Our BetterMost Community > The Holiday Forum
Lights, Brokies, lights!
serious crayons:
This topic is for the discussion of all aspects of holiday light displays, indoors and out, elaborate and simple, tacky and otherwise (hopefully it won't overlap too much with Chuck's "tacky Christmas displays" thread. It is for answering such questions as
1) Do you put up lights? Why or why not?
2) What do you like and dislike in other people's light displays? What are your favorite colors of lights?
3) Do you drive around and look at lights at this time of the year?
4) How do you plug the outside ones in? (I've always wondered about this because some of my homes have not had outdoor outlets.)
5) Do you like those big old-fashioned bulbs? (I noticed HerrKaiser mentioned that he does, in the Christmas quiz, and I do too.)
Etc.
BTW, the title of this topic is in honor of my younger son. When he was about three and we were driving at night around the holidays, he would see some fancy light display and cry out to his older brother, "Lights, [name of older son], lights!"
CellarDweller:
1) Do you put up lights? Why or why not?
My family has always put Christmas lights up. I can't ever remember a time that we didn't.
2) What do you like and dislike in other people's light displays? What are your favorite colors of lights?
I hate the big inflatable monstrosities that everyone seems to put up. I like multicolor smaller lights, however, the white ones are pretty too.
3) Do you drive around and look at lights at this time of the year?
Absofuckinluely! I try to take pics of the really tacky ones! ;D
4) How do you plug the outside ones in? (I've always wondered about this because some of my homes have not had outdoor outlets.)
Our house only recently has outside outlets. In the past, we had an extension cord that ran through one of the windows, to the front porch.
5) Do you like those big old-fashioned bulbs? (I noticed HerrKaiser mentioned that he does, in the Christmas quiz, and I do too.)
I prefer the smaller lights, in multi color. Or all blue. I love blue lights, but they are darker.
Jeff Wrangler:
1) Do you put up lights? Why or why not? Living in a high-rise condo, I feel I don't have a place for outdoor lights, though in the past I have noticed that some of my neighbors have put lights on their balcony railings. My dad still puts up outdoor lights at his house.
2) What do you like and dislike in other people's light displays? What are your favorite colors of lights? I don't much care for those light-up plastic figures, regardless of whether the figures are Santas, snowmen, manger scenes, carolers, or whatever. I also don't like to see too much stuff crammed into a front yard display. During the energy crisis of the 1970s when displays went minimalist, I really developed a liking for plain white lights. I like the icicle lights, too.
3) Do you drive around and look at lights at this time of the year? Sometimes.
4) How do you plug the outside ones in? (I've always wondered about this because some of my homes have not had outdoor outlets.) Well, my dad used to have this plug-thingy. I don't know what it was properly called, but you could screw it into the front porch light socket instead of a bulb, and it had electrical outlets where you could plug in the lights. It was a way of temporarily turning an outdoor light fixture into an electrical outlet.
5) Do you like those big old-fashioned bulbs? (I noticed HerrKaiser mentioned that he does, in the Christmas quiz, and I do too.) I do have a residual fondness for those big outdoor lights. That's what my dad used to decorate when I was a small boy, before the energy crisis and the invention or popularity of the minilights. I also fondly remember their smaller cousins that you used on the indoor Christmas tree. I think one type of bulb was called a C-3 and the other a C-7, but I can never remember which was which.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: CellarDweller on December 05, 2008, 01:33:25 pm ---I love blue lights.
--- End quote ---
"Attention K-Mart shoppers"? ;D ;) :-*
serious crayons:
I love blue lights, too! Though I've wondered if those signify Hanukkah. If so, I may have to start celebrating Hanukkah instead, because I way prefer them to red and green.
Another thing I've noticed more this year is lights in a more limited palette of blue and green with a few reds -- but no yellow, orange or white. I find that color combination really striking. I also like just blue and green, or just blue and purple, or a couple of different shades of purple (that must be Prince's house).
There's this house near here that has those icicle lights hanging from the top of the front porch -- except instead of the usual white ones, these are beautiful cobalt blue. Then on the bushes below, there's a sprinkling of the limited-palette blue/green/red lights. It's beautiful. There's another one nearby that has a single tree heavily outlined in that limited palette. Also really nice.
Other lights and dislights:
1) Like everybody else, apparently, except the people who have them, I hate those huge plastic or inflatable figures. They're sort of the decor equivalent of corny Christmas letters.
2) I used to really like the all-white look, but I think it's been overdone. I did see one all-white house I thought was pretty original because, it emphasized different textures: icicles and regular lights and little snowflake-shaped lights, strategically placed.
3) I think in general I prefer outdoor displays that are a bit underplayed to those that go way overboard. But those way overboard ones are undeniably riveting. Anybody know how much that kind of thing adds to the electricity bill? Do you feel it's frowned upon in these environmentally-conscious days? What if you went way overboard -- but used all green lights? ;D
4) In lights strung on deciduous trees, I much prefer the ones that follow the outlines of the trunk and branches rather than those that are strung horizontally from branch to branch.
5) For tree lights, I'm kind of sick of those ordinary little lights you get at Walgreen's or Target, but they're so cheap and readily available they're hard to resist.
BTW, the questions above are meant as a guideline or jumping off point. You're welcome to answer them individually, but this isn't a survey format, so don't feel obliged to follow them exactly.
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