David Stewart, Vienna, VA, United States, Category 5, I apologize if this is a duplicate but I did not get a confirmation notice that the submission was received, like I did for the Share the Show contest This the fourth year that we have animated the lights at Rocky Run Christmas, a private residence in Northern Virginia. The show is driven with Light-O-Rama hardware and software. Each year we choose a theme to help frame the show as well as to create a more interactive experience for visitors. Our theme for this year is a Star Wars Christmas adventure during which the visitors help locate Santa during the show. The show has been a tremendous opportunity to see the smiles that the lights put on peoples faces. We have also been able to raise money for several local charities through the generous donations of show visitors.

David Preston, Kingman,AZ, United States, Category 1, my residential light display uses between 50 and 60,000 lights. With the help of my handy man, son and 2 grandchildren, we started decorating nov. 2 and every day through thanksgiving when the power went on and will go on every night at 5:45-10:00 through newsyear! none of my displays are computerized (not yet). However, one tree is hooked up to a music box , and several ornaments have their own speed control box to provide the appearance of motion. in addition i do have some multi-function and blinking lights.

Scot Schmidt, Georgetown, Tx, United States, Category 2, right around 20,000 lights with 32 channels, 2 inflatables, life size nativity scene, But what makes our display unique is the music. I personally remixed and made a couple of mega mixes to create a show that is not only unique but invokes memories in the hearts of everyone who see's them. All of this is broadcast over our Ramsey Transmitter at St. Nix 106. This is our first year posting our videos to youtube and as of this contest entry we have had them up for one week with over 10,000 hits. It is also our first year of taking donations. We have teamed up with The Georgetown Project a charity that helps homeless kids that are still enrolled in school. It touched my family's heart to find out that these kids deal with the trials and tribulations of school at the same time they are fighting poverty and homelessness. So even if we were to not win this contest at least it is another avenue to get the charity GeorgetownProject.com in front of more people that could potentially help these children.

David Geall, Milton, Ontario, Canada, Category 3, This year we added a feature that was a HUGE hit with visitors of all ages.  Our 9 channel animated face talked and sang during the show.  Almost 7,000 lights approx 95% LEDs.  Helped raise over $3,300 for our local hospital.

Chance Reecher, Waynesboro, PA, United States, Category 4, This was my third year doing a computerized show. I started my Sophomore year in High School and am now a Senior. I fund my display almost entirely on my own, with money earned both from a part-time job as an audio operator at the local news station, and from repairing computers for friends and family. I ran a total of 128 channels this year, with 7 CTB16PCs (5 of which I soldered myself) and 2 D-Light DCx08s. I had somewhere around 37,000 lights, up from around 25,000 last year. I added a few new items to my display, including a pair of light sticks, a pair of arches, and a 16-channel 15' tall Spiral Tree, which took an entire Saturday to build and attach lights to. As is the case with a lot of "lighting enthusiasts," I spent all my free time in November working on either sequencing or setting up. This was the first year I came to terms with the fact that I couldn't do it all myself and accepted help from some friends, and it still took all month. It was worth it though, as always. The joy that my lights bring to my community make it worth every minute and every dollar I spent on them.

Steve Warner, Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States, Category 5, Santa considers an upgrade to his ride....... in "Greased Lightnin' ", from the musical "Grease". The challenge to this piece was to make it more family friendly. To accomodate this, we introduced "Elfy"....with a more seasonal dialogue. Because of our limited space, we try to tell stories rather than fill every square inch with lights. Most of the channel allocations go to the animation of our characters. All the props and characters are made by our family.....mostly for financial consideration...not because of our creativity. This selection is one of three numbers performed by the display. We usually hold two songs over from the previous year, and introduce a new one. This new selection for 2011 is "Greased Lightnin' ".  This year, we asked for donations from those driving by the display for the "Springs Rescue Mission". Despite the show not running for five nights due to weather. Our viewers were very generous with over $1600.00 in donations.

Nathan Berting, Dalby, Qld, Australia, Category 6, Our computerised christmas light display uses 4 1602w 16 Channel controllers. During early 2011 Dalby (Our home town) in Australia experienced major flooding 5 times. We were lucky our display was not damaged. Our video link below contains our flood tribute video that runs prior to our Christmas Light show (Total of 6.5mins). This video was screened on a video screen at the start of each show, therefore meaning that our lights this year were synched to a video rather than just mp3. Hope you enjoy the video of lightsoncharles to see how we do it in Australia.

Richard Holdman, Pleasant Grove, UT, United States, Category 7, This was a display I created and programed for the local mall. All LOR hardware and software is used.