This is meant to be a funny/fun response to the person who left the letter below in my donation box.
I am hopeful this letter was meant as something funny, and just came off wrong.

Someone suggested that maybe this letter was written by someone who is working the late shift and can never get off in time to see the lights. If so, please contact me via the “Contact Us” page and let me know the deal, I will gladly adjust a bit.

If not, I would gladly like to encourage you to leave a direct contribution/payment that will go directly to adding more LED lights or paying for my Carbon Credits. Please just place it in a labeled envelope and leave it in the donation box.

Now to have a little fun rant to express my initial thoughts.

First, as is evident by my Gadson flag out front, I am a very independent, self reliant, hardworking person who wants nothing from anybody, and don’t considered myself entitled to a darn thing.
That said, I cannot stand when anyone takes for granted or feels entitled to the things I (or anyone else) produces, whether it be my lights or my tax dollars, and I will very quickly stop producing when I feel taken advantage off. Anyways back on point, here are a few simple facts you may consider, not that I feel the need to explain myself, but I feel like having fun.

1. This is a private show and I purposely do not live in a HOA for a reason.  Therefor I can do as I wish, and must only remember to be a good neighbor.
2. My electric bill is the absolute least of my worries, while I do run 145 amps of lights, they are being turned off alot!!! Thus my electric bill isn’t really bad at all. Only run ~30% duty cycle and PA coal is cheap compared to expensive “GREEN” non-sense. So I only pay ~200 bucks a season for electricity for the lights.
3. LEDs are SUPER expensive!!! At 14 dollars+ retail per 100 count strand, the LEDs that are new for 2011 and cover my roof would cost 450 bucks!!! It would be many thousands of dollars to replace the rest of my lights.The only reason I start adding LEDs is for the controllable RGB type and because I am running out of power. The whole “GREEN” cost saving stuff with LEDs is a farse until costs come down.
4. I won’t replace my other lights as I like the look of incandescent, I am a Griswold fan!!! But alas, I would need at least 1 more 200 amp breaker to put that many C9s on my house, and that upgrade alone would be 3K.
5. All my equipment is the DIY style, which means I put a ton of time into building my equipment myself to save money. Due to this fact, I have collected more in cash for charity, than I have spent on my show.
6. My driving concern for how long to leave the show running is my neighbors, who thankfully have been really supportive and like the show.
7. I generally do leave the show on longer during the weekends, but it just so happens that particular weekend I was out of town, and I was not going to leave it running that long without being there.
8. Finally, at the end of the season I have always ended up adding in a hundred bucks or so for the charity, just to round up.

So in summary, no, the crazy guy on the street flying a Gadson flag, with 30,000 lights sequenced to music is in no way concerned about his electric bill and this isn’t because I am spoiled rich, it because I put so so many hours into building/developing this show, the electricity cost is worth almost nothing when compared to my time.  I do this because I enjoy the work and creating something awesome to bring fun to alot of kids, and be a real life Griswold.

God Bless You and God Bless America.

And on that note: America is in desperate need of restoration, and we will only find it in our families and communities. Relying on washington, the political parties, tax dollar entitlements and central planning will only lead to ruin. If my show does anything, I hope it inspires a few young children to produce something amazing themselves.

Alright, enough of the rant, if your still reading this you probably should go have some Christmas cookies, speaking of which, I am going to go make some with my wonderful wife. I am so thankful for her.

Again, sorry for the political rant, don’t take any of this seriously, just having fun.

Merry Christmas!

2010 Halloween
[[Show as slideshow]]

Light Controller Hardware
[[Show as slideshow]]

Donation Box
[[Show as slideshow]]

Star Lift
[[Show as slideshow]]

Big Wreath
[[Show as slideshow]]

Star Mounted
[[Show as slideshow]]

Star Base
[[Show as slideshow]]

Holdman Star Finished
[[Show as slideshow]]

Making the Holdman Star
[[Show as slideshow]]

Source Code for the Vixen 2.5.0.9 Input Plug-in (C#): Droid Receiver Plug-in Source

To get your show into this app simply email lboucher26—-at—-gmail.com
(Replace —-at—- with @, did that so that robots don’t spam that address.)

Include “Christmas Light Show Finder Entry” in your Subject so I don’t overlook you.

Include in this email:
1. Your Address
2. Name of Your Show.
3. A picture of your show (854w x 480h).
4. Lat Long of your show
(Get this from google maps, zoom into your house, right click and select “Whats Here”, Copy the string that populates the search bar exactly as it appears.)
5. Description: (70 Characters or less) (Or keep it less than 30 and a Video link, aka youtube or Vimea)
5. Show Start Date:
6. Show End Date:
7. Show Start Time:
8. Show End Time:
9. Radio Station:
10. Charity:
11. Your Website:

The picture isn’t required, but highly suggested. Remember entering this data is currently a manual process and as such may take a day or two if I am out of town/busy. I will do my best to keep things up to date.

If you move or discontinue your show please email me to let me know to remove your show from the app.

This app is free, but if you like the idea and feel it helps bring some traffic to your show please consider making a small donation to keep my servers and me running strong. Thanks!

If you run your own Animated Light Show using Vixen 2.5 and want to setup your show to be controlled via an Android Smart Phone for free. At any time you can start going thru the setup process by following the Quick Setup Guide and Setup Videos below. Major Thanks the Da Man! KC for Vixen 2.5.0.9

This app is free, but if you like the idea and feel it helps bring some traffic to your show please consider making a small donation to keep my servers and me running strong. Thanks!

Download Vixen 2.5.0.9:

Vixen 2.5.0.9

Download the Droid Input Plug-in:

Droid Receiver Plug-in v1.0.6 For Vixen 2.5.0.9

Reference the Quick Setup Guide:

Quick Setup Guide

Download the setup videos for detailed instructions:

All Setup Videos

Setup Part 1 – Christmas Light Controller Overview

Setup Part 2 – Send in your Information (Quick Setup Quide has an updated list of info.)

Setup Part 3 – Initial Vixen Input Plugin Setup (Read the Quick Setup Quide for a Profile Warning!)

Setup Part 4 – Picture to Input to Channel Mapping

Setup Part 5 – Home Network Configuration

Or watch them on Youtube:

Initial Prototype:

Setup Video 1 – General Theory of Operation:

Setup Video 2 – Send in your Information:

Setup Video 3 – Initial Vixen Input Plug-in Setup:

Setup Video 4 – Picture to Input to Channel Mapping:

Setup Video 5 – Home Network Configuration:

2008 Hardware (Ugly I know.) [[Show as slideshow]]

2009 Showtime [[Show as slideshow]]

2009 Hardware (Better and More Capable!) [[Show as slideshow]]