Welcome to your to-do list for January.

There are 3 major portions of any Christmas light display. Design, Build and Install. We at Synchronized Christmas would argue the most important part is the actual design of your display. For January your to-do list consists of the design of your display.

When designing your display there are several things you need to consider.

• What is your vision of your display? What do you think it will look like?
• Review your canvas (property) to see what options you have available.
• Budget: Determine what financial resources you have available to you.

Let’s look at this in a little more detail.

Starting out, you need to figure out what you want the display to look like. Surely you’ve seen other displays you like, or remember one from your childhood that you want to recreate. Now is the time to figure that out. Making changes to any display after the design process results in many wasted hours. Do you want a display synchronized to music or a traditional static display. Maybe you want to have a display that changes colors throughout the evening or display period. These are important decisions that shouldn’t be rushed through. Take your time and devide what you want to do.

Next you need to review your canvas, which is your home or business, to see what options you have available to you. As you look at your property think about where extension cords are going to go, and where extra outlets will be added, if needed. Think carefully about what obstacles you may encounter during the install phase, and how you might overcome them.

Finally, take a realistic look at your financial resources, and decide what you can afford to you. The overwhelming majority of the displays that you see out there had humble beginnings. You simply may not be able to do everything you want to do the first year. Don’t worry, you’ll have many years of fun ahead of you planning your display each year.

Next month: Design phase is ending, and the building begins.