Getting Ready for Christmas

Yes, I know it's only October and too early to be talking about Christmas. I've always gotten annoyed at retailers putting out their Christmas wares before Halloween but not anymore. We have been decorating the outside of our home every year with more and more lights and now that we've landscaped, Bill and I are anticipating even more lights, a nativity scene and yes, sound!

Christmas is my all-time favorite Holy-day. Red and green just so happen to be my favorite complementary colors, winter is the best season for me, I love celebrating the birth of my Savior as well as lavishing that celebration on those I love.

Now we're bringing in the neighborhood. Bill and I were at Lowe's this evening with a shopping cart full of decorations for the outside of our home. The gentle lady standing in line behind us remarked about our purchase and asked if the decorations were for our front yard. When we told her they were, she asked if we, by any chance, lived near a section in our town that is called Candy Cane Lane. As a matter of fact, we do. She knew our neighborhood and couldn't wait to see what everyone was doing this year and kept thanking us for what our neighborhood does every year. What a lovely conversation we had.

We are planning on using a computer program to synchronize the lights to music. Our dear son, Nasa Nerd (aka Peter) will be programming this event and we'll be starting with a humble 32 channels for sequencing the lights.

The inspiration for our light show this year comes from Carson Williams, an electrical engineer from Mason, Ohio. He used 88 channels for sequencing 25,000 lights! He's been doing this for many years and puts just the right amount of whimsy and humor in his display. I must have watched this over and over last Christmas, and was both delighted and amazed at how he synchronized his lights with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Wizards in Winter. Enjoy!