My friend Jerry made a lot of these Peanuts characters back when he was a little kid. This year he made some new ones, and set up a variety of scenes from the Charlie Brown Christmas animated feature. Different scenes light at different times, and the mouth of each character is lit as they speak. The whole thing can be seen on north Montreal Street, and you can listen along on 107.1 FM from your warm, toasty car.

This is the brains of the operation. The netbook runs the audio, feeding into a little household FM transmitter. The computer also sends information to the box on the wall, which controls the lights of the display according to a pre-programmed routine. Those cords dangling from the box go to different zones of lighting for the scenes, background lights, and individual characters.

I took the opportunity to put together a little video of the display, which you can view below. If you don’t see playback controls, just mouse your cursor over the bottom part of the video and they’ll pop on.

Go check it out! The display runs in the evenings on north Montreal Street, just north of the intersection with Calgary Avenue.

While talking with someone I knew at the ND Republican Party annual Christmas Party, I received a shot in the arm for my quest to show a different angle of the Capitol building. I think this one will do quite nicely. Time to stagger off to bed.

It’s December, which means that the North Dakota State Capitol is adorned with a Christmas tree shape in its windows. Whether it’s the new year, the 4th of July, or Christmas, the windows of the capitol have become known for being the largest decoration in the city.

I got to wander the halls of the capitol once with the fella who is in charge of making sure that the right windows get changed over (using colored or blank window shades). He has a map that goes floor by floor, a diagram of how things need to be done from the inside to look just right from the outside.

The star on top was airlifted by my friend’s dad in a National Guard helicopter – a Huey, if I recall – many, many years ago. It may be older than I am. If I recall, it has a twin on the back side of the building.

Christmas in central North Dakota wouldn’t be the same without this 18-story (plus the star) display every year!

It’s an annual tradition: the lights go on the day after Thanksgiving! Make sure you check out Northview Lane in northeast Bismarck.