I figured it was time to post another update. Things are very busy now (as if they weren't before??)! This post should catch everybody up to where things stand at this point.
Several weeks ago, I ordered some book from Barnes & Noble on behalf of my brother who lives in the boonies. When that package arrived, there was an advertising flier included for ordering printed material from Vistaprint. Deep discounts and Free offers caught my attention, so I ordered 500 business cards to promote our light display. Since that time, I've received a limited time promotional offer from them for several free products. So, I'm working at deciding exactly what I want.
As I mentioned in my previous post, the LED lights arrived from LED Holiday Lighting. To save on shipping costs, William and I and one other person formed a group shipment delivered to one address. In the end, LED Holiday Lighting wound up making a number of mistakes. They shipped the other guy's lights separately to his own address; Wrong amounts were charged to credit cards;
Some light strings were mis-picked (wrong item shipped); And some strings were missing entirely from the shipment. Then we found out that Travis (of LED Holiday Lighting) was diagnosed having H1N1 (Swine) Flu. I am pleased to announce that the credit card charges have all been corrected and a shipment is scheduled to arrive
Tuesday having the corrections to the orders.
I've sorted and labeled all the lights I've received so far, identifying the string count and the string's purpose within the display.
On facebook, I have commented on several occasions my progress on building extension cords, wrapping arches and mini trees, eating peach pie, etc. Here are a few pictures of some of the finished items. All of the extension cords are done. I have one more arch (the blue one) yet to wrap.
I have four more mini trees to wrap, and the peach pie was delicious!
I started work on building the Nativity scene. 3/4" ACX Plywood is Expensive! But it is all worth it! Last night I transfered the pattern to the plywood with black graphite transfer paper and cut out the overall shapes. There's still a lot more work to do on them: more cuts to make, 420 holes to drill, lots of sanding, painting and attaching lights!
I bought the parts, and William wired up a GPI trigger interface for me. This device will trigger the synchronized start of the video elements in the show.
The light sequencing... oh, the light sequencing. At the start of this project, I chose 18 songs for the light show and declared that I was either crazy or extremely ambitious.
I am sticking to that statement! I have 3 and a half more songs to program light sequencing.
Like I said, if things weren't in high gear before, they certainly are now!
Lights have now been clipped onto the Bethlehem star and the Mega Tree-Topper star. During the clipping I discovered that one of the LEDs was missing both the light-body and lens. The LED with it's bare wires was simply soldered in the line, looking rather goofy without the molded plastic body and lens. At this point in my clipping process, I had to find a way to make it work for me. Just a week earlier, I had purchased a small pack of heat-shrink tubing for another piece of the Christmas project. So, with electrical tape, the heat-shrink tubing, and a little finesse, 
I created my own light-body which could then be clipped to the star frame and secured in place with a zip tie. I doubt anyone without knowledge of the missing lens would notice. For those that read this blog, this can be a fun challenge for you to find this unique LED when you come to see the show.
My daughter, Hannah helped me wrap the last of the arches. Blue now joins red and green. I also found a picture I took of D.O.G. "helping" me with the red arch.
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