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See the 10 Craziest, Coolest, Zaniest & Most ‘Seizure-Inducing’ Christmas Light Shows of 2012

Dec. 11, 2012 10:41am Billy Hallowell

Most people who choose to display Christmas cheer on the exterior of their homes do so with a few strings of bulbs on the bushes and around the windows — light decorating that adds just a hint of holiday appeal. However, others take a more extreme approach, putting together eye-popping lights shows that are so over-the-top they draw crowds, become YouTube sensations and send neighbors bouncing between pure awe and intense frustration.

TheBlaze has assembled 10 of the most zany and entertaining Christmas displays. Watch each of the selections, below:

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A Rip-Roaring Electronic Music Show

Zachary Cadger and his family have a penchant for lighting up their Meridian, Idaho, neighborhood. Using a mixture of songs by Skrillex (an electronic musician), they created what Gawker calls “a seizure-inducing Christmas Light show”:

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“Gangnam Style” Synchronized Christmas Chaos

Psy’s controversial, anti-American lyrics aside, the synchronization here is stellar. According to a description on YouTube, the display includes 41,000 bulbs, 2,000 light channel and 2kms of cable — and it took 200 hours to assemble:

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“Call Me Maybe” Set to Super Suave Light Show

A Bel Air home has assembled some blue-tinted Christmas lights synced to Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe.” Definitely worth a watch:

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Less Pop, More Christmas Spirit

We don’t know a whole lot about the background of this holiday show — aside from the fact that it’s an exuberant version of “Carol of the Bells” — but it takes a popular Christmas tune and infuses an ultra-powerful lights show. We’ll let the video speak for itself:

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Same Tune, Very Different Light Show

Who says the same Christmas song can’t be used in different light shows? Below, see another rendition of “Carol of the Bells.” You won’t be disappointed:

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Yet Another Tribute to “Gangnum Style”

Here we go again. Like the tune or hate it, here’s another Christmas display set to it. This clip, from a family in Austin, Texas, has received widespread attention and praise. On a web site advertising the show, the creators explain:

This song was added to the playlist at the last minute. Kids came home from school talking about it after exercising to it during gym class. We did a few KPOP songs last year and had alot of fun with them so I sequenced this one too. Took about 2-3 hours to sequence this song.

Needless to say we were very surprised and somewhat overwhelmed at the attention this video received. With over 1 million hits in a week the video appeared on CNN, FoxNews, GMA, Today, plus a host of local news outlets across the globe. The only thing left is for PSY himself to come dance with the lights.

Watch it, below:

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A Rock & Roll, Super-Intricate Light Fusion

You’ve got to hand it to this family. As you’ll see, it’s tough to watch this video and refrain from standing up and rocking out along with the tune. A smorgasbord of traditional Christmas songs performed with drums and an electric guitar makes the show immensely entertaining. A YouTube description has more about the family behind this design:

This Christmas light display started out 6 years ago at a residential home in Crooks, SD. While growing in popularity at the residential site, it would generate lines of cars up to 1/2 mile deep with 2 hour waits to see the display. After the owners decided to move to a new home in the country, the show was relocated to the Western Mall in Sioux Falls SD, where it lights up the night and peoples hearts by raising around $25,000 per year for the Make-A-Wish foundation of SD. It grants about 5 children’s wishes each and every year.

Here it is:

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A Very Mickey Christmas

The holiday lighting at Disney’s Magic Kingdom is nowhere near as invigorating as the other light displays we’ve shown you, but it’s still pretty nifty. Catch Mickey Mouse, Minnie, Donald Duck, Goofy and others as they decorate the castle (oh, and Cinderella makes an appearance, too):

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Metallica’s Heavy Metal Santa Jam

Even if you’re not a heavy metal fan, this clip’s worth watching. The web site MetalInjection.net calls it possibly “the most epic light show yet.” Spanning almost 10 minutes, the “performance” includes a mix of Metallica’s hits, including: “Hit The Lights,” “Blackened,” “Battery,” “One,” “Damage Inc.” and “Creeping Death” (caution: controversial themes).

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And, Of Course, A Mashup

Naturally, we’re concluding with a quick mashup of the best Christmas light show videos from across YouTube. Some are included in this list, but there are other exciting and invigorating Christmas renditions worth checking out.

