About

Christmas Lightorama is a choreographed musical Christmas light show. The lights turn on and off with the music. There is nothing automatic about the lights. Every single time a light strand turns on or off, it was hand programmed.

How It Works

The hardware which makes it all possible is called Lightorama. It is a combination of hardware controllers and a software application that runs the hardware. Please note that this site is in no way affiliated with Lightorama the company.

The other important part is the FM transmitter. For about 150ft around my house, you can tune into 107.1FM and hear the music. The lights are synced to the music so hearing the music while watching the lights adds and important dimension to the viewing experience.

The History

Christmas Lightorama started in 2008. I got the fever after seening videos of others doing it online. I thought that given my musical and creative abilities, I could do a decent job at it. So I started it. Like most things, as time goes by, it just expands and gets much bigger and more involved than you initially thought. I hope to expand it every year. But, I have to try to keep myself in check, because if I add 16 channels every year, it will be too big for my house before I realize it.

2008 - Year 1 - 32 Channels
2009 - Year 2 - 48 Channels
2010 - Year 3 - 64 Channels

The 2009 season was the really the breakout year for Christmas Lightorama. My amazing wife (then fiance) Karyn helped me put together a huge kickoff party for family and friends. I think people must have told their friends and family. I saw probably 5 times as many cars slow down and watch the 2009 show than the 2008 show. One of the highlights for me from last year was when a party bus stopped outside to watch it a few times. I went outside to say hello. They were super friendly and Karyn and I had a beer with them. They found the video online and wanted to see it for themselves.

I have some exciting new additions in store for this year. They are additions like you've never seen before. All custom built and designed by me with the help of a special few family members that are privy to the secrets.

Why I Do It

There are many reasons I do it. Mainly, though, there are 3:

To spread the Christmas Spirit - yes Christmas. I said it. It is what I celebrate. Maybe someone that sees my lights feels a little better after seeing them.
To inspire others to put up more Christmas lights. I would be a great day for me if every house put up Christmas lights.
I really enjoy it. I like building things and creating things. This gives me a way to do that in a positive manner

Want To Do It, Too?

If anyone is considering doing a lightshow like this, I would highly encourage it. But before you take the plunge, you should be aware of a couple things. You will use more extension cords than think you will. If you have a number in your head of how many extension cords it will take, multiply that number by 1.5. This is because each strand has to be run to the central hardware unit. I'm estimating the about 95 extension cords for the 2010 show. The controllers cost money, too. So plan for a sizeable expense. Also, there is a lot of time involved. Most of the time will be spent programming your songs and running extension cords. As I said, each time a light turns on or off, it has been programmed. Before I started, I had heard different numbers about how many hours per minute of music to expect to spend programming. In my experience, I would plan on 4 hours per minute of music for your first show. Future years will be faster, because the software will have the right timing for the music. But I'd say plan on 4 hours per minute of music for a quality show.

Credits & Thanks

My amazing wife: Bless her sweet heart she puts up with all of this.
My parents: They have been extremely helpful in the party last year. My Dad has been quite helpful especially with building pieces due to experience and having much fancier tools and toys than me.
My neighboors: They put up with the lights and have never once compained to me.
God: Yes, it is cliche, but without him, would we even be hear anyway?
Every single person that has slowed down just a second to watch the show. Without people to watch the show I would lose pretty much all of my motivation.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the lightshow.