The Magic House

Our neighborhood loves holidays. Especially Halloween and Christmas. Every year people put up thousands of lights which people from all over come to see. Every year we do a Christmas Eve drive through our neighborhood just to gawk and every year we have to drive by my Matthew's favorite display in our neighborhood...The Magic House...as he calls it.

The Magic House? What is a Magic House you ask?

Well, every year a couple of weeks before Christmas a family in our neighborhood start to set up their Christmas display. Now this isn't just any old display...its a very intricate computer controlled display that is timed to Christmas music which is broadcast to passerby's car radios via a low power FM transmitter. It takes this guy quite a while to put up all of the lights and let me tell you some of those lights are high! This year I saw him starting on it and it wasn't up and going until about two weeks later (and here I thought that the afternoon that I spend putting up lights was bad)! Of course once you see the number of lights he uses and all of the connections he must have to make with extensions cords you can understand the two weeks.

I won't give out his address since I don't have his permission to do so but the display is really neat. In fact I got the chance to speak to a couple of his neighbors directly across the street from his house and they really enjoy the display. In fact some of them like it so much that they have even given (unsolicited) donations (he's never asked for money) to help offset some of the costs. I don't know exactly what he's spent but I'm sure its not a cheap display and this year he's added the arches in front. I wouldn't want to see the electric bill either!

I was curious about how one might go about doing this and found a lot of information on DIY projects from google. However, it looks like he may be using a system called Light-O-Rama which you can find here http://www.lightorama.com if you're interested in doing your own display. Beware though it not for the faint of heart.

I also found a lot of controversy on the net as well about displays like these being ugly or garish. Many scrooge like homeowner associations have even forbidden them and give out fines. Can you go over board? Of course, but hey its Christmas, get a little holiday cheer will ya? Besides this gentleman is very cautious about being a good neighbor, he only runs the show from about 6 to 9 pm and after hours he has only a few of the lights on as decoration.

Around here its considered a great holiday tradition.

Thanks For the show! We'll be watching for it again next year!

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Holiday Lights
• Magic House
• Christmas Lights
• Fox Heath
• Light Show
• Light O Rama
• Light-O-Rama
• Holiday Show
• Decorations
• Decorative Lights

[seezupoopin]

I would be like that was sweet on the first day it was turned on, but would hate haveing you as a neighbor the rest of the holiday season

[SuperGrandisle]

What are those jumping lights called?

[DeStorm11]

beast i am getting me a light-o-rama soon

[skatertommy7]

theres this guy named Tim and he sets up A BUNCH OF LIGHTS AND COOL STUFF

[xdaaylightx]

This guy is my neighbor. Watching this show is just amazing.

[are92fan2]

Seen MUCH better

[VO1HAX]

Why does the Morse code stops after the first "e"?

This is going to be my first year using Light-O-Rama for my Christmas display, but it's not as extensive as I had first planned.

[DehOhIre]

Proprio kuesti kui nn c hanno un cazzo da fa eh!!

[adras44]

SUUPER!! :)

[RallyJudge]

Thanks M & m. Now I can watch it without getting cold. ;-)