I own a lot of Christmas lights and if/when I have time in November I like to pull them out of storage and put them on display. But most of my friends and coworkers have never seen my lights in person due to geographical distance. Instead they have experienced it via pictures, which always prompts a litany of questions. So, in an effort to meet the varying levels of intellectual curiosity I assembled this really long blog post with an overabundance of information. The entirety of content presented will be of interest to only a select few individuals who find their way here. Thus it is arranged in the traditional “inverted pyramid” structure of a news story:
- HEADLINE: Pictures of last year’s display
- LEAD: Frequently asked questions
- BODY: The long backstory
- TAIL: Tedious and boring details of how it all gets put together
So scroll down and read up until your curiosity is satisfied.
Enjoy!
Curious and want more? Continue on...
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How many lights?
I don’t know, exactly. I stopped keeping track after the first year and much of the current display is lit using wash and panel lights (so does a single panel with 100 LEDs count as 1 or 100?). In terms of traditional string lights, I’d estimate 80K+ individual bulbs (+/- 25K!).
How much electricity?
Not as much as you might think. The total draw when everything was powered on in 2021 was 2,400 Watts. Lights were kept on for 8 hours after sunset at a utility cost of $0.088 per kWh, for a nightly expense of $1.69 from Thanksgiving to the first Sunday of the new year (37 nights). Do the math and our estimated incremental electrical cost was about $62.50.
How many trees?
54 were on display in 2021. That includes…
- 17 for the Roadside Array
- 4 at the Driveway Entry
- 11 in the Front Yard Array (including 4 Twig + 2 PVC)
- 5 by the Parking Pad
- 2 on the Front Porch
- 15 in the Back Yard Array
All were acquired via donation, Goodwill and/or Craigslist sales, vary in height from 4′ to 13′ and are stored without lights. On average it takes 20 minutes to fully setup a tree and have it ready for lights.
How long to set everything up?
About 4-5 weeks. I TRY to start before Halloween, but some years fall yard cleanup pushes my official start into the first week of November. Once I start, I’ll set up as long as the weather permits or thru Thanksgiving weekend—whichever comes first. I will take a few days off from work, but most of the set up is done during weeknights and weekends. It is important to note I have yet to put all of my lights out in a given year.
Does anyone help you?
Nope. Just me. It is a solo effort in terms of labor, and that is one of the primary constraints I have to factor into display design. I’m always modifying elements, implementing new storage tactics or adjusting the order of set up in an effort to be faster and more efficient with my limited time.
Do you get cold while setting up?
I don’t. I’ve figured out over the years what equipment works best at keeping me warm and comfortable. It is much more common for me to get hot and sweaty than cold and shivering while working outside.
How long to take everything down?
Not very long in terms of labor hours, but 2-3 months in total. Mostly because I have to wait for the snow to melt to reel up all the extension cords and for the ground to thaw to pull up all the artificial tree anchors. Usually, if there is a warm weekend or weekday evening, I’ll get some work in. But unlike setup, I won’t take any time off from work for put away. Thus it is most often April before everything is completely stored away.
Where do you store everything?
Multiple places. We have a mezzanine storage level in the third car stall of our garage, along with three suspended shelving units and a number of strategically placed ceiling hooks. In addition, we have two dedicated resin storage sheds for artificial trees and string lights. It amounts to a lot of tubs and red tree bags.
Do you get lots of traffic driving by at night?
Not really. We don’t promote or advertise our display in any way and our house is set back from the main county road, so there aren’t many “casual drive-by” cars who find our display by accident. There is some word of mouth and we do have a handful of “regulars” that make a point to drive out every year, but traffic is relatively sparse on most nights.
Do your neighbors complain?
Not that we are aware of or have ever heard. Neighbors will occasionally stop while I am setting up along the roadside to express compliments and thanks, plus we’ve received multiple thank you cards and some really nice cookie platters from numerous non-neighbors.
How much money have you spent building the displays?
A lot more than I originally planned, that is certain. I prefer to not share an exact amount—and I do know EXACTLY—but suffice to say you most likely paid more in cellular phone charges or home internet access fees over the last 14 years than I have on Christmas decor. And I’m also certain the amount is significantly less than what it would have cost to take up one of the other common Midwest hobbies (e.g., fishing, hunting, golfing, skiing, woodworking, season tickets, etc.).
What types of lights do you use?
