[Chugman]

Every year at about this time I have a Tug of War going on with myself about outdoor Christmas decorations.

One side of me loves to look at them and the other side hates to put them up. My same neighbor that has the "beautiful lawn" that makes the rest of us work at ours harder than we want to, also has the "to die for Christmas decorations." What's with this guy?

I look at the weather forecast to decide the best day to do it. I want it to be nice, but secretly hope it wouldn't so I don't have to do it today. LOL

How much do I put up? Just the minimum or go for broke? Maybe just the manager scene in the yard? Or just a few lights in the shrubs? Certainly not the wreath over the garage doors or lights on the eaves. As I watch the neighbor installing his magnificent lights all synced to his specially chosen music.

Maybe I should go down and work on my layout until I can make a good decision? Maybe a little egg nog will help?

Merry Christmas

Art

 

[Big Jim]

Art,
Decorating your house for Christmas is just like building your train layout. It is yours, find a way that satisfies you and your family. Don't let the house down the street dictate your creativity! Enjoy what others have done, but, more importantly be at peace with your own creation!

 

[Fire21]

My fortune is that my house doesn't have any outside outlets! So I have no reason to put up outside decorations. But the wife busies me with indoor stuff. hwell:

 

[Dieseler]

What Big Jim posted is spot on. I recall when our kids were small putting up so many outdoor lights and one year falling off ladder hanging them around garage gutter now that really hurt.
Now a days the tree goes up and decorated in front of the large front room window and thats about it.
Folks came and went over the years in our area we been here 30 years when sub division was first built and along with some other longtime neighbors they have also downsized the decorations as we have aged.

Some newer young neighbors with small children decorate like some of us use to when we were younger and believe me those homes look very nice and it puts a smile on the Mrs an i face when we look out the window at night this time of year.

Our tree is going up today and will be decorated and lit tomorrow 1st of Dec as that is our tradition while others do so a little earlier .

 

[seayakbill]

Not as much as I use to do. Wife still goes all out inside our home but the outside this year gets 480 of the small lights ( that came from Menards ), 4 strings at 120 per string. I might dig out the lighted Reindeer but that may be a longshot.

Bill

 

[Krieglok]

When I was a kid, my parents didn’t put lights up on the house. We kids did it because it was fun.

I put them up now, on my house, but the display has become smaller and smaller every year. My kids never took up the task. Like Dieseler noted, you do it more when you have younger kids.

Now we go for very simplified set ups. Bush “light nets” and maybe a string down the driveway. No more spiderwebs of extension cords...

Tom

 

[Spence]

I have never decorated outside.

 

[Lehigh74]

I put the same lights up every year so I’ve got it down pat. Ten 25 C9 light strings on a large yew bush and four C9/C7 strings around windows and a door on the first floor. The 250 incandescent C9 bulbs on the yew bush were too much for a timer…burned it out. So, I switched most of them to screw in LEDs. The lights go up around Thanksgiving before it gets too cold, stop being lit after Epiphany and come down around Easter after it warms up a bit.

 

[DennyM]

I like to, but the squirrels keep chewing through the wires.

 

[Krieglok]

I like to, but the squirrels keep chewing through the wires.

Make sure they aren’t in your attic!

Tom

 

[Toy train hobby]

While I do enjoy looking at our neighborhood of outdoor Christmas lights, I keep my deco to a minimum. If I feel the need to get more elaborate, I'll place a circle of Z scale track around it. When the season is over, it's unplugged and put away.

 

[Lee Willis]

I don't do any outdoor decorations except a wreath with a red ribbon above the front door. Too much work to put them up . . . and them take them down.

 

[Jeff T]

We spent last week in Florida. I think I found my answer.

 

[Chugman]

I don't know about you, but the two years we lived in Florida it just didn't seem the same with Christmas lights on palm trees. We had the holiday spirit, but we missed our Midwestern roots. And there was just something about not having the change of seasons that we couldn't get over completely. The warm weather was great and I did not miss shoveling snow at all.

Art

 

[ERIE610]

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS IXNAY FOR ME

No outside decorations for me. Since Vinyl Siding was put on the house the wife will not let me drill holes in said vinyl for hooks & other fasteners. All right with me since I do not relish being high up on a ladder to string out some Christmas Lights.

LATER

 

[highvoltage]

For decades we've been putting a single candle light in every window except the back of the house. They're 120vac and have a sensor so they turn on at dusk. That and a wreath on the door is about all we do. Quick and easy.

I think people who light up their houses like New York City have something to prove.

 

[SantaFeJim]

I think people who light up their houses like New York City have something to prove.

Fortunately we live in a free country so you can think whatever you choose.

 

[Chugman]

Jim is right, "what ever floats your boat." I really enjoy most outdoor decorations, but not enough to be worth the time and physical risk that it takes to be done.

So mine will be the "dark house" at the end of the cul-de-sac again this year. We do have a manager crib with spotlight and garlands and bows on all the outdoor house lights.

Art

 

[Big Jim]

Jim is right, "what ever floats your boat." I really enjoy most outdoor decorations, but not enough to be worth the time and physical risk that it takes to be done.

Art

"That's what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown!"

"I think people who light up their houses like New York City have something to prove."

So, highvoltage, what do I have to prove...Hmmm?

BTW, I made the Angels, Poinsettias and Wreaths.

 

[Jeff T]

I enjoyed the palm trees with lights!! Having suffered from frostbite back when I was a carpenter, my hands get cold very fast. I'm not an indoor guy and the older I get the more I realize we are all on borrowed time. I'll take the Florida sun and warmth over the Midwest snow and cold...

Retirement, getting closer!!