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Comments (39)

kchercmech
Posted on December 15, 2012 at 1:18pm
These truly are great. I hold the guitar light show a couple years back as my favorite.
See for yourself – some kid playing guitar rock hero and the lights are setup to compliment him.

http://www.break.com/index/christmas-light-hero.html

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ladybuglw
Posted on December 12, 2012 at 1:48pm
Impressive, innovative, noisy (wouldn’t want to live next to them). But, really what does it have to do with the REAL Christmas? Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t see one nativity scene. Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ, not Santa, snowmen, reindeer, etc. Time to light up my nativity scene. If you don’t have one, get one.

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- David286 - FL
  Posted on December 13, 2012 at 10:20am
  Actually if you check most of their websites they use FM transmitters so people can listen to it in their cars and the neighbors don’t have to listen to it all night long.
  
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smitty1007
Posted on December 12, 2012 at 1:17pm
Did you notice what is missing in all of these displays?

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- KennyKool
  Posted on December 12, 2012 at 1:31pm
  Let’s see, Christmas, Christ, nothing even remotely resembles Christmas, very sad indeed. I can’t wait until “gangnam” hits the dirt, I hate that noise!!
  
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jinkxed
Posted on December 12, 2012 at 11:33am
Cool, the first house in the last video “Mashup” is here in Meridian Idaho. I was just there on Saturday night.

Here is their website:

http://www.cornellchristmas.webs.com/

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Go Glenn
Posted on December 12, 2012 at 11:00am
I have seen a few home decorated like these with music broadcast on a certain radio station.

The controllers for lights like this are not that expensive. Packages do all the technical stuff but way too much time involved in stringing lights and decorations. I am way too lazy to do what these people have done.

Thankfully, there are some Christmas loving people still out there.

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texaspug
Posted on December 12, 2012 at 4:00am
OK… I can’t even put ONE string of lights up!

I LOVE their passion…. it makes people like me smile :)

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JCBeckner
Posted on December 11, 2012 at 9:45pm
Sometimes I’ hope to see our local courthouse make one of these lists. And they actually use the music of the season: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k9uVezlrZM

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- Margyt
  Posted on December 12, 2012 at 12:29am
  Beautiful! ACLU stay away!
  
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- Chrison
  Posted on December 12, 2012 at 2:07am
  I actually liked this one better than the “modernist” ones in the article. Sorry, but Metallica and Gangnam just aren’t my thing. Give me traditional Christmas music any day!
  
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- PIGSWILLNEVERFLY
  Posted on December 12, 2012 at 2:46am
  Yours is the BEST !! Thanks loved it. Wow. That’s quite a courthouse. Love the music. Those were the days.
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc0FXWqZnxU
  
  There is a whole neighborhood of lights – car tour of “Natal Circle” on you tube.
  
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buttons1
Posted on December 11, 2012 at 7:04pm
they were okay but would have been better with Christmas music.

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- Two Sheds
  Posted on December 11, 2012 at 9:20pm
  Dude, there was Christmas music. Regular old fashoned hymns played through a Marshal stack, ya old phart!
  
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- pbrenda51
  Posted on December 11, 2012 at 9:59pm
  I agree…..Christmas is Christmas and we don’t need the gangnam style culture in our religious holiday…..I found them insulting quite frankly………I want Christmas music for CHRISTMAS!!!
  
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- glassaudioguy
  Posted on December 11, 2012 at 10:37pm
  BAH, HUMBUG to the first three and Metallica. An especially hearty HUMBUG to Psy and Gangnum Style! I did like the rockin’ version of Ding Dong Merrily On High, though.
  
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FightingBear
Posted on December 11, 2012 at 5:43pm
To each his own…none of the 10 even remotely appealed to me.

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Arnold_Ziffel
Posted on December 11, 2012 at 5:07pm
I watched 30 seconds of the first gangnam tribute. Now I want that 30 seconds of my life back.

None of it was Christmas, all of it was grossly overdone.

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Black Manta
Posted on December 11, 2012 at 3:57pm
Man…you heathens love your christmas….Jeremiah 10:1-5…

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- Thisstinks
  Posted on December 12, 2012 at 2:27am
  You are right, but when Yeshua died on the cross all the old laws went away. That covenant was replaced with a new and we are told to not live the letter of the law, but the intent. Still, the Lord said “Have you not read,” he wasn’t talking about the gospels. Danial, Ezekiel and Jeremiah happened at the same time and are a very important study. That study will pull in Revelations and Kings and when I read Kings my jaw dropped and I began to have a little understanding.
  
  Those displays had nothing to do with Christ, but everything to do with what Christmas has become. I will put up a tree though and not worry about the letter of the law, I will thank him for his gift.
  
