When I was young I developed a fascination with Christmas lights, like most young kids do. However while others' interest in Christmas lights faded, mine never did. Oh yeah, I was one of those kids that would hang Christmas lights in summer, discreetly of course! Little did I know that later in life I would get to live out a dream that combines my youthful imagination, creativity and of course my love for the holidays!
We moved to Reno in 2001 after twelve beautiful years at Lake Tahoe. We were very excited about our new home and neighborhood. It was a wonderful experience meeting new friends. I couldn't ask for better neighbors, they are truly a blessing! We discovered Chase and Nadine were on the same page when it came to Christmas and in 2004 we started combining our efforts on decorative light displays. What a wonderful way of sharing Christmas joy. We connected our homes with a sleigh and reindeer for the first two seasons. Each season grew by adding a little more to our displays. It definitely made for a relationship and camaraderie that was filled with Christmas enthusiasm! A little before Christmas 2005 while surfing the web I saw the Carson Williams' display Wizards in Winter on You Tube. That was the first time I had ever seen Christmas lights synchronized to music. It was also the first time I had ever heard of the Trans Siberian Orchestra, and WOW! I loved that song, and in 2008 when they performed in Reno we had to go! It was a fantastic experience and I can't wait to see them again – they are that amazing. My hat is off to Carson Williams for incorporating their music to his lights. I told Chase about it and he could see how excited I was. I'm not 100% sure if I infected him with my "Lights" fever or if he had always had it. In any case, he started doing some research and found out where to buy the software and controllers. YEAH!!! High fives were in order not to mention a lot of cash! From that moment our show started and Lights of Tanea was born.
The first year we started programming in September and we ended up with seven songs. Chase and Nadine have a wonderful knack for knowing what Christmas songs would work well and so they picked out most of our selections. I loved what they came up with!
Like most ventures it's probably a good thing we didn't know how hard those first songs would be. We never realized the HUGE amount of time it would take to program a song. We ended up programming up to the last minute and kept adjusting during the show. Even though I have never logged my time in programming any of our songs, I have read that the average song takes up to 40 hours; let's just say I believe it! After the programming we still had to hang the Christmas lights. A little overwhelmed, we each started with two controller boxes (for lights geeks like me that may be reading this, this gave us 32 separate channels) and on my house alone I used over 4,000 feet of extension cords. I had to install additional outdoor circuits to keep up with the extra amps needed. I've always been a jack of all trades and master of none, which definitely has helped on this project. I ended up having to learn quite a bit of computer skills to work my way through a light program of this magnitude. I am self-taught and found the computer fun with all the daily challenges it presented, AND STILL DOES!
Chase came up with the idea of fundraising for charity and chose Evelyn Mount's Outreach Program. Evelyn is a local lady (a saint) who collects food for the needy. We weren't sure if the show would attract anyone, let alone be able to collect anything worthwhile for charity. We handed out candy canes, met our guests, answered questions and told our story. The people of Reno proved to be so generous and came together for this great cause. The 2006 event was a success and a lot of fun. Word of mouth was so powerful, and we discovered that lots of colorful lights flashing on and off can help a community. There were more visitors than we could have imagined.
In 2007, after seeing the success of collecting food items for Evelyn Mount, I decided to start collecting used clothing for Friends of Multiple Sclerosis and cash donations for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. These organizations do so much good searching for a cure and helping those inflicted by Multiple Sclerosis. The people who work for these organizations have done a great job walking me through the ins and outs of getting set up with them and I have truly been inspired by them. I credit their ability to get the word out for making our 2007 event a huge success!
I started working on the 2008 show in January. A lot of my changes were decided while watching the 2007 show. It really got my creative juices flowing. I was going from 32 channels to 112 channels. I had visions of what I wanted to create. I talked to all my friends and family about it and bounced ideas off them. My sister-in-law's boyfriend, Steve, had an idea of using the same fiberglass poles that were used on sailboats. He thought they could handle the weight of the lights and could flex but not break in the wind and he even tracked some down for me. As it turned out, he was right. Those poles allowed me to add things to my display I never thought possible like the North Star that stands so high from the top of my roof that it can be seen from the freeway! I now also use this type of pole for one of my many animated "fireworks". Another new addition in 2008 was what I dubbed "Star Rays" which are strings of light that flow from a star at the top of the house down to the lawn. This addition enables me to have some really fun effects. Finally, some of the other new additions to the show in 2008 were the piano keys, dancing roof nets, Santa with the swaying hips, descending angels, a variety of snowflakes and leaping arches.
My compliments to Chase and Nadine next door for their "Mega Tree". They have mastered the art of making it dance to the music and it is a source of many smiling faces.
Creating new ideas for the 2009 show has proven most difficult. I am really trying to think outside box and bring never before tried ideas to the table. Stay tuned as I do have a little something that will generate the WOW factor!
So, in summary, I can tell you the driving force that started all of this has been my fascination with Christmas lights as a young person, but what really keeps it going more than anything is the kindness, the smiles, the laughter and joy that everyone shares when they see the show. The charities that benefit are what gives it a very real purpose.
Thank you for your time, help, kindness, donations and generosity!
Sincerely,
Carlo Schmitt
This blog is kept fresh by the Fresh From FriendFeed and Twitter plugin.
