This is where you'll see our projects for 2009...
 

January:

The big thing this month was getting everything put away and taking a breather from the excitement of the Christmas season.  I also knew I had some big ideas for the next year...

The first official Board meeting of Lone Star Holidays was held in late January and I just couldn't be more proud of this organization.  It has a friendly environment, people can learn from one another, and they're an organized bunch.  After all the work on the 2008 TCL Conroe Workshop, and then the complete dissolving of Texas Christmas Lights (in my opinion) I really wanted Lone Star Holidays to be "the place" for Texans to get together and discuss all of the aspects of holiday decorating and celebrating.  The team that is making the decisions and running the Board are just phenomenal and I couldn't be happier with how things are going.  If you're interested, check out www.LONESTARHOLIDAYS.com to learn more about the organization (and you don't have to be in Texas!).

It's not lasers: many people have asked that!  :)   This is my answer to the Roof Fan I wanted to do last year.  I'm getting old and apparently more sensible because I get more and more uneasy on my roof each year.  This can be done from the ladder, for the most part.

UPDATE:

I changed my mind on the "Double" part of this element.  I'm going to do one pyramid now, but with three colors.  Attached to the edge of the roof as planned, and then pulled up to one hook at the top center of the roof line.  This will look very cool and will be fun to animate!:

I want to play Santa on Saturday nights at the display.  I'm going to build a sleigh to sit in (and for the kids to take pictures in with Santa).  I'm thinking of something sort of like this piece:

HOLIDAY GAZEBO

I've wanted to create something that people can walk into and really be "in" the display.  We have this funky sidewalk design half-way down the side walk and I decided to make something that could go over the sidewalk diamond:

The idea is that you can walk through this, but there will be three different colors on this, much like the lights on the brick of the house.  So you'd be able to stand in the middle and see the lights move around you.

This is the side view.  Imagine this side all covered in strings of mini lights.  Definitely red and green, and either white or multi for the third color.

The shot above and below show the "hub", which is a porcupine fish attractor.  I got this from my friend Richard, who used it create a very cool star topper for his "Electric Spruce".  The final design will vary from this a little bit (depending on my decision about weight), but this gives you a good idea of what this will look like.

Below is the concept drawing of this element.  It should give you and idea of what the end result should (hopefully) look like:

If the lights are too heavy, which is a possibility, then I'm going to wrap the legs exactly like the arches and have them animated by color.  Either way, the effect will be different and something that allows the display to be interactive.  More photos coming soon...

ANIMATED SONGS FOR 2009:

I really like to sequence, and while I don't think I'm the greatest at it, I certainly think that there are much worse examples of sequenced songs.  So I decided to really take the plunge this year and have each night be themed nights of songs:

Monday: Traditional Christmas Carols
"Silent Night" by Jim Reeves
"A Christmas Festival" by Arthur Fiedler & the Boston Pops
"Keep Christmas With You" by Bob McGrath
"Christmas Don't Be Late" by Alvin & the Chipmunks
"We Wish You A Merry Christmas" by the Philadelphia Orchestra & Chorus
"Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" by Chet Atkins
"O Holy Night" by Josh Groban
"Joy to the World" by Julie Andrews

Tuesday: Trans-Siberian Orchestra/Mannheim Steamroller
"O Come All Ye Faithful/O Holy Night" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
"Good King Joy" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
"Christmas Canon Rock" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
"Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
"Hallelujah" by Mannheim Steamroller
"Fairies" by Mannheim Steamroller
"Traditions of Christmas" by Mannheim Steamroller
"Hark the Herald Trumpets Sing" by Mannheim Steamroller

Wednesday: Rock N Roll Christmas
"Christmas List" by Simple Plan
"Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight)" by the Ramones
"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" by Smash Mouth
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" by Miley Cyrus
"O Come All Ye Faithful" by Twisted Sister
"Up on the Housetop" by Jingle Punx
"Santa Claus is Coming to Town" by Bruce Springsteen

