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Welcome to Tallahassee LightsOnly a few more nights to see the Lights until next Christmas. We were on Fox 49 on the 22nd of December see the clip here Our 2009 display is now
up. see it nightly from 5:30 - 11:00.
Our first new song for 2009 went live December 12th.
John Lennon's - Happy Xmas (so this is Christmas)
Have you ever seen those crazy houses with all the Christmas lights and wonder what would drive someone to spend all their time setting that up? Well this site is here to document one family's quest to do just that... If you have seen the lights and enjoyed them please send us an
e-mail at
mgrosh@tallahasseelights.com 2008 Videos and songs:2008 - O Come All Ye Faithful O Holy Night By Trans Siberian Orchestra 2008 - Christmas Eve In Sarajevo by Trans Siberian Orchestra 2008 -Wizards in Winter by Trans Siberian Orchestra 2008 - Music Box Dancer by DJ Schwede 2008 - Carol of the Bells by Monique Danielle
History:Three years ago after my first son was born I noticed the simple joy he received from us driving him around looking at Christmas lights. I remember when I was a kid and what Christmas lights meant to me. They were a sign that Christmas was almost here. I have always loved Christmas lights and both my sons (and most other kids) are awed by the lights decorating a house. Last year was my first attempt to build a computer controlled light display. All the electronics were hand soldered and all the lights and display items were hand built during many months over the past two years. Last year’s show had 30,000 lights. This year’s show has over 100,000 lights and more than twice the number of electronics to control everything. Another new twist for this year is that we are involved in Tallahassee’s first reality TV show called the We Live Fit Challenge. If you would like to see our progress or find out more go to www.welivefitchallenge.com
2008 the first year:In order make this a reality in less then a year means getting started early. In December of 2007 I started doing research on how this was done. Simply put, a computer controls the music and send a signal to relays that turn on and off the lights. (read more about this in the tech section). A little research led me to places that sell complete boards that control the lights at a very steep price. This was easily out of my price range for what I wanted to do. A little more research led me to www.doityourselfchristmas.com where I met a lot of friendly people who build animated Christmas lights (among other things) as a hobby. This was exactly what I was looking for. It would be a lot more fun to build the electronics myself anyhow. By mid July I had purchased the electronics and blank boards I needed. I have spent months separating multi colored strings to build solid red, blue and green strings for use in my display. I have also had to design and build the mini trees and frames for the windows and roof to make setup and storage easy. The last couple months before thanksgiving is spent programming the music and finishing up all the assembly. Being the first year I am doing this an electrical upgrade to the house is needed to make everything safe with GFI Circuits dedicated to the lights.
Setting up the lights:When we started this adventure to build our Christmas lights display I do not think we knew what we were getting into. In the beginning I spent all my free time building the original electronics and lights. Diana gave me the freedom to play with my new hobby. Jacob was less than a year old and enjoyed watching daddy program the music on the computer. It takes over 8 hours to program a single minute of music. Gabriel was only 3 at the time and not much help when helping building and setting up the lights. This year Gabriel and Diana have both been able to help build and set up lights. Jacob too has been able to get involved, with focused direction. I take two weeks of vacation from work to set up the lights at the end of November. This year it took three weeks to get things working. If you are interested in learning more about how to build your own display and electronics or just want to help, send me an email at elf@tallahasseelights.com.
Contact us:We love to get emails from you. We have even gotten a few Christmas cards last year (the kids loved opening those). If you would like to send us an email please send it to mgrosh@tallahasseelights.com
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