Mostly GE Energy Smart Full Wave LED String Lights (M5, C5, and C6) acquired between 2010 and 2013. At the time I found them to have the best warm white and multicolor hues when compared to those of traditional incandescents. They feature faceted bulbs, are wired in parallel (so if one bulb fails the remaining lights stay lit), and utilize higher quality wire that doesn’t curl or twist, which simplifies the task of draping them around a tree and coiling them in a tub for off-season storage. Most importantly, the bulbs are fully interchangeable across strings, which enables me to build custom-colored combination strings (more on that here).
I also incorporate flood lights, wash panel lights, repurposed traffic balls (aka stoplights), and some rope lighting. I have yet to utilize any SMD 5050 RGB LED strip lights but have a bunch in stock waiting to be incorporated into several PVC-based display elements.
So you really like Christmas lights, huh?
Not really. While I certainly enjoy the holiday season, I’m more fanatical about the process than the lights themselves. For me, the attraction lies in the creative design and problem solving aspects.
Much in the same manner an architect designing a custom house for a specific build site has to take into account numerous property variables (e.g., climate, land slope, sun exposure, etc.), I similarly have to factor such variables into the design of my displays. My property isn’t a blank canvas—it is full of mature trees, sloped in a variety of directions, and includes a number of areas susceptible to high wind gusts. The average temperature while setting up during November can range from 50ºF to 20ºF, and precipitation may come in the form of rain or snow, which can make for challenging wet and muddy conditions at times and frozen solid conditions at others. And once setup is complete, everything will eventually be covered by 12-24” of snow.
Finally, I am constantly trying to build things as inexpensively as possible. Much like hypermilers obsessed with squeezing as much gas efficiency out of their vehicles as possible, I impose some strict procurement constraints and make every effort to maximize my dollars. For example, most of my string lights were acquired at 80-90% off regular price via post-Christmas sale purchases (by which I’ve depleted entire product inventories at Lowe’s—multiple times). All of my artificial trees have been obtained for free via Craigslist donations or for $1 via local Goodwills. And my favorite construction material is PVC—because it is not only versatile, but really cheap.
Ultimately, I do enjoy the glow of lights enveloping the surrounding yard, especially once it is blanketed by snow. However, it is the opportunity to design, build and implement something new dreamt up while mowing the lawn in July that gets me motivated to do the work in November.
Still reading? Let's go back in time...
ORIGINS & BACKSTORY
When I was 9 years old my parents purchased a fishing and family vacation resort on Leech Lake near Walker, MN. The lodge featured a vaulted ceiling, which enabled my father to continue his tradition of displaying a real Christmas tree of at least 10’+ in height. My father had a preference for large, oversized holiday decor, as evidenced by the giant wreath hung each year on the front of the lodge. Outside the lodge and along the driveway and roadside were numerous mature spruce trees, a select few of which would be lit up each holiday season by strands of C9 warm white incandescent bulbs. They were so bright and prominent you could see them from a half-mile away as you emerged from the wooded shoreline and drove along Trader’s Bay to the resort’s main entry. During college this proved to be a comforting sight when I returned home for holiday break.
When Kristin and I bought our first house in Eden Prairie I decorated the exterior with warm white icicle lights and a large wreath, placed strings of mini incandescents in the shrubs along the sidewalk and wrapped our lone maple tree in the front yard. It paled in comparison to the beacon of light created by my father years earlier, but it was satisfactory for us at the time.
2008-2010 = ACQUISITION
In 2008 we moved to the east side of the Twin Cities into a home located near Lake Elmo, MN. Situated on 2.5 acres the lot was filled with mature trees, including a row of six large spruce in the front yard. They went unlit that first holiday season, but I was determined to string them up the following year.
LED technology has been in use commercially since the 1960s, however they didn’t become economically viable for consumer grade holiday lighting until the early 2000s. By 2008 it was fairly evident incandescent mini lights would eventually be phased out, thus I committed to purchasing only LEDs. My first significant purchase took place after Christmas 2008 when I bought 11 spools of white 200-count M5 strings at Gerten’s, a local garden center. A few days later I went on a shopping spree in search of heavily discounted product and hit up various retailers (Ace Hardware, Walgreen’s, Sam’s Club, Menards, etc.). I spent little time evaluating quality or considering future usage; I simply bought up any LEDs I could find discounted 75% or more. I stacked all the boxes in our basement, completed an audit and created an inventory listing in Excel. Total count: 36,000+ individual bulbs across 588 strings. Impressive.
