Very cool addition!!!! We now accept donations via text message. To make a donation text paws, followed by a space and the donation amount to 27138.
If you'd like to learn more about this great organization, follow this link. Please consider making a contribution this year - it will be put to great use!
Updates are moving back to the update page. Announcements will still be made here, but day to day posting and updates will be relocated.
November 26, 2011 Part 2 - What did you just say?
One of my favorite parts of running the light show is meeting the people who stop by. Tonight I met some visitors from Franklin, TN, from Ohio, and from Greece. The very gracious visitor from Greece said, "Thank you for what you are doing." Often I get wrapped up in all the technical details associated with the show, and it's easy to lose sight of what is is we're doing at Lipton Lights.
In the countless hours working on the technical aspects of the show this year, I don't know that I thought very much about what this little light show meant, who watched, or who may benefit from slowing down and watching and listening. If you are a Christian, perhaps some of the show will give you a moment to reflect on what the season is about. If you're worn down from the busy shopping, parties, and seasonal commitments, perhaps it will give you just a moment of peace. Whatever your background, hopefully the show means something special to you. If none of the above applies, hopefully it's some entertainment for your friends and family.
I've visited with more people this year who told me that in the short 4 years of Lipton Lights history, this show has become a part of their family tradition. For some, it's coming by with family and loved ones after a Thanksgiving meal or a day of shopping. Sometimes it's the children asking, "Can we go see the lights, Dad? Is it time?" My personal favorite tonight was, "How do they DO that? Is it magic? Ethan, how do they DO THAT?" Both parents and especially children tonight made me realize that it's not about the show. It's about a feeling - a blip in time that you get to spend with those you love dearly. There's nothing magical about the number of lights, computer running the show, or the LED technology. The magic comes from spending time with loved ones this time of year.
You won't remember all the parties or shopping or even gifts given or received in 2, 5, or 10 years. Honestly, those things aren't important. Take a moment to do something with your family that truly matters - that you will remember for years to come. For me, it's spending time not just with my wife, but with the visitors to Lipton Lights who share a little about why they come and what the show means to them. Those are the things I'll remember for years to come.
Merry Christmas, if a bit early, from Lipton Lights!
Alan and Miriam
November 26, 2011 - THE LIGHTS ARE ON!!!!
The show is up and running!! We had our first "successful" night November 25. There are still a couple of things I'd like to change about the show, but I don't know that any visitors will notice. Most of the issues encountered have been a result of the complexity of the sequencing. The sequences, when loaded for playback, crashed the playback software. To resolve this, we've removed a lot of the complexity out of the show.
We are working with the software developer in an effort to see if we can get the more complex sequences to run, however, the show looks as good as it's ever looked in my opinion. The new hardware is performing very well so far (fingers crossed), and after working out the last couple of glitches tonight, the scheduler software has been running beautifully!!
I added a late night sequence for visitors who come by after the show ends. There's not a lot to see, but a couple of songs play queitly with some very, very slow, dim light movement. We've had some people in the past who really wanted to see the lights, but due to work hours, etc. they could not. I'm hoping this small change will allow them to see some aspect of the display while keeping the neighbors happy!
Lastly, I've had a request to add one song from the past back into the mix. I'm going to monitor the playback software before making any changes to the show. The last thing I want to do is to disrupt the success of tonight with additional changes. I'll post here if the additional song gets added.
One more lastly... I've had a lot of questions about the windows. I'll add some pictures of how the window lights are constructed for the curious ones.
I'm off to bed - it's almost 3:00 AM, and there's some work to be done on some of the lights. The rabbits were hard on my electrical wires between Halloween and Thanksgiving. I've got 8 or 9 wires or light strands to replace. I guess rabbits need copper in their diet??
November 24, 2011
Show UPDATE - The show will NOT BE RUNNING TODAY, 11/24/2011. Last night while testing, we encountered some significant technical issues that prevent the show from running due to the complexity of the display this year. Starting last night, we began redoing the entire show to remove many of the complex transitions and sequences. I am HOPEFUL that the show will be running tomorrow night, 11/25/2011, but check the site before coming out.
I'm very sorry for the delay, and I assure you we're working as fast as humanly possible to get the show and cheer flowing like it should!
November 15, 2011
I've had many emails and many quesitons about the show for this year. There WILL be a show, but I've simply been too busy to even start to reply to the kind emails! Here are some updates for you!
1.) We've moved to an entirely new piece of sequencing software this year. While this gives us some amazing new functionality, the learning curve has been steep and not without it's bumps along the way.
2.) We've added some pretty cutting edge RGB "nodes" to the show. A typical strand of Christmas lights contain one simple circuit and one color that is painted on each bulb. The new nodes contain red, green, and blue elements in every bulb. This means the strands of lights can become any color in the rainbow!
3.) Most Christmas lights act as one unit. When connected to a dimmer as we use in our shows, the entire strand acts as one element with all of the bulbs having the same intensity. With the new strands, we can tell bulb number 4 to be at 50% brightness while bulb 5 is at 70% brightness. Additionally, bulb 4 can be blue and bulb 5 can be white!
4.) By being able to control every bulb along the roofline, arches, and in our new window panels, the complexity of the show has increased almost 20 fold!
5.) Our Arches have been re-designed to use the new color nodes. We've added a cover over the arches to help diffuse the lights and provide a little more smooth light output.
