Copeland Christmas Blog

Spinning Christmas Tree

2012-01-02T10:52:00.000-05:00

I set up the camera with a very slow shutter speed to capture the rotating Christmas tree here at Copeland Christmas.

Here's what the tree looks like when it's stationary. Pretty cool.

After Christmas Shopping

2012-01-02T10:31:00.000-05:00

A few days ago, we got the entire inside of the house all packed away. Here's a few photos I snapped of some after Christmas sale items I bought.

The santa face was $6 at Stein Mart....a deal.

The Wizard of Oz lights were an eBay purchase. I think they were only $20 inc shipping. Since they are Adler, I think that's a really good deal. I can't wait to put up my WOO tree again next year.

Christmas Lights in Snug Harbor Estates

2011-12-28T17:25:00.000-05:00

Earlier this month, I took a drive (okay 6 drives) through the Snug Harbor Estates neighborhood in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. It is beautiful!!!

Here's my commentary...

Snug Harbor Estates, Palm Beach Gardens, FL

The old oak trees are unbelievable! Floridians are usually lazy about wrapping the branches up high...not in this neighborhood. The dripping meteor lights are everywhere. Right now, they are $79 per strand (of 5 lights). I can't imagine how much they have invested in these lights alone. I love it.

Snug Harbor Estates, Palm Beach Gardens, FL

The end of the street has a wonderful toy factory wireframe. The assembly line has animated presents travelling along a conveyer (sp) belt.

Snug Harbor Estates, Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Even up in the trees, they have giant candy canes.

Snug Harbor Estates, Palm Beach Gardens, FL

Snug Harbor Estates, Palm Beach Gardens, FL
I have admired the icicle edges at Abacoa for a while...this house has the same type of lights...I think I'm going to build my own for next year since my 2011 display was "supposed" to have them.

Snug Harbor Estates, Palm Beach Gardens, FL

Snug Harbor Estates, Palm Beach Gardens, FL
I really liked the red/white striped trees.

Snug Harbor Estates, Palm Beach Gardens, FL

After Christmas Sales

2011-12-28T15:59:00.000-05:00

This year, we didn't go crazy athe after-Christmas sales. We didn't wake up at 5am, we didn't tag team the mall with dual trucks, we didn't map out each store by order of opening time. We took it easy and slept in! It was great!
I think we spent a grand total of $115. I bought a few Disney village pieces to add to my collection, plus I had to buy the Lowes village piece. :)

Now, we've already begun putting everything away. Today, it was chilly at 55 so I opened up all the doors, put the oven on the clean cycle, and started cleaning. Here's what I got put away...candy village, glitter village, snowman scene, 9.5 spinning tree. It doesn't sound like much, but I'm happy with the progress.

We have more Ram!

2011-12-15T21:19:00.000-05:00

We installed more ram on the Copeland Christmas laptop! We replaced the two 1 gb chips with 2 gb chips...yay! Now I just need to get all the photos off the laptop and onto an external portable hard drive.

It was kind of fun to open the back of the laptop and change out circuit boards. I'm just thankful we had a good friend guide us to which ram we needed to buy.

Video from the Past: 2009

2011-12-15T08:36:00.001-05:00

Remember this...I miss Carolyn Scofield...

Toys For Tots donation

2011-12-15T08:16:00.000-05:00

We've been receiving tons of toys this year for Toys For Tots!

Here's a recent photo of a neighbor who had the MCHS cheerleading squad collect bags and bags of toys.

We appreciate this sooo much!

Lights are off Tonight

2011-12-11T18:03:00.000-05:00

The rain has the lights off tonight :( We are just sitting around tonight.

Need More Memory

2011-12-11T10:26:00.000-05:00

My computer guru friend Michael came over last night to see Copeland Christmas. He took a quick look at my laptop and gave me some advice. I he was angel-sent since he took one look at my free hard drive space and told me I'm at an absolutely critical point. (uh oh)

I knew it was bad, but I never knew what to do about it. Michael told me that all laptops have two avialable slots for memory. He discovered on my laptop that I currently have two 1 gb memory cards already installed. He said I just need to buy two 2 gb memory cards and replace them. (Ordered this morning from tiger direct for $54).

Then, he said I have to get rid of cclear and malware bytes and adaware. He suggested to get Norton 360 and let it take care of everything from virus protection to backups. He said once you get 2, 3, 4 different "free helpers," they start canabalizing/conflicting with eachother. It makes sense.

Lastly, he wants me to get two external hard drives and put all the photos from 2007 to present on them. He said to get the portable kind. I thought it would be hard for me to move the music off...but I've haven't minded at all...and it's been 6 months.

I KNOW it's going to be hard for me to get all those photos off the laptop (because I use them all the time). I'll save this for last.

Thanks agian Michael. For trustworthy residential or commercial computer needs, call my friend Michael Serio. http://www.mdscomputerconsulting.com/

The Lights are On Tonight!

2011-12-10T18:01:00.001-05:00

The rain didn't keep us dark tonight!

Weather might have lights off tonight

2011-12-10T09:03:00.001-05:00

Thanks
Danielle

Sent from my iPhoneUnless we get some serious sun to dry out all this rain, I don't think the lights will be on tonight. Check back for more updates.

Our Website Visitors

2011-12-08T19:25:00.001-05:00

Just checked in on the website visitors again. They are coming from all over the world...Australia, Germany, Canada.

Also noticed that LauderdaleChristmas.com and our Facebook page send the most number of visitors to our website.

How did you get here?

Christmas lights 13 houses set to Little Drummer Boy

2011-12-03T16:03:00.000-05:00

I'm just sayin.......We need to get Fox Run to do this!!!

