90% of the display is now packed up and put away and hopefully with the warmer weather coming this week the rest can be done by the end of the week.

Happy New Year!

Just wanted to thank everyone who donated to CHOW this year... your generosity was spectacular! One small load of donations made it's way to the middle school with my son and the rest was dropped off down in the Town of Maine. There is one more load that will be dropped off after the wife buys more food with the monetary donations.

And due to my laziness... the lights will be on a couple more nights. I went out this morning and started digging them out and I just don't have it in me to take them down yet. Guess I'm getting old.

The new plan is to work on taking them down Friday after work so Thursday night will(probably) be the last night to see them.

Just uploaded some pictures of all that snow HERE. Man there's a lot of snow!

If you do brave the snow to watch the lights tonight or tomorrow(which is the last night), PLEASE be careful on the road and don't block traffic. Thanks.

So even though we were in the middle of a good sized snow storm yesterday the lights were on for over an hour and I was recording them.

Click 2012 Snowy Videos to see them. We think they are the best videos we've ever posted. Have a see for yourself.

Finally, the lights are going off tonight at 9pm due to the roads being slippery. They'll be on again tomorrow.

Almost forgot, just like the past four years, the lights will NOT be on tonight, Christmas Night! Please do not plan to come up to watch them. Instead take that time to enjoy your friends and family and give thanks for everything in your life... big and small. God Bless and Merry Christmas!

And for those interested, HERE are a bunch of pictures I took this morning with that nice layer of snow that fell.

Finally, the 2012 Videos have been posted.

In light of previous years being crazy on Christmas Eve we are only playing one song and the "caution" announcement and then that same song and the announcement again(rinse and repeat). We may adjust this depending on traffic but more than likely this will go on the whole night.

Please pass the word to not PARK in the street with your lights off blocking traffic! This is a sure way to have the lights "take a break" for the rest of the night. Thanks!

The lights are already on! And should be on until 10:30pm tonight too!

I'm calling it... no lights tonight. The wind is already smacking the lights around and it's only going to get worse. We'll try again tomorrow...

So let me get this straight... we *finally* fix our moisture problem with lights turning off and now the wind is supposed to kick up to 20-25MPH this evening and up to 50MPH gusts up on the hill here later? Seriously? I mean come on!

We're going to play this one by ear tonight... if the lights start whipping around smashing into each other then we're going to have to lower the two largest trees which basically ends the show. And oh yeah, no-can-do on blow ups tonight either due to that wind!

Seems like moisture problem is now behind us. I ended up switching the show to a regular show(as in "crazy lights") about an hour ago and everything is still running fine. I really hope we can now run the show in the rain/wet snow because that's what the forecast looks like for the next week. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Well, Sophie and I worked on isolating some of the light trees from the ground(yep, the actual ground) in order to help with the GFCI trips we have when it rains heavily. So far the show has been running for over 30 minutes without a trip. We are only playing seven songs(seven songs that aren't too crazy) and so far so good. I'll update the site if we have to turn everything off.

No lights tonight due to the rain and wind. Tried running a few songs before and the GFCI outlets are tripping due to the soaking rain we had today here. Not sure why but I wouldn't doubt the weather forecasters get coal for Christmas this year...

We'll be starting the lights around 6:30pm and they will be on until at least 10:30pm again tonight.

The lights will be on until at least 10:30pm tonight.

In addition to accepting food donations at the display this year, we are also accepting PayPal donations. Again, 100% of all donations go to CHOW. In past years the kiddos have bought food for CHOW at Wegmans with the monetary donations that were generously given(even though we have never asked for money!). It has worked out great and we again thank you for all the support! Just click on the donation button below to donate.

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If you plan to stop by to enjoy the lights we ask that you remember East Maine Road can be a very busy road at times and completely dead at others. The suggested speed limit is 35MPH over the crest of the hill(thanks Judge! ) but people do not seem to follow that suggestion. Feel free to pull into our driveway to enjoy the lights! Two cars can pull in side-by-side and if you go far enough another two can pull in behind you.

PLEASE TAKE NOTE: We can not have people parked in the road... If this happens the lights will have to be turned off. Unfortunately some people travel well over the cautionary speed limit of 35MPH so... DO NOT STOP IN THE ROAD!!! PLEASE PULL INTO OUR DRIVEWAY and if there is not room consider stopping by later. If you have tried a few times and just can't get in, send us an email and we'll make arrangements.

One more note about the road, if you are pulling over to let someone pass, be careful of the ditch... once we get snow up here the ditches will magically disappear underneath the plowed snow. Only problem is they haven't really dissappeared and you'll be needing a tow.

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The display is located at 1245 East Maine Rd in the Town of Maine(in NY).

We have always enjoyed decorating the house for Christmas and in 2007 we had a display with about 4,000 Christmas lights and 13 inflatable.

2008 was the first year that we had the display synchronized to music broadcast on 94.9 FM radio via a low-powered FM transmitter. There were around 45,000 computer controlled lights with Silver, Gold, and Red being the primary colors. In all, we could control 176 individual channels of lighting. The inspiration for the 2008 display was Richard Holdman of Utah. Our whole family has enjoyed his display for the past three years and our display tries to capture his style of synchronized lighting(and boy does he have style!).

Some items of interest in 2008 were a 21 foot Mega-Tree with 4,800 lights, four 10 foot animated arches with 1,700 dancing lights each, and a 12 foot tree with 4,800 lights.

In 2009, we kept everything from 2008 and added another 10,000 - 15,000 lights and 80 more lighting channels. We also added two snowflake trails on the house, four "jumping" arches in the yard, and doubled the lights on the two smaller 10' trees.

The display in 2010 was very similar to 2009. The 21' mega-tree was upgraded from 4,800 lights to 9,600 lights as well as some other upgrades. The blowups also made a comeback and they were a huge hit.

In 2011 we reduced the amount of lights to ~50,000 and we also reduced the time the display is on. The past year was a bit much for us and instead of taking the year off, we decided to try for a little less "show".

Now in 2012 we are back to around 75,000 lights and are hoping to put up some blowups as well(we did!). The display hours have been reduced to 7pm to 9:30pm weekdays and earlier/later on the weekends.

Site Last Updated: January 6, 2013

The 2010 Christmas Lights were dedicated to Great Grandma Billie. We love you!