Thursday: Country Christmas
"Christmas in Dixie" by Alabama
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Garth Brooks
"Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy" by Brad Paisley
"We Three Kings" by Toby Keith
"Holly Jolly Christmas" by Faith Hill
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" by Leanne Rimes
"Deck the Halls" by sheDaisy
"Lone Star Christmas" by Lee Greenwood

Friday: Movie Night at Johnson's Christmas Corner
"20th Century Fox Fanfare" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"Star Wars" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"2001: A Space Oddesy" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"Back to the Future" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"Chariots of Fire" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"Close Encounters of the Third Kind" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"Dueling Banjos" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"Gone With the Wind" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"Jaws" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"Rocky" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"Superman" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"The Godfather" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"Overture from Annie" from the Soundtrack: Annie
"Opening to Wizard of Oz" from the Soundtrack: the Wizard of Oz

Saturday and Sunday: Christmas Mash
We'll be taking songs from all of the Christmas theme days to create a long show for people to enjoy.  Also, the following songs will be included in the "Christmas Mash":

"Believe in Holiday Magic" by Kellie Coffey
"You're a Mean One, Mr Grinch" by Boris Karloff
"The House on Christmas Street" by Judy Pancoast
"Christmas Shoes" by Newsong

This is going to be a huge undertaking but it should be amazing if I am able to get all of these songs completed.  If I do, I doubt the show will change much in the coming years.

Bubbles, Bubbles, & More Bubbles

This year will see our new Bubble Blast from American DJ:

Click here to see this thing in
action from the manufacturer!
 

Click here to see this thing
in action in our front yard!

Below is the haul of bubble solution we have in just a week,
including twenty 32 ounce bottles of Peppermint Scented
bubble solutions.  Should be a lot of fun for the kiddos!

Rachel will keep going after bubble buys (she's a pit-bull
when she gets herself on a mission... and as you can see
from the picture above, she's on a mission!)

UPDATE: We finished buying bubbles and our final count is:

22 Bottles of Peppermint Scented (704 ounces),
4 Bottles of Lemon Scented (128 ounces),
1 Bottle of Pineapple Scented (32 ounces),
4 Bottles of Cotton Candy Scented (128 ounces),
2 Bottles of Grape Scented (64 ounces),
12 Bottles of Miracle Bubbles (1452 ounces),
12 Bottles of Bubble Joy (768 ounces),

For a total of 57 bottles...
3276 ounces... or
just over TWENTY FIVE GALLONS of Bubble Juice!!

Reorganized the Garage and built new storage shelves
for all of the holiday stuff.  Pictures coming soon!

Getting ready to order the Fourth of July fireworks for this year.
Also, we've decided to hang lights (red, white & blue) in the same
way the brick lights are set up for Christmas.  We're also going
to use the Lightorama controllers (32 channels) to do a little
(non-musical) sequencing for the lights and decorations.

Here's the LOR Animation window to give you an idea:

Not much going on this month.  Working on musical sequences, staring at the stuff in the garage.  It's a very hot summer and we just don't have the motivation to do much outside.

We didn't do the big party this year and decided not to do the animation of the July fourth display because it's just a sweltering summer here.  It was nice to have some lights on the house though (red, white, and blue) and we changed the flood lights out that hit the flags for directed spotlights instead.  We did this because we didn't want the flag lighting to wash out the strings of lights.  We didn't put up either inflatable though- too hot to dig them out of the garage!

You can see the display pictures here!

Nothing new on the display (except still sequencing away, but Ryan went to the Lone Star Holidays Dallas-area workgroup at the start of the month.  The rest of the month will be taken up by planning for the Academy.  These events are a lot of fun but also a ton of work!  In the end it's all worthwhile and the Lone Star Holidays community continues to just grow and grow!

