FAQ

 The electric bill is only about $100 or $200 more in December. Although this may surprise you, keep in mind that, because of the synchronized Christmas light show, only a fraction of the lights in the display are on at any given point in time.

It's a park your car in the back of the building and watch the lights dance to the beat of the music in the comfort of your own car.  This year, we will not be serving hot chocolate.  If you choose to get out of your car to take pictures, please exercise social distancing to ensure a safe viewing experience for all.   

The 2019 display will be located at Northville Christian School & Church - on 6 Mile Rd., 1 mile west of Haggerty.

Our 2020 display has 150,00 lights (and over 60,000 channels of computer control).

It really depends on the length of the song.  It can take 25-60 hours per song, depending on the complexity of the music piece.

It is our way to share with others the joy that Jesus brings our family this time of year.  We hope that others will realize the true reason for this season - the birth of Jesus Christ.  

We have over 60,000 channels of computer control, and we use XLights to run the show. A channel is an individual item or strand of lights that you can control with the software. Think of it as individual objects that can be controlled and flashing to the beat of the music.

An entire month, with the help of many volunteers.    We start setting up the display in late October.

We use a low-power FM transmitter to broadcast the music from the computer out to the car radios.

We started synchronizing the lights to music in 2006, but have been decorating our house for many years prior to that.

This is a display put up by our family of 6 & the help of volunteers from Northville Christian Church & School and others from the community. This means that there is no charge to see our display - we consider it to be our gift to the community.

For our 2019 display, we have the following songs.

1. "Reflections of Earth" - London Symphony Orchestra
2. "Christmas Eve Sarajevo" by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra
3. Miraculum by Lincoln Brewster
4. O Holy Night by Mariah Carey
5. O What a Glorious Night by Sidewalk Prophets
6. Joy to the World by Go Fish
7. Nutcracker

*Subject to change

The entire show will be about 15-20 min. long.

The cable connecting the computer to the controllers is a Cat5e cable (available from Light-o-Rama).  This cable connects to the computer via a USB port and sends the signal from the computer to the controllers out in the yard.

The controllers

The display setup includes 6 16-channel controllers dispersed throughout the yard.  Each controller has 16 outputs.  Each output can have a certain display item plugged into it (like a string of Christmas lights, inflatable, lit up sign, etc.).

The extension cords

Our display setup includes over 1,000 feet of extension cords.

The Radio Transmitter

In order to get the music from the computer out to the cars, we use a low-power FM radio transmitter that transmits the radio signal about 300 feet from the house out to the car radios.  The radio transmitter connects to the computer audio output jack.