Christmas Lights

I love Christmas lights. As you know from reading my blog, I love everything that makes my home beautiful. Making my home beautiful ranges from planting spring bulbs to putting up Christmas lights. I put at least one string of these lights up every year depending upon my mood. If energetic and organized many strings of Christmas lights illuminate my house.

I remember with fondness the ordeal of the Christmas lights of my youth. If one bulb was burnt out the entire string wouldn't work. We would spend a few hours every year testing the lights and replacing the older burnt out bulbs. These older strings of lights were heavy and putting them up was a delicate procedure. Should the string of Christmas lights slip from your hand and bang the house or ground, you were liable to break a bulb or "jar" a bulb to sleep and you would have to investigate the entire string again. Once the the lights were finally attached to the gutter, they were a sight to behold.

Fixing Christmas lights these days couldn't be easier. I actually came across a hand held "light fixer" while doing a search on Amazon. There was also a small tester. I put in the ad for the "fixer" below.




The standard Christmas lights were red and green. However, before I was too old there were blue and yellow and white Christmas lights. Our family always had a string of multi-colored lights which ran the width of the house along the rain gutter. Sometimes the shrubs beneath were adorned with a a rambly string of lights. Secretly, I thought the houses with solid blue or green lights looked more sophisticated. Families with the excellent good fortune of having a conical shaped evergreen tree growing in their front lawns made the outside Christmas trees. For 50 weeks per year I was happy we had a large climbable maple on our front lawn but for a few weeks per year I wished things might be different.

These days Christmas lights trends seem to change every year. Some trends I adore for the first year and then subsequently loathe (Christmas icicle lights). In general I prefer the more subtle Christmas lights trends and always studiously avoid the "Santa on the roof" displays.

A big breakthrough in Christmas lighting is the LED lights. These lights are light weight, last forever, are extremely durable, and require very little energy. The cost of these lights has decreased dramatically over the past few years. I currently own at least 6-8 strings of these lights. Sadly, I have not properly labeled which ones are indoor Christmas lights and which are outdoor Christmas lights. I really do not recall which are which. I have two large boxes of these lights and I suppose I should pull them out in the next few days to look for hints as to their identities.

For me, Christmas lighting is a joy. I look forward to the weekend that we put our lights on the house. I also really look forward to strolling around the neighborhood looking at the Christmas lights of my neighbors.