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Welcome to Christmas in the O. C.
"What are the songs that are included in your display?"
The music sequence is geared for all ages, from children to college students to adults to grandfolks! Brilliantly mixed by Steven Hammond, the sequence opens with Mannheim Steamroller’s “Do You Hear What I Hear?” and then flows into Destiny’s Child's “Opera of the Bells”. After this short acapella, the real excitement begins with Disney’s “Reflections of Earth” and “Believe….in Holiday Magic”. Transitioning to the final song, Steven creatively edits “Christmas Medley” by the Boston Pops to highlight the Candy Canes and the finale is “Spirit of the Season” by Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
After the introduction, which uses TSO's "Boughs of Holly" as the background music, the show runs 6 minutes long and has 12 minute breaks in between that includes holiday music as well as changing, non-sequenced static light scenes...think screensaver on your computer. If you use photos as your screensaver, for example, then you kind of get the effect we are going for. We have realized that this concept translates well to animated displays and allows visitors who are not interested in waiting for the next show a pleasing display of static lights. At no point during the scenes are all of the lights turned on - the power company would send us a Christmas card if they were!!!
These 12 minutes also allow time for traffic control - voiceovers also indicate when the next show will begin and also asks that visitors be courteous to our neighbors. We wanted to make the show magical a magical experience for everyone. With the overwhelming support we have received from so many of you, we feel that the display truly captures the spirit of the season.
"That must have taken forever to set up!"
The lights and all decorations were placed in the yard and on the house the week before Thanksgiving. As newbies, we thought that we had had budgeted plenty of time so that we could have the grand lighting ceremony the night after Thanksgiving. Many of our neighbors, friends, and family were in attendance for the lighting ceremony.
Luckily, it was not a Griswold-esque type moment, but it was no where near the grandness that we had envisioned. To our surprise, high-fives and praise was in the air which really pushed us to finish the display. In the end, it turned out to be a good thing that the grand lighting ceremony that we planned only gave them a glimpse of what was to come. They have been able to see the display evolve from that night after Thanksgiving until now.
"How can I get started doing something like this?"
We have thoroughly enjoyed this experience and welcome any questions from any of you newbies to this insane hobby...I mean, addiction. We will be more than happy to provide as much advice as we possibly can. Once the season is over, we will post instructions and tips on how we created Christmas in the O. C. We will also sprinkle in some of the obstacles that we overcame in order to create our display.
The fiirst piece of advice we can give...start tomorrow for your 2009 display!!! And, check your local chain stores for bargains on lights, garland, etc. ChristmasDisplays.net offers a very nice month by month timeline to keep you focused on your 2009 display. This timeline assumes that you already did a display for 2008 and insists that you take January off, but if you did not have a display for 2008, February is your new January! Best of luck and happy holidays.
Using D-Light controllers with Light-O-Rama software - the lights are controlled by computer. Executing the design, placement, and arrangement/build of the decorations began in January. Our first controllers were purchased in June 2008. The sequencing began soon thereafter.
If you are unfamiliar with animated lighting, the lights do not magically blink in time with the music unfortunately. Sequencing 20 seconds can sometimes take an hour or a day! The completed 2008 sequence which runs nearly 8 minutes including the introduction took about 3 months to perfect. Although we started planning our display starting back in January 2008, we didn't purchase the software until we had purchased our first controller. We thought that July-ish through November would be plenty of time to get a couple of sequences completed would be plenty of time - as it turns out, we were terribly wrong! So, instead of of having multiple decent sequences, we decided that we would dedicate our efforts into the one sequence - and, we are very pleased with the result.