1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Still have your Christmas lights?

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by qbee42, Jan 22, 2009.

  1. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2006
    18,058
    3,075
    7
    Location:
    Northern Michigan
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    So how many of you are still displaying Christmas (holiday, winter solstice, etc.) lights?

    Our winters are long and dreary, so there is a tendency in this area to display outside lights until sometime in March. Even the municipal lights in our village are still on display.

    Mine are still up. Our real Christmas tree is down, but the small artificial one in the den is still up. During the Christmas holidays I burn our outside lights every night for a few hours, but this time of year I save them for special occasions or particularly nasty weather.

    [​IMG]

    Tom
     

    Attached Files:

  2. timberwolf

    timberwolf New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2008
    220
    31
    0
    Location:
    UK
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Nope, UK tradition holds that it is bad luck to still have your christmas decorations up after the Twelfth day of christmas.
     
  3. SDP40F501

    SDP40F501 Junior Member

    Joined:
    May 10, 2008
    81
    1
    8
    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    We just (within the last three weeks) got an outside electrical outlet (including outlets in the garage for plugging in future PHEVs), so for the first time we will be able to have outdoor lights! Just wait until next December!!!
    :D

    Jim
     
  4. eagle33199

    eagle33199 Platinum Member

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2006
    5,122
    268
    0
    Location:
    Minnesota
    Vehicle:
    2015 Prius v wagon
    Model:
    Two
    Mine are still up. And they will be until the snow melts and it's warm enough to remove them without getting frostbite :)

    As for turning them on... they're on an automatic light-sensitive timer, so i never really think about it.
     
  5. JSH

    JSH Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 23, 2007
    2,605
    140
    0
    Location:
    PDX
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    When my wife and I got married I bought 20 boxes of lights the day after Christmas for about a buck each with the intention of going all out the following year. The next year came and I took a look at the lights. 20 strands x 75 watts per strand. That is 1.5 kilowatts of electricity. Family tradition is to put up the lights on Thanksgiving and run light them for the month of December. That is 186 KWh of electricity! Christmas lights alone would negate our switch from incandescent lights to CFL. So no lights for us.
     
  6. eagle33199

    eagle33199 Platinum Member

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2006
    5,122
    268
    0
    Location:
    Minnesota
    Vehicle:
    2015 Prius v wagon
    Model:
    Two
    You make a very good point... this is the first year i've done lights (also the first winter i've lived someplace i own), so i bought all LED lights. Brighter, whiter, and they use a small fraction of the energy of a normal strand. Until you buy/see LED Christmas lights up on a house, you don't really notice how yellow normal "white" lights are.
     
  7. JSH

    JSH Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 23, 2007
    2,605
    140
    0
    Location:
    PDX
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    I have thought about LED lights but really we aren't home for Christmas anyway. We have not spent a single Christmas at home since we've been married. About 3 years ago we gave our Christmas tree to my sister-in-law. For the past 3 years our holiday decorations have been limited to a wreath on our front door.
     
  8. HTMLSpinnr

    HTMLSpinnr Super Moderator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2003
    5,341
    920
    251
    Location:
    Surprise, AZ (Phoenix)
    Vehicle:
    2018 Tesla Model 3
    Model:
    N/A
    I didn't bother w/ lights this year as we were in the midst of having our 3rd child around then, and I didn't take the time to replace the rest of my incandescent lights (80%) w/ LED strings this year. My folks put my artificial, LED lit tree up while I was gone, and sadly, it still sits undecorated in my living room. Perhaps this weekend it'll get put back in it's sack. ;-)
     
  9. judymcfarland

    judymcfarland Queen of Moral Indignation

    Joined:
    Nov 27, 2006
    578
    4
    0
    Location:
    Glendale, WI
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Yeah, the fake Christmas tree is still up in the living room. I did get ride of the "real" wreath hanging on the fireplace face (yesterday), and one of these days I'll take the tree down. I keep it and the ornaments in the garage & it's too cold to get the boxes out right now. Maybe if we get a mild day in the next week or so. I haven't turned the lights on in a week, so maybe no one will notice it's still there. . . .
     
  10. nascrlvr

    nascrlvr nascrlvr

    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2009
    1,200
    25
    7
    Location:
    Pacific Northwest
    Vehicle:
    2021 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Limited
    Nope, my lights, tree, etc., are put up in the attic. We are blessed to not have "weather issues" that hamper all that...... Now it's time to put up the Mardi Gras decorations. Yep, I put up a Mardi Gras tree.........
     
  11. billarb

    billarb New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 7, 2008
    114
    1
    0
    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Ours are down but we have a neighbor who goes all out when decorating his abode. He uses lots and lots of those inflatable Santas, Rudolphs, Snowmen, etc. He's not packed the inflatables away, nor does he fill them up any longer. They lay out on his lawn, deflated, looking like multi-colored puddles of jell-o!!!
     
  12. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

    Joined:
    Feb 25, 2004
    14,487
    1,518
    0
    Location:
    Spokane, WA
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    I never do decorative lights. But then I don't celebrate any of the winter holidays, either. I do feel sad that Christians have turned the nativity of Jesus, who advocated selflessness, into an orgy of greed.
     
  13. HTMLSpinnr

    HTMLSpinnr Super Moderator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2003
    5,341
    920
    251
    Location:
    Surprise, AZ (Phoenix)
    Vehicle:
    2018 Tesla Model 3
    Model:
    N/A
    Maybe that's the reason I decided not to go all out this year. I'm not religious, and Christmas has turned into a commercialized means of balancing the books at the end of the year. Then again, I work for a company in Retail, so I shouldn't complain too loudly.
     
  14. alanh

    alanh Active Member

    Joined:
    May 22, 2007
    1,175
    99
    0
    Location:
    Phoenix, AZ
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Nope, put away. I have them up from the weekend after Thanksgiving through the weekend after New Year's. I did finally switch to all LEDs.
     
  15. geeky teacher

    geeky teacher New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 18, 2007
    393
    7
    0
    Location:
    West Suburban Chicago
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    I just might get motivated enough to take the evergreen swag with the red bow off the mailbox this week. I keep forgetting to take a pair of scissors or wire cutters with me when I get the mail.
     
  16. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2006
    18,058
    3,075
    7
    Location:
    Northern Michigan
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Most of the snow is gone now, so our lights are down. I even have them put away. Sometimes that doesn't happen. When I realize that the lights are still in bags waiting to be put away, but it's almost time to put them back up, I realize that another year has mysteriously slipped away.

    Tom
     
  17. patsparks

    patsparks An Aussie perspective

    Joined:
    Jul 12, 2007
    10,664
    567
    0
    Location:
    Adelaide South Australia
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Put mine away about a month ago, for some reason I was busy in January.
     
  18. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Nov 26, 2003
    19,891
    1,193
    9
    Location:
    Nixa, MO
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Finally got mine down last week. Between less than desireable weather and convalescing from shoulder surgery it took me quite a while...much to my wife's chagrin.
     
  19. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2006
    18,058
    3,075
    7
    Location:
    Northern Michigan
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    It's never too late.

    As for us, we almost have leaves on the trees. I can see a few buds, and a tiny bit of color here and there.

    Tom
     
  20. PriusLewis

    PriusLewis Management Scientist

    Joined:
    Feb 25, 2009
    1,002
    84
    7
    Location:
    Denver Metro
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    My Jeff Foxworthy daily calendar a couple of weeks ago said "You Might Be A Redneck If...your kids trip over Christmas lights looking for Easter eggs." :pound:

    Personally we don't participate (energy use, commercialism, "plastic" urban culture - many reasons, really).