Finished up the sequencing finally and not a moment to soon for the Academy!  This year's song list is going to be massive and here is the final completed list:

Monday: Traditional Christmas Carols
"A Christmas Festival" by Arthur Fiedler & the Boston Pops
"Silent Night" by Jim Reeves
"Christmas Don't Be Late" by Alvin & the Chipmunks
"O Holy Night" by Josh Groban
"Holly Jolly Christmas" by Burl Ives
"Keep Christmas With You" by Bob McGrath
"Joy to the World" by Julie Andrews
"Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" by Chet Atkins
"We Wish You A Merry Christmas" by the Philadelphia Orchestra & Chorus

Tuesday: Trans-Siberian Orchestra/Mannheim Steamroller
"Hark the Herald Trumpets Sing" by Mannheim Steamroller
"Christmas Canon Rock" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
"Fairies" by Mannheim Steamroller
"O Come All Ye Faithful/O Holy Night" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
"Traditions of Christmas" by Mannheim Steamroller
"Good King Joy" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
"Hallelujah" by Mannheim Steamroller
"Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Wednesday: Rock N Roll Christmas
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" by Miley Cyrus
"Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight)" by the Ramones
"Jingle Bells" by the Brian Setzer Orchestra
"Christmas List" by Simple Plan
"Up on the Housetop" by Jingle Punx
"O Come All Ye Faithful" by Twisted Sister
"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" by Smash Mouth
"Santa Claus is Coming to Town" by Bruce Springsteen

Thursday: Country Christmas
"Winter Wonderland" by Brad Paisley
"Christmas in Dixie" by Alabama
"Holly Jolly Christmas" by Faith Hill
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Garth Brooks
"The Angel at the Top of my Tree" by Kenny Chesney
"Lone Star Christmas" by Lee Greenwood
"We Three Kings" by Toby Keith
"White Christmases in Houston" by Branded Duo

Friday: Movie Night at Johnson's Christmas Corner
"20th Century Fox Fanfare" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"Star Wars" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"2001: A Space Oddesy" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"Raiders of the Lost Ark" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"Chariots of Fire" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"Gone With the Wind" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"Close Encounters of the Third Kind" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"Dueling Banjos" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"Jaws" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"Rocky" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"The Godfather" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"Overture from Annie" from the Soundtrack: Annie
"Opening to Wizard of Oz" from the Soundtrack: the Wizard of Oz
"Titanic (My Heart Will Go On)" by the City of Prague Philharmonic
"Superman" by the City of Prague Philharmonic

Saturday and Sunday: Christmas Mash
We'll be taking songs from all of the Christmas theme days to create a long show for people to enjoy.  Also, the following songs will be included in the "Christmas Mash":

"Believe in Holiday Magic" by Kellie Coffey
"You're a Mean One, Mister Grinch" by Boris Karloff
"The House on Christmas Street" by Judy Pancoast
"Christmas Shoes" by Newsong

Halloween will go up but not until later in the month.  We had a major water line break in the front yard and they tore up a huge section to fix it.  We thought it was fixed but now we have the leak back again (AFTER they said they fixed it and resodded the yard!).  Never easy when things like this happen but it could be worse- could be November or December!

UPDATE:  Halloween was up for about 10 days, and as usual,
we had a lot of visitors who enjoyed the display. 

A little change this year as our littlest girls are getting older and
want to trick or treat all night, so we weren't home on Halloween
night at all (we probably won't even buy candy next year!).

We had a great time trick or treating with our friends
Rafa, Erica and Isa- Hayley dressed as "Will" (some character
from W.I.T.C.H.) and Riley was a Vampire Princess...
and Ryan went as Santa Claus, which was a huge treat for many
of the trick or treaters out that night.  Rachel said her cheeks
hurt by the end of the night because she was laughing so hard!
A very good Halloween!

Time for set up:

The Roof Pyramid is installed...

The lights on the brick are installed...

The Pathway Arches are installed...

The Holiday Gazebo is installed...

The bushes have the nets lights and strobes installed...

The shutter lights are installed...

The roof line swags are installed...

The computer is up & running, with all files ready to go...

THE SHOW IS RUNNING!
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Stop and have your photo taken with Santa
Saturdays from 7pm to 9pm (weather permitting)

Photos are free but if you're so inclined you can drop something in
our donation box to benefit Hayley's Fight against Juvenile Diabetes.