Cameron's Trash & Treasure Christmas Wonderland

[108CAM]

This thread covers the progress of my Christmas Display called Cameron's Trash & Treasure Christmas Wonderland.

I chose the name because a large portion of the items in my display were thrown away but my patience, desire and interest with fixing things has allowed me to repair what others couldn't be bothered trying to fix.

I started building my display during the 2018/19 Festive Season when I decided to get the box of old lights from the shed and hang them around the backyard gutters.
The 2019/20 Season is when my display really took off. This is when my parents finally allowed me to get on the roof and the display has grown ever since.
Right now, the 2022/23 Season will likely be the final display at my current house. We are hoping to move out in 2023 which means that wherever we end up moving to, my display will move along with us and continue to grow.

The display for the 2022/23 Season is almost complete and starting from now, updates will be posted here.
I'm currently in the process of restringing some Mini Trees and will do another round of light installations once the Mini Trees are finished.

 

[108CAM]

Display Update for December 8, 2022.
Added my Net Light behind the inflatables to create a backdrop and reinstalled a string of incandescent icicles that were temporally removed so I could position the inflatables.
The Inflatable Christmas Tree, North Pole Mailbox, Incandescent Reindeer, Warm White lights on the Mega Tree, a set of 3 solar Christmas trees and the white ropelight are all items we've bought over the years with the remaining lights and decorations being found in hard rubbish because the previous owners couldn't be bothered fixing them. There were even some items were in working condition when I found them.

Later tonight, I'll get a photo of the Roof Display which is pretty much finished. Yesterday I swapped a string and pulled down the icicles that the wind had blown into the gutters. The string I removed from the Roof Display will be reused as a replacement for a badly damaged string that was on a pair of Mini Trees.

Here's a photo of the Yard Display from December 8, 2022

 

[108CAM]

An unexpected surprise greeted me in my Christmas Mailbox while I had opened it to troubleshoot an issue with the cable box that's hidden inside.
Sitting on top of the box was a letter to Santa! It was a bit wet and the snails had begun eating the paper but thankfully the letter survived intact.


The writing has clearly been done by an adult on behalf of their 3 year old son. In the background is some kind of Christmas scene with a small tree next to an unknown orange object with some pink spots that have started to bleed. On the bottom are some lines drawn with a pen.

The letter reads:
Dear Santa,
My name is Noah and I am 3.
What I would really like for Christmas is:
Hulk, cars, games, Trainset, Toys
dancing lama, clothes, monster truck.
Thank you so much Santa

There are a few spelling and grammar mistakes that I spotted and included so it was as close to the original as possible.
My favourite one is with the word "games" which looks more like "6anes" because of the writing.
Other mistakes include Llama spelt as "lama" and a missing space in "Train set" which was written as "Trainset"

I can tell that this letter was made in an office with limited art supplies. This is evident by the use of highlighters and pens to create the background image and the recycled envelope that was used to conceal the letter.

 

[108CAM]

Here's a shot of the Roof & Fence portion of my display. Tonight I'll hopefully get a better photo that includes the 2 Mini Trees that are hiding behind the car.

And a higher quality shot of the Yard Display's right half. I did take a photo of the left half but it came out blurry so I'll have to retake it tonight.

 

[108CAM]

Almost ready to start the 2023-24 display.
It will be pretty much identical to last season but with some new additions.

My traditional yearly addition to the display was made a bit better thanks to a generous person who donated $50 to my display last season.

I've been wanting something that I can use as the entrance to the section of my display where people can walk through and when I saw this 4 metre tall inflatable Gingerbread House on the Bunnings website, I knew it would be a perfect fit.

I used the $50 from last season to purchase a 3 piece kit which has a solar powered Santa Stop Sign, a string of solar fairy lights and an inflatable Gingerbread Man with a very cute face. This is the reason I purchased this kit.

Also got some new gutter clips to top up my supply after last season's record number of broken clips cut my supply by almost half.

I'm also going to build a surprise decoration that I'll reveal when it's finished

 

[thewanderingpine]

Ok. Will have to actually come and walk through this year.