  Doug
  
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clinbu
Posted on December 11, 2012 at 3:42pm
Here is my display.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI0SjErCK64&list=UU4C6ht1up_yiLrVbp5npXUg&index=5

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- LeadNotFollow
  Posted on December 12, 2012 at 2:27am
  Nice display.
  Loved the song.
  Thank you.
  MERRY CHRISTMAS!
  
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- LeadNotFollow
  Posted on December 12, 2012 at 2:35am
  “Christmas with a Capital C”
  
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- nzkiwi
  Posted on December 12, 2012 at 5:48am
  That was great, Clinbu.
  
  Merry Christmas to you and yours.
  
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heavyduty
Posted on December 11, 2012 at 3:02pm
Lights were good, but music was crap. Really need to stick with Christmas theme music. A couple were close but none hit the target.

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- thara
  Posted on December 11, 2012 at 3:28pm
  I agree. I don’t think anything can compare to the Holdman Christmas House display. They are really great.
  
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LovinUSA
Posted on December 11, 2012 at 2:34pm
Sorry, but none of these reflect the beauty of the christmas event when Christ was born, this is all just a competition lately to see who can out do each other, you can see there was a lot of work put into the lighting but once it all started it ruined the meaning, and the season, the music had nothing to do with this heavenly event, what a shame to waste all that electricity and equipment on ruining the true meaning of Christmas. Very disappointing. The forst one that ever came out was spectacular, but nw it all is just totally over run and means nothing .

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- busterpuddles
  Posted on December 11, 2012 at 5:07pm
  ‘Seizure inducing’ is about right. If Christ were still dead in his tomb, he’d be rolling around in it. I’d say it’s blasphemous. (Although, the light shows are top notch! I like the singing housetop and snowmen. Way cool!)
  
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mister0ttawa
Posted on December 11, 2012 at 1:14pm
I do something like this in our small town of Danville IL (30,000) I have the music set up on a small transmitter with a “Tune into 88.1″ sign out front so you can listen and watch from the warmth of your own car.

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SaturdaysWarrior76
Posted on December 11, 2012 at 12:04pm
I must be getting old… I found them all annoying! I prefer to see the lights without all the flashing, etc. and enjoy them as they are, without all the “hoopla” . You have to give these people credit though, for their ingenuity and effort! America is so cool. People can express themselves with freedom and not everyone has to like it! I can go to another block and see something along my own tastes. :)

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- yanki161
  Posted on December 11, 2012 at 12:59pm
  You stole my first words. I feel the same way. Creative…. yet annoying. (And I don’t even understand how you can mix it with non-Christmas music.)
  
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- PlowMan
  Posted on December 11, 2012 at 1:06pm
  You must be getting old. lol But your right! America is awesome! Let’s just try to keep it that way! Merry Christmas everyone!!
  
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- LogCabinRepublican
  Posted on December 11, 2012 at 1:41pm
  The one done by Messages on Hold is by far the best! He is in Perth Australia, Since he had done Gangman Style and had gotten such a following online this year he had to cut his show short. Within 3 days he had over 1,000 people on his small street and therefore had to cancel. He spent some 90 hours just programming the light show along with almost a week setting up with a team of about 5. This year would have been really good since his neighbor across the street also decorated and they were able to link it all wirelessly so both houses would go off at the same time. He excepts donations and all money goes to charity. He has a group on Facebook as well as his YouTube channel.
  
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COFemale
Posted on December 11, 2012 at 11:47am
I wish my son’s neighbor in Kernersville, NC would record their home an put it on You Tube. I went back for a funeral and they had their home all lite up and you could tune into a radio station to hear the music, otherwise you only see the lights.

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- SaturdaysWarrior76
  Posted on December 11, 2012 at 12:05pm
  Now there’s a good idea for people like myself who just want to see the lights alone without all the music.
  
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- buzbee
  Posted on December 11, 2012 at 4:16pm
  hey cofemale, my daughter lives in Kernersville, NC. Never thought I’d see anyone else bring up the palce. It’s a small area but very pretty there! I will have to tell her to go check out the towns’ lights.
  
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- glassaudioguy
  Posted on December 11, 2012 at 10:40pm
  Using a low power FM transmitter is the norm not the exception. It’s not like these places are using big PA systems to blast the neighborhood. I’ve thought of doing something like this myself, but I live on an extremely busy two lane highway and would likely get cited for backing up traffic.
  
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ThomasUSA
Posted on December 11, 2012 at 11:20am
Boy… THAT put me in the Christmas Spirit! – Excuse me while I punch an elderly shopper in the face that was about to take the last X-box…

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Pork_Anvil
Posted on December 11, 2012 at 11:11am
“Zaniest?”

Who says there’s a “war on Christmas!”

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