Nagel Family Website

Well, it’s not Forbes, but I was interviewed for an article in American Baby Magazine (December, 2007 issue). They had questions about my Christmas lights; in particular, how much it costs to run them each year. Last year, it only brought up my bill $5.00. This year, I’m expecting an increase of $11.25.

Speaking of the lights, I plan on recording the video this weekend, once I get the camera back from my brother.

This entry was posted by Eric on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 4:55 pm and is filed under Christmas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

Oops - with November starting on Thursday this year, Thanksgiving is early. Very early. Only 2 weeks away now. I thought it was 3 weeks away! Well, there goes a week that I was going to use for Turkey Trot training and finishing up the lights!

Last night I picked up the Cub Scout popcorn order and with a few of the other helpful parents, sorted it all out. Now there’s lots & lots of popcorn in my house, waiting to be picked up. I hope a lot of parents come today to get theirs.

Somehow, I convinced Steve to run this morning, so I went to his place at 7AM and we ran down to the lighthouse and back. My GPS reception wasn’t that great, but I’ve posted the run at MotionBased.com. It was kind of cold - I should’ve had a wind-breaker layer on. Overall, I’m happy with this run. Hopefully I can run again Monday morning.

So today, I’ll be putting up more lights, adding the FM transmitter to my new Mr. Christmas (and this time I’ll take photos & post a tutorial) and hopefully be done with the lights, except the trees on the front lawn which I haven’t built yet.

This entry was posted by Eric on Saturday, November 10th, 2007 at 9:43 am and is filed under Christmas, Fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

Hey everyone - be sure to head on over to Bronners and vote for my house! While we’re not live with this year’s display yet, I want to get some early votes in.

As an update, I received a large box extension cords yesterday, should receive my new Mr. Christmas today (updated for 2007 - hard to find!), and am still waiting on 600 more lights and extension cords from another vendor.

Last year we had 2,300 lights choreographed to 20 songs over an outdoor speaker. This year, we’re adding some lights (600 lights on 6 balls hanging under the porch, 450 swag lights on the upper gutter, and 600 lights on 2 “trees” on the front lawn - total is now 3,950 total lights) choreographed to 40 songs over a quieter outdoor speaker and FM radio. Oh, and Santa will be seen, poking around in my office window (on some nights).

Only 3 weeks to go!

This entry was posted by Eric on Thursday, November 8th, 2007 at 9:11 am and is filed under Christmas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

The top questions I get when people see my Christmas lights are:

1. How did you do that?
2. Why?
3. What’s Your Electric Bill?

Well, I’ve gone over #1… #2 is because it’s fun, and the kids like it.

#3 may surprise you. Last year, my display added $5 to my bill. This year, I’m estimating an increase of a whopping $11.25, if that! Why so little?

Using a Kill-o-Watt ($30 from ThinkGeek), I’ve determined all my lights on is about 550 watts. 3 hours / night (7 to 10), about 45 nights, at $0.151939 per KwH (my average cost) is 74.25 KwH or $11.28. And that’s if all my lights are on at the same time, which if you’ve seen my lights, you know they’re not on all the time.

The electric bill will barely budge… but I’ll blow my budget in extension cords.

This entry was posted by Eric on Tuesday, November 6th, 2007 at 5:39 pm and is filed under Christmas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

Come join us on Friday, November 23rd as we turn our lights on for the 2007 Christmas season!

We’re going to flip the switch at 7pm - come join us for cookies & hot chocolate and sing along with the music! We have about 75% more lights this year (about 4,000 total lights), and twice as many songs (40 now).

More updates as we get closer… hope you can make it - but if not, video will be posted again this year.

This entry was posted by Eric on Monday, November 5th, 2007 at 9:27 pm and is filed under Christmas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

Yeah, I’m starting to put up the Christmas lights today. Why so early? Because I have a lot to put up: 2,300 last year, and yesterday we bought 1,650 more, so we’re up to 3,950 so far. But there’s room for more: each of the 6 outlets on the Mr. Christmas can power up to 1,200 miniature lights for a total of 7,200 lights. I think I’m going to have to start counting how many lights are on a circuit, as some may be getting close.

The thing is, the extension cords cost more than the lights do! Getting lights all over the house is a pain, and breaking up the display into 6 zones so they dance w/ the music takes a ton of extension cords. Yesterday, I spent over $100 in extension cords alone!

I’m still looking for the trees to put on the front lawn. I think I may have to build them myself, as I’m not spending $80 for a little 4-foot tree… not when I need 3 of them.

I think next year (2008) will be the year I upgrade the main system. I found one that’ll let me really customize things, have more channels to work with, custom software - the works. And I could use it for other holidays (they have a SD card with a “Haunted House” pre-programmed).

Well, the coffee is ready, and I’m going to try to run this morning… it’s been a while, and the Turkey Trot is coming up soon.

This entry was posted by Eric on Saturday, November 3rd, 2007 at 6:57 am and is filed under Christmas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.