Christmas Lights

Yeah, it's that time of year again. How many of you put up Christmas lights? Do you just string it around a tree and call it a day, or do you go full out and outline the entirety of your roof? Do you use reindeers and sleighs and other additional structures too? (for the non-Christmas inclined, I'm not sure what decorations you might have but talk about them here too)

And here's a random light question for anyone who might have the answer: So my parents just bought these icicle-style lights (where strands of 3-6 bulbs hang down from the main wire) and I'm planning on putting them up. When they come out of the box, though, the icicle parts are all scrunched up and it looks kind of bad. Do these things lengthen on their own with enough time, or do you have to straighten them out? If the latter, what do you do?

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I always go all out. Family habit that has rubbed off on me. Lets just say there's so much I blow fuses when I run a microwave. Okay, maybe not that bad. Last year I had that problem but this year I have the load on everything pretty much even..

The icicle lights will lengthen over time of use. You should stretch them out a few times to aid it. Really, just pull on one end lightly to straighten em out..

There's nowhere I can't reach.

My family tends to line the roof and windows with lights every year. I don't think my parents put out anything else along with the lights besides a Filipino star lantern (called a parol) above their main door. No one else in the neighborhood has anything like it.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Yeah, the family puts up lights all across the deck and around the cedar tree in front of the house. We have coloured lights, white lights, ribbons going around, sometimes the whole nine yards. If its warm outside, my mother spends more time dressing up the yard.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I live in a basement apartment so my brother (the landlord) puts them up, he just puts a string of lights on the roof and around the windows. When I get my own house I'll just do the roof, depends on how many lights I have.

Of course if that is too simple you can always go overboard like This guy

I was speaking idiomatically.

At my house, we string the lights around the tree and, about every other year or so, put some of those icicle lights on the lower gutter. The lights around the tree are blue. The lights outside are white. I don't remember us every decorating the yard with anything, but we do do a fair amount of indoor decorating, which includes a Christmas village.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Chibi Neko

Of course if that is too simple you can always go overboard like This guy

BWAH! Wow, I've never seen that, but that's definately when you should stop and think about whether or not you've taken things too far.

My family just moved into a new house and with that, I don't think we're going to have any lights except on the (fake) Christmas Tree. A bit of a downer.

FELIPE NO

I believe my family still does icicle lights around the entire front of the house, with colored lights on the bushes in front of the front windows. Living in an apartment, I line where the wall and ceiling meets all around the living room/kitchen/hallway, and try to get lights up in the windows. Christmas lights encite too much giddiness in me to pass up.

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We try to put up as many as we can without blowing fuses. The whole house at the moment is almost completely outlined, with about 600-700 lights stapled to steaks out-lining the yard.

That video is awesome! What's that song that's playing? Sounds cool.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

My family hasn't gone all out with the lights for the past few years. Just some candles behind the windows, wreaths, and the parol (as Rydia mentioned) as far as exterior decorations. However, my family's stocked up on thousands of lights over the years, and with my elite engineering abilities, I will do something freaking awesome one Christmas.

The last time my family went "all out" was back when I was in high school, and we put lights all over the house and shrubs, along with some figures (Santa, Frosty, reindeer, etc.). That was the best.

When I was in a dorm/apartment, I put Christmas lights inside around my room. That's about it.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Sarmoti

That video is awesome! What's that song that's playing? Sounds cool.

It's called 'Wizards in Winter'.

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All we do light wise is put them on the tree and call it a day. We have never been that much into over the top lighting or decoration.
We also put a few decorations up, most of it in the front room. But we never put anything in the garden or on the roof, I just think that that is going too far. Nor do we put lights up in the windows, we like to keep it simple.

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We usually do some lights and things, but never anything COLORFUL or creative, like I'd like. We have your typical wreaths and often a spotlight on the house. Some white lights here or there.

This year, my father splurged and got some reindeer that move like they're grazing. I like them because they're interesting. But they're all white, and he has virtually NO creativity about them. Lines them up in a row, all facing the same direction, looking like white nazi reindeers. -_-

I was speaking idiomatically.

Last year we went through the trouble of lining our roof with the icicle lights (which I effectively risked substantial injury for). This year we decided not to bother, and felt it was over the top.

