Chevy Chase in the movie ?Christmas Vacation? put so many outdoor lights on his house that it browned out the neighborhood. Here's a safer way to turn the neighborhood into a full-blown, traffic-stopping, eye-popping winter wonderland complete with life-sized Christmas characters. You can have snowmen, reindeer, elves, and even Santa himself. All you need is a sheet of half-inch-thick plywood, some patterns from a craft shop, carbon paper and a little imagination. Lay the pattern on the wood with some carbon paper in between. Or use a heavy soft-lead pencil on the pattern back. Then trace the pattern onto the wood, remove the pattern and redraw the lines with a heavy black marker. Cut your character out with a jigsaw and add a coat of white oil-base primer front, back and on all edges. The black lines will bleed through making it easy to fill in the colors that'll bring your characters to life. And that's the On The House tip for today.