songs plus the nine voice overs for our elves. Stay tuned.

]]> http://www.frontdorr.com/2008/09/09/christmas-lights-2008-5/feed/ 0