I've got it all planned out....

The FM transmitter will have to be placed in the center of the neighborhood. The Tune sign will go at the main entrance. Each house will either have to invest in a wireless LOR responder ($200). The front row of entrance palm trees will be sequenced too.

Just a wish...

Matthew got me Christmas Earrings

2011-12-03T11:46:00.001-05:00

Thanks
Danielle

Sent from my iPhoneMatthew got me the cutest candy cane earrings to wear during this season! Thanks mathew.

Copeland Christmas Bark Recipe

2011-12-03T11:10:00.001-05:00

Copeland Christmas Bark
by Sue Roberts
When you combine the recipes for traditional Pine Bark and traditional Peppermint Bark, you've got Copeland Christmas Bark! This is a fun recipe to make with children.

6 to 8 candy canes
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup butter
12 ounces white chocolate chips (1 bag)
Saltine Crackers

Unwrap candy canes and crush in a heavy ziploc plastic bag or in a food processor. Set aside.

Line a 16 x 12 cookie sheet (with 1-inch sides) with aluminum foil. Allow foil to come up the sides of the tray a bit and spray lightly with cooking spray. Cover completely with crackers in a single layer so that they touch together on all sides. Melt butter in saucepan, add brown sugar and boil on low/medium heat for only 3 minutes. Spread evenly over crackers and place in 400-degree oven for 7 minutes. Mixture will be hot and bubbly. Remove from oven and immediately pour white chocolate chips evenly over crackers and spread with spatula or back of spoon as the chips soften. While still hot, sprinkle with candy cane chips and gently press into melted chocolate. Place tray in refrigerator for at least an hour to cool completely. When cooled, lift foil and break bark into pieces. Enjoy!

The Copeland Christmas Website is getting Busy

2011-12-03T11:05:00.000-05:00

I took a few minutes this morning to see how many hits our website has been getting. It looks like yesterday we hit a new peak for the season...60 unique visits in one day.

I'll keep checking back to see how traffic progresses. So far, the majority of our traffic seems to be people doing google searches to find us. They stay on the homepage for a few seconds, then click on "About Us" and "Location."

I love Google Analytics.

The furniture has been decorated

2011-12-02T18:30:00.000-05:00

I came home the other day to find that the large ottoman had been wrapped like a gift and it has a bow. It's so pretty!

2011 Light Show has been Finalized

2011-11-29T21:38:00.000-05:00

I'm so happy that the sequencing for the 2011 Copeland Christmas light show is done! Hallelujah!

This year, we recycled several songs from the past and we also sequenced a few new songs.

The official 2011 show is:

- intro by Clark Griswold himself
- THX sound check
- Wish Liszt by Trans Siberian Orchestra
- In the Hall of the Mountain King
- All I Want is You by Maria Carey
- intermission
- Angels We Have Heard on High
- Nutcracker Suite Medley by Trans Siberian Orchestra
- Intermission
- Sandstorm by Darude
- Carol of the Bells
- Angry Birds Intermission
- That's All Folks by Porky Pig

(pay no attention to my spelling)

I'll post all these Light-O-Rama Sequence files as soon as I have time. Merry Christmas.

BTW, I'd like to thank all my Light-O-Rama and Planet Christmas friends for providing portions of these sequence files.

Turning on the lights for the first time

2011-11-22T22:10:00.000-05:00

We are now just making sure all cords are plugged into the right outlets. Can't wait!

I'm inside at the computer while the boys are outside switching arounds 2 cords that got transposed. Can't wait to hear the music in a little bit!

New annalees for the display

2011-11-22T21:06:00.000-05:00

My wonderful family got me some new beautiful annilees for my birthday! Cool

Darude - Sandstorm Christmas Lights

2011-11-20T21:21:00.000-05:00

This video is of Bill Vaughn's display in Alexandria, Virginia. It was featured on one of TLC's Crazy Christmas Light Shows a couple of years ago.

Take a look at what happens at the 34 second mark. Amazing, huh?...

I first posted this video back in December 2010....I was totally inspired. I didn't think a non-Christmas song belonged in a Christmas lights display. Now I feel differently.

I sequenced the first 1.5 minutes of this song for the 2011 display. I really like it because it's going to be unexpected among all our other traditional songs. It might turn some folks off, but on the flip side, it might inspire some people.

I just can't figure out how to sequence my roof lights properly. It's so frustrating...I like a challenge though.

Bucket truck at Copeland Christmas

2011-11-13T14:45:00.001-05:00

Joey is up in the truck today

Jim's 26 ft Mega tree

2011-11-13T10:47:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we went to Jim's to help put up his 26 ft mega tree. I looks so good. We all love it. The bucket truck helped immensly.

It has 12 animated stripes, a 4 ft star, and a strand of strobes. It's awesome.

While the guys were outside, I was doing the programming inside. He's up and running with Light-O-Rama 2.9!

We calculated the amps used so that we would not blow fuses. The tree uses 14.4 amps *not including the star and strobes.

I think they set up 6 strands per slice and each strand is .2 amps.

They bent rebar and duct taped it to the conduit. So white trash, but that's how all of us Christmas enthusiasts do it. No one will ever see any of it.

Not sure what we'll do with the extra lights on the ground. Might cover them up with a black blanket...still thinking of ideas.

What a fun day yesterday...can't wait for the bucket truck to arrive at my house today at noon for our Palm Tree candles!

Palm From 2 Years Ago

2011-11-12T08:42:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow the bucket tuck comes to help us with the queen palms. So excited

here's the palm from 2 years ago

2011-11-06T11:07:00.001-05:00

Another awesome display from Canada!