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Countdown Clocks
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UPDATE (as of Wednesday 12/31):
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Lights BACK ON through Friday Jan 2!!!
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Due to overwhelming response/support to turn the
lights back on, we plan to do so tonight through Friday night!
We will be physically outside to help monitor/control our visitor traffic so our neighbors aren't unduly burdened.
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If you plan to come join us, PLEASE do not stand on
our neighbors' lawns OR block their driveways -- we
would LOVE to keep at least reasonably good standing
in the neighborhood (grin)!
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And a huge THANK YOU to everyone for their support, encouragement, and positive notes about how much they've enjoyed the show. In these economic times, it appears having somewhere to go that's FREE and provides enjoyment and memories IS indeed a good thing and SHOULD be a priority!
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SINGLE NIGHT RECORD DONATIONS!! (Thurs 12/25... $138)
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And a huge THANK YOU to all our neighbors for being so
understanding and accepting of our insanity.
Our Arden Lake compatriots and especially:
Dave/Barb and Jeff/Traci
are amazing and wonderful. You ROCK!
The videos are coming to YouTube as soon as I can get that done...
and the show runs every night of the week up to and including New Year's Day (1/1/2009)
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PLEASE bring yourself, your family, and your friends -- come visit us!! We put the show up exactly for that: to give everyone someplace to go where there is You are MORE than welcome to tell everyone you know or meet there is a place they can come, sit in the warmth of their car, tune their radio to 88.3 fm and listen to/watch some really cool Holiday lights!!
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Due to popular request from last year's show, we have put out a "donation box" near the mailbox... all proceeds benefit Papa's Pantry (a non-profit relief charity providing assistance to Georgia families in economically destabilized situations... you can see them at www.papaspantry.org). TOTAL DONATIONS TO DATE: $800!!
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Some basic statistics about the Meckley Family Xmas holiday light show:
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Individual ight bulbs used: approximately 30,000
Length of extension cords used: approximately 1 mile
Control system used: Light-o-Rama
# of controllers: 15
# of individually lighted elements: 240 (16 per controller)
Time taken to program lights to music: 8-10 hours for each MINUTE of music
Total time to program 2008 show: approximately 400 hours
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My complete and total devotion and respect go to Stephanie (my wife) for her love, compassion, patience, and FORGIVENESS... for without that, my OCD and passion for creating an "event" for others to come and enjoy would NOT be possible.
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This show started LAST year as the programming of music began in December right after the show went live. Nights, early mornings, and any available free chunk of time was spent programming what you see this month -- I hope you and everyone who comes to visit us enjoys it just as much as I have enjoyed creating it!
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OUR HISTORY... (aka "How John's 'Magnificent Obsession' Began")
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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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MeckleyFamilyXmas is a PROUD user of:...
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