I built this several years ago and it utilizes several 16F88 PICs , a handful of 74595's, a zero crossing power supply, a bunch of SSRs and all get connected to a pc.
ENJOY unconventional Christmas music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quUawNfUoRw
by the way I have lots of bare SSR boards and contemplating selling all the controller boards. My wife dosen't wantr me on a ladder.
There are 14000 lights, all little bulbs, none of the big 110v bulbs. The program that I use has a wattage calculator based on the programming of the 128 channels w/ 256 levels of dimming.
The total wattage is pretty low. All the lights are on two - 20 amp circuits that have other items connected in the house.
My wife, the first year I put up the lights, was waiting for Jasnuary electric bill. Only went up a few dollars.