At some point during 2009 I came to the realization my frantic and overzealous purchasing had resulted in an eclectic and incongruous mix of lights: 34 different combinations of bulb size, LED color, and string type, ranging from 140-count blue 5MM icicles to 35-count red-green color changing C6 strings. In addition, I had little understanding of how many lights were needed to fully dress one large spruce tree; it turned out to be a lot more than I originally thought. Thus the 2009 holiday season came and went without hanging any lights.
In early November 2010 I took advantage of a rebate offer to buy a large lot of GE half-wave cool white and multicolor 5MM LED strings, which provided more than enough lights for “the front yard six”. However my father’s declining health while on hospice caused me to delay plans once again, and he passed away shortly after Thanksgiving. Reflection during the weeks after his funeral fostered a renewed determination to light up the yard the following holiday season. I bought more lights via after-Christmas sales, and acquired a few artificial trees for $1 each from the local Goodwill store. At that point my inventory of lights and related decor had grown too large for the basement, necessitating the construction of a mezzanine storage platform in the third car stall of our garage the following spring.
2011-2012 = EXPERIMENTATION
It was during the summer of 2011 while mowing the lawn that I started to view my yard as a canvas that could be painted with lights and framed by other natural elements. Hours of online research, Youtube viewing, and forum browsing (yes there are forums dedicated to Christmas lights) culminated in a vision for a display along the neighborhood road. In an attempt to utilize lights within my existing inventory I conceived a “snowflake wall” to be the focal point, centered between two groups of red pines and fronted by a row of artificial trees. While searching eBay for LED lights I discovered used traffic balls (aka stoplights) available for sale. Those were purchased and then retrofitted into freestanding wash lights. I purchased a 17′ orchard ladder and telescoping extension pole to reach the tops of our tallest spruce trees and took advantage of good weather to work beyond Thanksgiving weekend.
It didn’t take long for me to cast a critical eye on my creation. The snowflake wall—which consisted entirely of white lights—was much too bright. It was intended to be a backdrop element and instead it overpowered and dwarfed the three small artificial trees in front of it. In addition, the red pine clusters on either side were unevenly lit by overtly noticeable DIY wash lights. Numerous other changes were noted and planning for next season began before the start of the new year.
I acquired more artificial trees via Craigslist giveaways, retrofitted more traffic balls into ground based wash lights, designed a trunk mounted extension arm for uplighting the large ash trees along the street, and swapped out white strings on the snowflake wall posts in favor of blue to give it better definition and lower its brightness. These and other changes were incorporated into the overall design for 2012 and good weather once again enabled setup to continue beyond Thanksgiving weekend. It was a larger and more visually appealing display than the prior year, but my critical eye quickly saw opportunities for improvement and once again I found myself designing next year’s display while the current iteration was still set up.
2013-2016 = EVOLUTION
2013 started off with what would prove to be my largest acquisition of lights, purchased from five different Lowe’s stores—including a Hibbing location more than 3+ hours away that agreed to pack everything on a pallet and ship it to me. I continued to obtain more artificial trees via Goodwill and Craigslist, and started building elements for the front of our house. The snowflake wall was modified again, swapping white strings for yellow and adding a Bethlehem star that floated above. I retired cool white strings in favor of warm white and tried a new mix of color combinations on the artificial trees. An early snowfall stopped setup before Thanksgiving and I was unable to fully string up the front yard spruce trees, which had been reduced to five after one died off during the summer due to needle cast.
A perfectly lit tree for me means the individual strings are indistinguishable; that is, the tree appears to be uniformly dotted by lights as opposed to holding a series of strings. Achieving this effect is challenging on 35’+ tall spruce trees given it requires so many lights, and thus a lot of physical effort standing on an orchard ladder with a long extension pole. In addition, real trees tend to grow and get taller while I get older and shorter (that’s science), making it harder to reach the top branches in subsequent years. For these reasons, 2013 was the last year any of the front yard spruce trees were lit, and from that point forward I focused on developing “ground based” display elements.
In 2014 I grew the main roadside array to 17 trees and changed the color combinations. I also expanded the display to the west, placing an array of 13 artificial trees on my neighbors’ property. I took a year off in 2015 due to work related projects and basketball coaching duties, but came back the following year with an even larger display: 38 artificial trees across three arrays.
2017-2019 = HIATUS
Spare time was in short supply during November 2017 due to weeknight youth basketball practices and weekend tournaments. And after delaying setup due to 10+ days of bad weather, I opted to take the year off.
A year later more uncooperative weather combined with a new product launch for my employer and time spent escorting my mother to the Mayo Clinic limited me to setting up an array in the front yard and a few front of house elements.
