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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:

      My search for the first snowman

      Who made the first snowman? Who first came up with the idea of placing one snowball atop another and sticking a carrot in the top sphere? This was my quest…

      Christmas lights version 3

      For nearly a century our parents and grandparents have been hanging lights on trees, houses and yards – and, for nearly that entire time, they were just static, sans maybe…

      Not the rumor mill again?

      All this time us elves thought we were watching Mother Nature’s Northern Lights up in the sky but we’re no longer so sure. My shift is still talking about those…

      Top 10 Christmas Spirit definitions

      It’s a little too easy to get caught up in all the Christmas hype this time of year. If you were from another galaxy and landed here in the middle…

      Twas the night before Christmas, a visit from St. Nicholas

      ‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care In hopes…

      Holiday birdhouse

      Need we say more? Just in case: at Gardendecoraccents.com you will find an enchanting selection of garden fountains, garden statues, solar powered garden accents, hammocks, garden gnomes, picnic backpacks, birdhouses,…

      LEDs facts and fiction

      When Chuck Smith asked me to put together a column for PlanetChristmas magazine that was a little more on the technical side of things I was nervous at first. Would…

      Christmas Expo 2013

      As the new owners of the Christmas Expo, Joyce Perhac with ProShow, Inc. and Janice Blasko from The Abbey Group couldn’t be more excited to express their love of the…

      Indoor displays

      Let’s talk Christmas trees. I’m sure you’ve seen the pictures of Andrew Albertson’s trees. They are absolutely gorgeous, right? Let’s face it, that man knows how to decorate. Want to…

      LEDs are better?

      One of my favorite aspects of our annual Christmas display is going outside when the crowds start to gather because I really enjoy catching the expressions on spectator’s faces. Most…

      Then there are the rumors...

        More from the rumor mill

        Microsoft has determined the attention span of a human is eight seconds. Mythbusters figured out a goldfish can stay focused…

        The rumor mill again

        Government overthrows, earthquakes, tsunamis, nuclear meltdowns. What in the world is going on with everyone down south? Sounds like the…

        Here we go with the rumor mill

        This can’t be good. There’s been another data-dump onto the world from WikiLeaks. I just did a quick search for…

        The Rumor Mill is working overtime

        The big man in red gave us a night off. We aimed the satellite dish toward Europe and the TV…

        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 ends another year

        What’s the big decorating trend this year? I really hope it’s not those dress manikins shaped like Christmas trees. Creepy.…

        Rumor mill rumors

        I’m a Christmas dude. Always considered Halloween people to be way-too-weird for this normal-thinking elf. Zombie movies, haunted houses and…

        Rumor mill rumblings

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

        Rumor mill

        I have a normal eared brother that lives way down south. He’s a Christmas amateur, meaning he only thinks about…

        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

        We get satellite TV in the workshop up here at the North Pole. Ernie (the super-geeky elf: think thick glasses,…

        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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