This year, we bought some new garland for the front rails, put some white lights on them, and put candles in the window. At some point there will be a wreathe on the door and a tree in the window, but it's enough.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

We basically keep the lights on the christmas tree and leave it at that. Maybe keep a couple of red lights to entwine the cd case and make the living room glow even more at night. The lights dance in enough patterns to make up for it. We live in an apartment and I'm pretty sure they banned icicle lights on the balcony for some strange reason. We don't have a parol, but it's not like anyone would be able to see it if we had one.

FELIPE NO

At home we decorate our biggest tree outside and put two of those tiny artificial trees in the ground on the other side of our garden. In my room in res, I have a string of LED lights in the window and some bells on my doorhandle....although I'll probably find them annoying in a week or so.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Inside the house we only have lights on the christmas tree and a few little items in the window like candles and such. Recently my dad got hold of a fibre optic christmas tree he put in my mum's porch, although she harbours a secret resentment for it. That's about it.

I'd never do it to my own house but I think houses that are over the top are pretty fun, and it's only for the holidays so why should it matter? In fact it's become a sort of annual family trip to go on a journey my mother likes to call "the Tacky Tour" - all of the houses in the neighbourhood are like the ones in the "Wizards in Winter" video XD

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Over the years it's somehow become my task to put up the Christmas lights. It's an enjoyable job, I guess. The monotony of the work is pleasant. But it's kind of annoying that it'll never get done unless I do it. Case in point:

Today I strung up lights over the garage and half the side of the house (thinking about putting up lights on the other half of the side, which requires going on the roof). Took around 2 hours to do it and lots of precarious ladder balancing acts. Thought I was done with that, but nooo, parents bought a doe/buck light up deer thing, and I had to set it up and then put those out too. My fingertips are terribly raw right now.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Sakabadger

Over the years it's somehow become my task to put up the Christmas lights. It's an enjoyable job, I guess. The monotony of the work is pleasant. But it's kind of annoying that it'll never get done unless I do it. Case in point:

Today I strung up lights over the garage and half the side of the house (thinking about putting up lights on the other half of the side, which requires going on the roof). Took around 2 hours to do it and lots of precarious ladder balancing acts. Thought I was done with that, but nooo, parents bought a doe/buck light up deer thing, and I had to set it up and then put those out too. My fingertips are terribly raw right now.

That's how it is at my parents house as well. If I don't make the first move to take down the Christmas tree, lights, or ornaments, nothing gets done. I somehow think it's a strategy on their part. =p

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

My parents, for various medical reasons, haven't been able to put up the decorations the last couple of years. So I to have been doing all the work around my place and my parents house. Not that I mind much, it's just I have a bit of a problem with heights. So climbing on top of our roof is pretty much a horrible experience for me.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I haven't been home yet, but last year we didn't put anything up for Christmas so I don't know if we're going to bother this year.

Perhaps a few random ornaments and stuff, but I don't even think we're going to put up a tree unless my Mom really wants to. Usually when my Mom feels up to decorating, although we don't go all out, the inside of the house shows off the fact that it's Christmas.

I was speaking idiomatically.

We usually put one or two sets of light inside the house and a just some to light the entrance outside. Maybe I'll put some in my appartment this year, not sure if I'll bother with it; I'm working all day on Christmas.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

We used to put christmas lights on our windows. Not that all out but just enough to give off that christmas vibe. Although we still haven't put them up, since I'm lazy. And we kind of need new ones.

Do you have fire accidents caused by christmas lights? It's pretty rampant in here these days. My friend's mansion (and I mean mansion) got burned down a few weeks ago because of a short-circuit in their train of christmas lights, that then caused a spark, and a fire, that burned their mansion down.

Like naz and rydia, we used to have parols (star lanterns), I even used to make one. Never had one of those for years now, maybe I should make one for this year.

FELIPE NO

We don't decorate the outside because people would try and steal them so we just have lights round the fake tree and in the windows. I put fairy lights round my room and put up my mini tree with prezzies under it. Then we just decorate the inside of the house with wreaths and tinsel etc.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by munchkin13

We don't decorate the outside because people would try and steal them

That might explain why there are not many decorations downtown. In the rest of town you see lights everywhere and those inflatable snowmen and santas.

Jam it back in, in the dark.