Helping relocate my mother into a senior care facility in the fall of 2019 caused me once again to terminate most of my setup plans, with only the front of house elements coming out of storage for the holiday season.
Three straight years of minimal lights left me questioning whether to continue my hobby. I opted to wait until the following spring before making a decision, knowing if I were to sell off my lights they would command a higher price in September and October.
2020-2021 = REVELATION
Before spring arrived COVID-19 effectively shut down social activities in March of 2020, and the extra free time inside the house gave me an opportunity to reevaluate all aspects of my display—location, design, layout, order of setup, etc. Ultimately I concluded the following:
- I greatly preferred “ground bound” setup and had no interest in spending hours in the cold balancing atop my orchard ladder. Artificial tree arrays were predictable: they stayed the same height, took roughly the same amount of set up time each year, and were cheap to acquire.
- I really enjoyed having lights positioned where I could see them from INSIDE our home and had yet to display anything in our back yard despite it being conveniently close to power and storage. The main roadside array and snowflake wall were in the perfect location, but elements to the east and west were inconvenient to setup and completely invisible to us indoors.
- I waited to start set up until the fall yard work was complete in order to keep the ground clear, but there was no reason I couldn’t install trunk mounted and house related elements earlier when weather was more predictable and comfortable.
- I always found myself trying to remember where elements and components were stored or having to refigure how they assembled, which made set up take longer than estimated.
These and other revelations led to a significant redesign of my displays:
- The array previously displayed to the east of the main roadside array was relocated to the front yard and redesigned to include the PVC trees.
- The artificial trees previously displayed on my neighbors’ property to the west were repurposed for use in a newly designed array for the back yard.
- Numerous elements were redesigned and eventually rebuilt and/or reconfigured to speed set up. Most notably was the snowflake wall, which I swapped out string lights in favor of large prop snowflakes I coated with UV paint to be hung on a cargo net and lit by black lights.
- New elements were added to incorporate lights in a manner that didn’t interfere with fall yard cleanup and thus capable of setup in October. The most noticeable: 18 red pines along the driveway whose trunks got wrapped in warm white M5 strings.
- During set up in 2020 I took photos to document set up processes and storage locations, created step-by-step installation guides and relabeled every tub, bin and bag.
Unseasonably warm weather allowed for set up to continue until the second week of December. After the start of the new year I picked up more artificial trees via Goodwill and Craigslist for the back yard array and spent a weekend retrofitting them with anchor rigging.
In July 2021 I was informed by my employer of 16+ years that my department was being eliminated and I was to be granted a generous severance package. After a couple weeks of vacation, I took advantage of the extra time to finish several landscaping projects—including a new shed for back yard array tree and light storage—and then turned my attention to setting up my largest and most audacious display.
I built custom strings for the new trees in the back yard array, and assembled additional trunk mounted uplight fixtures. I replaced lights on the two PVC trees with warm white icicles to create a fountain effect, outfitted four of my wire twig trees with red and green C6 strings, and then incorporated all six trees into the front yard array. Good weather enabled set up to extend well beyond Thanksgiving, but I still failed to get all of the planned lights on display.
2022 = REFLECTION
Shortly after putting everything back in storage I committed to taking the following holiday season off. At the time I was searching for my next job and projected having little calendar availability in the fall for Christmas display setup. In September I accepted a new role, and as predicted, quickly found myself with little free time as I attempted to onboard with a new organization.
HOWEVER, I’m already making plans for next year.
Wow...you got this far?
Final details
below...
DISPLAY ELEMENTS & SETUP
For the truly bored, intellectually curious and/or pain-loving readers who have scrolled down to this point, I offer you more information on what I use and how it’s done.
String Lights
All of my strings are LED and most are wired in parallel (so if one bulb fails the rest stay lit). The vast majority of my strings are GE EnergySmart full-wave LEDs, purchase either in warm white or multicolor (Red, Green, Blue, Yellow and Pink). To achieve my desired color combinations I custom configure strings by hand—removing individual bulbs and then reseating them in required pattern. It’s tedious work, but usually done while watching a movie or a sporting event (much like knitting).
All LED Christmas lights are cycled on and off many times per second. It’s how LED technology works, and part of the reason they are more energy-efficient than incandescents. But the frequency of how often bulbs cycle on and off can vary, often referred to as either “half-wave” or “full-wave” design. The cycle speed of full-wave lights is 120 times per second and is undetectable to human eyes. The cycle speed of half-wave lights is 60 times per second, which is perceptible for many people and usually noticed as a detectable flicker. Not everyone notices it, but for those who do it can be an annoying feature that detracts from their enjoyment of LED Christmas lights. I’m one of those people.
