Our Newest Santa

We brought him home from ICE in Orlando. He is holding a naughty list in one hand and a wine glass in the other. How cute!

Santas Workshop iis Done

I worked today getting the workshop done.

I still need to do a sign that says "Santa's Workshop", I need to somehow convey the fact that we collect for toys for tots, and I need to get some more Annalees into the scene.

Christmas Lights Lemonade

We went to a recognized establishment for a few drinks...I found the Christmas one. It wasn't the best cocktail in the world, but it didn't disappoint.

Making Stuff at Copeland Christmas

First, I'd like to thank gayle again for bringing me this cute Annalee lady that is making up a tree.























Next, I found a great How To on bow making using a magazine page. I was thinking you could make a bow out of anything...photo, map, newspaper...this will be pretty cool this season.

Here's the link to How to Make A Bow
and here's a couple photos...

Fixing Broken Links on CopelandChristmas.com

Been fixing broken links on the website recently. Here's one of the newest...it's from 2008.

Copeland Christmas from danielle copeland on Vimeo.

Finished the indoor village scenes

All we need to do is put down some cornstarch to make it look like it's newly snowed. The village looks pretty good. I used all houses that surround a town train. All the commerce pieces will go in the garage.














Here's a shot of the water village scene that I'm not crazy about. I might put foil or blue saran wrap into this scene. Maybe a mirror.

How to Make A Christmas Village

Today I put together the Christmas village under the TV.

I used sheets of styrofoam as risers and bases. The cords are all connected to a remote control and I think I only used 3 power strips this year. The village scene is much smaller than previous years, but that’s because I am putting a big scene in the garage this year.

Below are a few photos of previous village displays I did in the living room.

 

2007 Village Display

From Copeland Christmas Blog

2007 Village Display

From Copeland Christmas Blog

 

2008 Village Display

Christmas Delivery!

A neighbor let us borrow his trailer yesterday so we could haul over storage stuff. Why didn't we use a trailer last year?!...it's so much easier!

We decided to bring all the village pieces, three trains, the mountain stuff, and more lights.

Jim and Cathy Copeland’s Display

John’s brother Jim has been doing this Christmas thing for decades also. Here’s one of his displays from the early 2000s. I took the photo with the flash on, so I really lost the glow that his display had. His home is in North Palm.

Light Count - Nov 6 2009

4,300 lights so far between the porch forest of Themed Trees, the kitchen scenes, the living room scenes and the Antarctica scene.

My amp meter has become my best friend.

Here's my PSA---don't overload your outlets. A standard household outlet can handle 15 amps...but you shouldn't use all 15 amps...you should only use 80% of those 15 amps. And, don't plug more than 3 light sets into each other unless they are commercial grade. If you do, you might be OK........BUT YOU MIGHT NOT!