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    We’ve made it too complicated!

    Remember chaser strings from long ago?  Wrap one of those around your Christmas tree and suddenly it had personality.  The string had a controller at the end about the size…

    PlanetChristmas is back in 2023!

    Here’s a short video (just over a minute) that shows the highlights of PlanetChristmas 2023. The last major light display at the PlanetChristmas world headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee was way…

    A Better/Cheaper RGB Pixel Matrix Solution?

    I’ve been thinking about adding some sort of pixel matrix to my Christmas display so I could do more messages, graphics and video.  A P10 RGB panel display or pixel…

    Thinking about RGB pixels?

    Back in the old days you would plug in a string of Christmas lights and they would just turn on.  Easy. Technology started getting involved about a decade ago. Think…

    Make your own wireframe for the yard

    Ready to create your own wireframes to continue the theme you have evolving in your Christmas display?  You can always go to a local welding shop but it gets expensive…

    How to fix a blow mold?

    Does your Christmas blow mold need some tender-loving care?  John Yanik created an excellent video to guide you through the process.  Check it out! Standby while we load this from…

    How do they make Christmas lights?

    So, how does the factory make a string of Christmas Lights?  It really helps to have a specialized machine and a lot of automation.  This YouTube video is a bit…

    Holiday Lights at Cheekwood Trains 2022

    What happens when you mix a giant model trains layout with Christmas lights dancing to the music?  You end up with Holiday Lights down at the TRAINS! display at Cheekwood…

    2022 Top 10 Christmas tunes list

    At PlanetChristmas we get to see a lot of Christmas displays. We also talk to music producers, programmers and radio DJs about what they think will be hot come Christmas…

    Be a good Santa

    I had the pleasure of attending the “Celebrate Santa” convention back in March of this year. There were about 400 portly gentlemen attending to trade secrets on how to be…

    The Forums are back!

    It was 1997 when the Internet was relatively new and the PlanetChristmas.com domain had just been granted. Back then you filled out a paper form, mailed it in and waited…

    TSO keeps going and going and going

    Trans-Siberian Orchestra reveals 2022 holiday tour dates and answers your burning questions by Melissa Ruggieri of USA TODAY Rare is the juggernaut as potent as Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The musical locomotive…

    Really worth reading...

    Some of our favorite articles:

      In true newbie fashion… maybe

      I have been decorating with lights for Christmas since age ten when I used a string of blue C-9 bulbs, a staple gun, Mom’s aluminum foil and a couple of…

      More Christmas village tips

      Christmas villages began during the 1700’s with the Moravians building a Putz. What’s a Putz? It’s a display featuring the nativity and tells the story though different scenes about Mary…

      Build a pixel tree

      If you haven’t figured it out yet, all the articles in this issue of PlanetChristmas Magazine have been leading us to building our own pixel based megatree. We’ll readily admit…

      Re-PLUS in Louisville

      It started out a simple enough idea back in late May. Our normal bi-annual gathering of serious Christmas decorators was not meant to be in this challenging economy. Instead, the…

      Inflatables!

      So you want to make more of an impression with the neighbors, as if 10,000+ lights dancing to music controlled by your computer isn’t enough. Consider adding inflatables to your…

      A ‘Lure’ of Lights

      Two years ago, downtown Hayward, Wisconsin was anything but exciting during the holiday season. Main Street was lifeless and the merchants were complaining because no one was shopping. You could…

      Indoor decorating

      It’s getting really close to setup time. I’ve been working on my indoor display since the middle of September. The trees are up and in place, but not completely decorated…

      Santaland

      Santaland opened for the first time 25 years ago in Madison, MN, a small rural town in west central Minnesota. Inclement weather moved the original Santaland from the frigid cold…

      Over The Top!

      PlanetChristmas started it all with the original Worldwide Decorating Contest and never imagined the number of incredible Christmas displays there were out there.  When the 2008 judges saw the first…

      Indoor decorating with a flair

      DIY Room Transformations We get tons of questions from our customers when they are preparing to order. From how many lights to put on their Christmas tree to which ornament…

      Then there are the rumors...

        The rumor mill never stops

        Been hearing some weird rumors from participants in the 2014 version of ABC’s Great Christmas Light Fight. Decorating started sometime…

        The Rumor Mill has found more… rumors.

        Santa gave all the elves the afternoon off in early November so I wandered down to the well heated North…

        Rumor mill rumblings

        The workshop has been buzzing about all that recent presidential excitement in the USA. We’ve never had an election here…

        The rumor mill

        Ahhhhh. The sound of wedding bells were recently heard in the Christmas decorating world. Our very own Melissa at Christmas…

        The Grinch again

        Mrs. Grinch conned me into watching “Invasion of the Christmas Lights” on some cable channel last weekend. What is wrong…

        The Rumor Mill

        LEDs Light Emitting Diodes. Let me get this straight. These things are suppose to save the world. They last forever,…

        The Grinch hates flying

        The Grinch made it to re-PLUS in Louisville on August 1. It wasn’t the first time I’ve gone to one…

        So many LED based Christmas lights

        I’m not worried. Well, maybe a little. It’s been the oddest thing. Until this year we’ve been quite self-sufficient at…

        The rumor mill

        I dragged my wife to the last performance of the Trans Siberian Orchestra 2009 concert tour. Jiminy Christmas! I’ve never…

        Marking your territory

        There’s a morgue under the house according to my wife. It’s where I store most of the Christmas decorations because…

        The rumor mill grinds on

        When Santa isn’t looking we sneak off to the elf lounge and surf the Internet so we can keep up…

        People like to be respected

        The other day I went out to my car and found the glove box open and the owner’s manual lying…

        Where are the forums?

        The PlanetChristmas Forums are on an extended sabbatical. 

        If you want to engage with the decorating community, head on over to our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/planetchristmas

        If you really want to see the PlanetChristmas Forums come back on-line, send an email to Chuck (chuck at planetchristmas.com)

        No matter what, remember our three rules.  We are:

        1. Positive
        2. Family Friendly
        3. Christmas-centric
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