We have some new songs this year as well. In fact, we're creating an entirely new show this year due to the resequencing required by the new lights. Here are a couple of the top songs to be completed. If not all of them are complete by the beginning of the show, we'll add more throughout the season.
1.) Do You Hear What I Hear?, Anthem Lights, The Essential Christmas Collection
2.) All Creation Sing (Joy to the World), Seth Condrey, North Point Christmas
3.) Go Tell It On the Mountain, Seabird, Over the Hills and Everywhere
November 14, 2011
2011 Tentative Schedule:
Lights On! 11/24/2011 Thanksgiving Night
Lights Off! 1/2/2012
We had a successful test / demo last night - found a couple of open issues, but were about to sort them out today (11/28/2010). Everything appears to be ready for launch tonight! I've already seen many cars driving by, some wondering why the lights weren't on already. They will have seen the decorations, lights, and wires in the yard and hopefully will be back to see the display in action!
Due to popular demand, we've brought back several of the songs from last year, retired a couple, and added 3 new songs. The new songs are:
O Holy Night - Barlow Girl - O Holy Night - Single
Hot Chocolate - Tom Hanks - The Polar Express Soundtrack
Fireflies - Owl City - Ocean Eyes
The schedule for the 2010 show has now been posted! Our official kickoff will be the Sunday after Thanksgiving (November 28, 2010). There's still a LOT of work to do for the show, but hopefully everything will fall into place by showtime!
New! HD Videos added from 2009! Head on over and check it out in all the HD glory!
We've added the first videos of the 2009 season as well as a video of our electric meter overlay to the Wizards in Winter show. That being said, it's tough to get the full effect of the show in a video - it's just so much better in person! The first videos are in standard definition, but we are planning on adding all videos in HD in the coming weeks. You can also follow the links on the left to learn more about our show and some of the elements we've created to give our show something special.
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Those of you in the Nashville area know the winds we've had lately. During the winds this morning (December 9), our MegaTree lost the battle against the gusts. By 4:00 PM we had the lift in place, and by 6:30 the show was running again. To those who came by between 5:00 and 6:30, I hope you make it back to see the show! Read about the damage in the
Updates section!
October 8, 2009
We will be moving our site updates to the blog link on the left. This will be a little easier for us to make quick updates while things are hectic.
October 6, 2009
Major website re-design. We also registered the family name, Sielbeck.us. You can get to this site by either liptonlights.com or sielbeck.us. When time permits, I will be adding some information about the history of the Sielbeck name. For now, most of the time will be spent updating the site with Christmas 2009 setup information.
October 3, 2009
Outdoor work has begun for the 2009 show. We have added over 60,000 lights to the show this year, over 180 control circuits, and 26 electrical circuits. The scheduled show dates are from November 28, 2009 - January 5, 2010. The show hours are 5:00 PM - 10:00 PM Sunday - Thursday and 5:00 PM - 11:00 PM Friday and Saturday.
September 26, 2009
Given the larger scale of the 2009 display, we have started work on the Tune To sign. This sign is at the edge of our property and informs the viewers of the radio station broadcasting the show music. We decided that we would create a backlit sign that was 28"x30" in size.
Check it out!
September 12, 2009
Purchased supplies for the MegaTree. The MegaTree will be a large 17' tall tree with vertical strands of Christmas lights. Essentially the tree is a long piece of electrical conduit with some PVC fittings and Christmas strands running from the base to the top. For the star, I will be creating a wire frame that is wrapped in rope light.
August 29, 2009
Work begins on the star on top of the home this weekend. Take a
look and see what you think!
August 15, 2009
Due to the increased electrical usage during the 2009 show, we will need to upgrade the
electrical panels in our home. Specifically, we will be adding 2 sub-panels in the garage. This will allow us to mobilize remote power stations and eliminate some of the outside electrical cords.
Follow the links for more indepth photos.
August 10, 2009
Learned a few fellow
PC folks will be featured on TLCs Invasion of the Christmas Lights. Very cool stuff indeed!
July 8, 2009
Received 11 new controllers. These are the control boxes that are required to turn the lights on and off, fade, shimmer, and twinkle. With the boxes in hand, the majority of the purchases are complete.
May 18, 2009
Received approximately 40,000 Christmas lights for the show today. Most of this came from other PlanetChristmas members who had purchased more lights than they needed. It feels good to get the lights in hand. This thing might actually happen!
May 9, 2009
Today we are starting on the pegboard window lights. These will be placed in all of the windows that run along the front and side of the house. As you can see, a major architectural feature of our home is window placement, and we wanted to enhance the appearance of the lighted windows for the 2009 display. You can find photos of the project
here.
April 25, 2009
The first song is complete! Overall I'm very happy with the progress we've made thus far. We have also solidified the plans for 2009. We will be adding 11 controllers to the 2 controllers we used for 2008. We will be jumping from 32 channels to 208 channels in 2009. Lastly, we will be adding over 50,000 lights to the 2009 display! We're already excited about the 2009 show, but we know lots of work is ahead!
February 7, 2009
Show music selection for 2009 has begun. It's very strange listening to Christmas music before Valentine's day. It seems for an interesting musical selection, you need a song that's not overly played, one that has a dramatic difference in mood, and one that isn't too long. Most of the music will need to be trimmed down and modified so it runs about 2-3 minutes.
January 3, 2009
The lights are now off for the year. Thanks to all who stopped by to share some time with us. We look forward to seeing everyone next year, and hope you'll add our home to your regular Christmas stops.