"The Schwippies" refers to the four members of the household in which this Christmas Tree lives. These four members are: And for the record: Schwippy is NOT our last name.

Brian, Mr. Schwippy, is very inventive and is constantly working on various electronic projects. He prides himself in being a geek, and this is just another idea that popped into his head one day, and he created it. There really isn't more to it than that; his mind is simply amazing. If you would like to see some of his other projects, check out www.plasma2002.com.

Yes, we promise you, its all real. You really are controlling the lights, (along with the other users on the site at that time), and the webcam feed really is live. They are really turning on and off in our house when you turn them on and off. Occasionally you will see a cat walk by, or one of us humans. Occasionally you will see us do funny, random things because people still don't believe we are really live, such as holding up signs with their names or doing jumping jacks.

Probably not, unless we're really bored. You'd have to bug either SchwippyBrian or SchwippySarah in the chat room until one of us gives in.

Our home is in Riverside, California. We live in the Pacific Standard Timezone.

Basically, it uses the x10 system. For those of you who aren't geeks and have no clue what that is: each of the colors of lights is hooked up to a seperate numbered reciever. The computer has a "program" which, when you press red on, sends a wireless signal to the reciever on the red lights, telling them to turn on. If you'd like more information than that, or want to know how to hook up your own system like it, you can visit Brian's write-up at www.plasma2002.com/tree.

Just start typing in the chat box to the right of the Christmas Tree! If you'd like to change your username, simply type /nick username where 'username' is whatever you'd like it to be.

They are the administrators and moderators who help us keep watch over the tree.

When moderation is turned on, it means that only people with 'the voice' can speak and be heard by others. We do this because many people flood our chat room and cause chaos by spamming and cursing. If you have the voice, you will see a "+" next to your name. In order to obtain a voice, you will need to change your nickname to something other than the ustreamer default. In order to change your nickname, you need to type /nick username, where 'username' is whatever you want it to be. Your nickname must be appropriate and may not contain the word "schwippy". If you obtain a voice, and are inappropriate, you will be banned immediately, without warning. Also, you must speak ENGLISH only, so that our english-speaking moderators can make sure everyone is staying appropriate. Please keep our site G-rated and family-friendly!

No, you can't, don't bother asking. If anyone else (besides those listed above) is carrying the name "Schwippy" in the chat room, they are either frauds, or friends or family that think they are funny. Sarah, Brian, Matt, Dan and Shibby are the only people that will ever carry mod privileges. If we choose to add any other close friends as mods, we'll add their name above.

As of now, yes. We probably will not be broadcasting much longer after Christmas has passed. After the site is taken down, you can always find us at www.schwippy.com, or in the Schwippy Forums, just in case you find it absolutely necessary to keep in touch.

First of all, no. Second of all, no. Third of all, stop trying to burn our house down.

Actually, we moved completely! We moved out of our little 2 bedroom apartment and bought a huge 4 bedroom/3 bath house in May of 2008. The tree is located in our entry/living room. The room is pretty empty, so we figured it'd be a nice place to set up the tree.

Very few people know how it all started, and we'd like to keep it that way. The meaning and the origin are not as important as what it's become, and who's been affected by it.

Okay, now you can go ahead and ask around in the chat room!