Christmas lights

[Dwight Schr-ute]

And you didn't tell us about it?

I know. It was very inconsiderate of me. My wife was sick of looking at pockets of darkness on our tree and ordered one about a week before Christmas. Maybe I was subconsciously embarrassed to admit that I had Christmas light problem and needed some As Seen on TV product to fix it.

[Scott R Nelson]

When is it too early to turn on Christmas lights on your house?

When is it too early to turn on Christmas lights on your house?

Half of the houses on my street have them turned on, right now, middle of November. I always figured they shouldn't go on until the evening of Thanksgiving. Mine won't.

And a few of them will still have them on in February as well.



Does this belong in the pet peeve thread?

[Bo Diddley]

When is it too early to turn on Christmas lights on your house?

Half of the houses on my street have them turned on, right now, middle of November. I always figured they shouldn't go on until the evening of Thanksgiving. Mine won't.

And a few of them will still have them on in February as well.



Does this belong in the pet peeve thread?

We don't before Thanksgiving, but if people want to light them up, more power to them. But you're right, Christmas lights do belong in the Pet Peeves thread; Christmas lights 1, Diddley Household 0. I don't want to talk about it.

[happyone]

My rule is Thanksgiving night (If I've got them up )

[beefytee]

Has anyone looked into permanent programmable LED outdoor Christmas lights? What are the options?

[BigPiney]

I am putting them up this weekend, but will not turn them on till Thanksgiving.

[BigFatMeanie]

Has anyone looked into permanent programmable LED outdoor Christmas lights? What are the options?

The options are:

1. Too expensive
2. More expensive

I would love to get these installed as I am deathly scared of heights and won't even get on my roof. But I just can't justify the money for lights. Money for a smoker, yes. Money for lights that I'll use one month of the year, no.

[Soccermom]

When is it too early to turn on Christmas lights on your house?

Half of the houses on my street have them turned on, right now, middle of November. I always figured they shouldn't go on until the evening of Thanksgiving. Mine won't.

And a few of them will still have them on in February as well.



Does this belong in the pet peeve thread?

We have a large Indian population in my community so they put lights on their homes for Diwali and so I get my Christmas lights installed the first of November and fit right in--can have them up that much longer. It is really nice because I just see it as me supporting Diwali and then I transition into Christmas by adding my own stuff to the yard. Plus the installer gives me a discount for getting it done earlier.

[Pelado]

Christmas is celebrated in the heart and in the way we treat others, not in how we decorate our homes and expend electricity.

Also, I'm too cheap and lazy to put up Christmas lights.

[beefytee]

The options are:

1. Too expensive
2. More expensive

I would love to get these installed as I am deathly scared of heights and won't even get on my roof. But I just can't justify the money for lights. Money for a smoker, yes. Money for lights that I'll use one month of the year, no.

They won't be just for one month a year if they are programmable.

We have a guy in our neighborhood who rolled his own setup. He had them orange for Halloween last month and regularly turns them blue and white for BYU game days.

Plenty of other holidays and events work too.

[BigPiney]

Christmas is celebrated in the heart and in the way we treat others, not in how we decorate our homes and expend electricity.

Also, I'm too cheap and lazy to put up Christmas lights.

My wife puts them up most years.

[Pelado]

My wife puts them up most years.

If my wife wanted to do that at our house, it would overcome my laziness but not my cheapness.

[Katy Lied]

Switched to LEDs this year, because we have vinyl liners on our picture windows that cut the draft and cold like, 80%. But didn't want to melt the vinyl with our indoor window christmas lights. So on to LED, but sheesh they are expensive. My husband said we should have bought LEDs in the after-Christmas sales.

[Pelado]

Switched to LEDs this year, because we have vinyl liners on our picture windows that cut the draft and cold like, 80%. But didn't want to melt the vinyl with our indoor window christmas lights. So on to LED, but sheesh they are expensive. My husband said we should have bought LEDs in the after-Christmas sales.

If you knew about the melting vinyl issues during the after-Christmas sales, then he's right.

[Scott R Nelson]

After four years of no lights on the house, but a couple of lighted nativities in the front yard, I'm giving in and finally going to put up some Christmas lights on my house. I figured out how to do it last year, but too late to actually order what I wanted. I'm getting the jump on it this time around.

A large percentage of houses in my neighborhood use a lighting service that puts them up in October or November (See post #17), but they only offer a few styles. You can get a single color, like white, or a mix of two colors (red/white, green/white, red/green, white/blue), but they look too much the same to me. I want something a little different.

One concern that I have is that many of the light strings available at the local stores aren't bright enough. In the past, in California, I always had strings of multi-colored lights using C9 bulbs. By the time the strings started to wear out, a majority of the bulbs had been replaced anyway. I usually needed to replace 8-10 lights each time I put up three strings with 75 lights. Finally, after moving to Folsom, I bought a new set of three strings with clear instead of painted C9 bulbs, but those have gotten to the point of needing replacement lights regularly too. At least the strings aren't breaking yet.

So I decided that since my house has three main gables in front, I'm going with three single color strings on them, green, white, and red. Christmas colors, but also to match the Italian flag, or Mexican flag, or whatever. Last year I tracked down a web site where I could get just the bulbs to use in the strings I already had, 1000bulbs.com, and I just now ordered three sets of 25 of the colors that I need. Once those show up, I'll run over to Lowe's and get a bunch of clips to put them on the eves, and I'll do it all before it gets too cold outside. (I bet that they already have a Christmas section.) But other than one test to make sure they work, they won't go on until Thanksgiving evening. And I'm taking them down on New Year's Day.