Nearly all the LED strings I purchased when I started in 2008 and 2009 were half-wave and have since been sold, given away or discarded. Yep, that’s right: the 36,000+ lights I originally purchased over a two year period are no longer part of my display.
Artificial Tree Arrays
I discovered how easy and cheap it is to acquire artificial Christmas trees by accident, but it has become the most prominent element in my displays. And anytime I find myself in Lowes or Home Depot during November watching a young couple pushing a cart with a $300 artificial tree on it towards the check out aisle I am tempted to stop them and insist they wait 30 days and get one for free via Craigslist. But do I? Nope. I bite my tongue, for better or worse.
Artificial trees come in two branch constructions: detached and fixed (or what I call branch and hinge). Detached style trees have removable branches, whereas fixed style have branches permanently attached to the trunk and fold up or collapse like an umbrella for storage. I prefer detached because they are faster to set up (given the branches can be fanned apart from the trunk) and more compact when storing. However the majority of artificial trees sold in the last 10+ years utilize a fixed style construction.
To keep a tree standing straight and secure it to the ground I devised a custom three-point adjustable cabled anchoring system that utilizes clothesline tighteners, turnbuckles and tent stakes or ground corkscrews. I store trees individually in red canvas bags, with lights stored separately in tubs. So while my cost per tree is usually a $1 or less, my total cost jumps to $30+ after I’ve retrofitted it with rigging for outdoor use and strung it up with lights.
Uplights
I build my own uplights in a variety of styles. My oldest are ground based, PVC-framed panel lights made red and green traffic balls (aka stoplights) purchased used via eBay. I also have used red traffic balls affixed to trunk-mounted extension arms to uplight hardwood trees. The red pine clusters that frame the roadside display are lit up via trunk mounted PVC brackets with LED floodlights. All PVC components are painted flat black or stained black using Rekahoil dye to conceal them in the dark. While uplights are extremely effective at illuminating trees, they can be tedious to set up given the number of extension cords required to individually power them.
Trunk Wraps
Kristin’s favorite lights are the warm white trunk wraps on the 18 white pines along the driveway. I like them as well, especially because they are the first element set up (usually in warm weather) and are relatively quick and easy to install. I use a product call TreE-Z Wrap that provides hooks to zig-zag strings on a tree and it greatly simplifies installation and makes “unwrapping” really fast. The only problem I’ve experienced is squirrels chewing on the light strings.
Snowflake Wall
It was the first DIY element conceived and built and it has undergone multiple redesigns and iterations. It consists of four 4″ PVC towers wrapped in garland and blue C6 string lights. Each is kept straight and secured to the ground via braided cable connected to permanently installed corkscrew ground. Horizontal cross beams at the top and bottom create frames spanned and held square by 10′ x 10′ elastic cargo nets. Blue icicle lights are hung across the top beam and then large prop snowflakes are hung via paracord and clipped to the cargo net to prevent twisting and swinging in the wind. Four ground based black-light floods illuminate the UV painted snowflakes to create a subtle glowing backdrop for the roadside tree array.
House Elements
The main entry door is framed by warm white garland lights, a large wreath above and two 3′ artificial trees set up in large ceramic pots on either side. White backlit snowflakes are hung between windows and above the main garage doors. The sidewalk light pole is wrapped in garland with red and white rope lighting. Pine boughs with warm white lights are hung beneath the main garage lights.
Power Feeds
People are often surprised to learn my display is effectively powered by six extension cords, something possible only with LED lighting. I utilize photocell sensor timers to automatically switch on lights at dusk and shut them off 8 hours later (usually a little after midnight). Running extension cords used to be one of the first things I did for set up. However I changed my approach in 2020 and now use a Jackery 500W portable power supply to temporarily light display elements as needed and then run extension cords once set up is complete. This enables me to start setting up the display in October and still do late fall mowing, leaf mulching and yard cleanup into November.
Organization & Storage
It is important to note our garage is insulated and heated, thus I can comfortably work in my shop area and repair elements and prep equipment throughout set up. It also means our cars are parked outside for most of November as I most often overtake all available floor space to stage lighting tubs and tree bags. I took advantage of time made available by COVID-19 to reorganize, document and relabel all the bins and bags utilized for storage, which helped greatly in 2021.
That's it (for now)
Happy Holidays!
