Alek’s Controllable Christmas Lights For Celiac Disease Are Online!

For the many who have asked, the Controllable Christmas Lights for Celiac Disease are online for 2008!

There are three live Web cams and X10 powerline control technology system so Web surfers can not only view the action, but also *control* 20,000+ lights. Heck, you can even inflate/deflate the giant Santa, Elmo, Frosty Family, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Homer Simpson — D’OH!

The Web site is totally free (and totally fun) and is one of my zany ways of raising awareness & soliciting donations for Celiac Disease; my two sons have this condition, so it’s personal for me.

If folks are so inclined, you can make an optional donation directly to the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research. Over $30,000 has been raised with holiday lights — go figure!

While people around the world (154 countries last year) enjoy seeing the lights ON, environmentalists will be happy to know that they can turn the lights OFF with a click of the mouse. Better yet, this is the 5th year I’m using wind power and even though it is “clean” energy, I even did a carbon offset contribution for the 0.6 tons of CO2 for the ~MegaWatt-hour of power consumed — that’s about the same as one cross-country airline trip. Finally, by providing viewing via Web cam, you don’t need to burn fossil fuels by driving around to see Christmas lights; Al Gore would be proud!

But HEY, the couple bucks a day in electrical costs are well worth the joy it brings to people (especially the kids) when they see the display in person and/or on the Web . There’s even a hi-def option, so gather your family around the large screen and open up some eggnog as the chestnuts are roasting on an open fire.

So surf on by, tell your friends, blog about it, spread the word, etc. Merry Christmas and HO-HO-HO!

Alek

P.S. A surprise fan favorite last year was the aptly named Burrito Reindeer. The fine folks at radio station KIYU in Galana, Alaska first pointed out this interesting visual oddity as it brought some Christmas cheer to the remote Yukon. They did a promotion and ended up raising $1,000 for Celiac Disease in 2007. In 2008, they made another $1,000 charitable donation — WOW! Read more here.