What Is In Your Display?
Over 70,000 lights and many custom made pieces (Candy Cane elements, lighted arches, North poles, etc). Ryan makes a lot of stuff, which allows him to keep his “habit” going all year long.
2005 was the first year in our new house. We had our shutter lights made out of longer custom net lights. It was also our first year for Lawn Lights, which are great! Small display but people who came by to see it loved it anyway!
2006 was a big jump in terms of animation. 6 songs and tripled the number of animation channels. That provided a big “canvas” to get creative with. At first it was overwhelming but it made for a great show.
2007 was a very busy year. When we moved in to the house Ryan said the house would look perfect covered in lights across the brick. And we got it done.
2008 was the year we tripled the lights on the brickwork (added green and red strings to the multis), and a few more channels of computer control. We also did 10 songs this year. We did not do a Projects Page for 2008, because we just did not have the time!
2009 Things continued to grow in 2009. The biggest addition was the new 52 song show list! Sequencing from February through October required a lot of focus. The theme nights were a big hit with our visitors.
2010 was a big “Santa year” with a new suit, extended hours, and more audience interaction. No Project page this year. Too much work; no time to write!
2011 saw more Santa, more visitors and a few new songs. It also saw the Christmas Gazebo return after it was severely damaged in 2009. We also did our first professional Santa photo shoots for people who wanted a more polished look than the lights can provide.
2012 saw us continue to expand our Santa experience by adding several nights and some longer hours. We also added snow machines and those were a huge hit! Our oldest daughter Kierstin moved to Texas (finally!) which made our season even more special.
2013 and 2014 went along smoothly. A few songs here and there were added but for the most part we kept things status quo.
2015 we added a new 10 foot spiral tree. Adorned in green and red lights, this new element was well received and looked great with everything else
2016 was an odd year: we didn’t do a display. Ryan was simply burned out and we needed a break. It was nice to have some time just to ourselves and not have to worry about being home at certain times, keeping the Santa suit at the ready and other troubleshooting items that come up. It was just what we needed: recharging the batteries.
2017 we were back in business! We added a second spiral tree and got back to the business of creating a great display for our visitors.
2018 is a bit of a new year. We replaced ALL of the red, green and multi colored lights on the front of the house. We changed the lights on the spirals to LED (a BIG deal for us!). We moved the strobes into the spiral trees for a new effect. It’s going to be a great year!