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Memorial Day weekend 2006... the Meckleys move to the Arden Lake community in Kennesaw, Georgia. The day after Thanksgiving, John begins setting up the "static" Grinch-centric lights... some multi-coloured strings around the windows, an inflatable Grinch, some spiral trees. A week later, Stephanie tells John she found a "ballot" in the mailbox... apparently the HOA runs an annual holiday lighting contest with gift cards for the top 3 voted displays as well as a "kids' choice" award.
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The next day, John is at Home Depot and Garden Ridge TRIPLING the display and adding basic, multi-channel outlets with pre-programmed sequences to make the lights flash (the yard only). Can you say "competitive streak" combined with AR/OCD?! UH OH!!
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With multiple comments from the neighbors, including "How's it goin' Clark?" and "You know you'll never win... Rookies never place in the top 3 around here!" John labours on. There is absolutely NOTHING like O.C.D. to fuel the imagination and drive a boy to compete...
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Suffice it to say, in '06, the Meckleys placed an amazing 3rd in the competition... and thus, an addiction was born.
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After finding the "Planet Christmas" community (it's always good to find other addicts for moral support) and the Light-o-Rama system of computer control... AND after bringing the light bulb count to nearly 14,000 (plus some other additions (grin)), there was a first-place AND "kids' choice" award for meckleyfamilyxmas!
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LOVE THAT (bigger grin)! NOTE: plans for '08 include probably NOT participating in the competition but rather spreading the word so more and more people can come/watch/enjoy!
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Needless to say, planning for the 2008 show began back in December 07... hey, the show was already done/on and what else was there to do?! LOL As of now, there are 11 original songs and for '08, there are 11 additional (many chosen by Sophia Grace, our 2-yr-old light show critic extraordinare! If she likes it/giggles, it's in... if she wrinkles her nose and says "NO!" then clearly it's OUT).
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