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Light Up the Night
 By Joanne Rock It’s dark at 5:00 where I live these days. Welcome to Standard Time… the long, dark days of late fall and winter. Like clockwork, however, my husband breaks out the Christmas lights this time of year. We have some different opinions on how the exterior decorating of the house should be handled. I’m old-school traditional. I like candles in the window (and hey, I’m progressive, they can be the electric variety) and green boughs wrapped around the white columns of the porch. I’ll throw in some red bows here and there. I like a wreath on the lamppost. And ta-da, our traditional farmhouse is decorated just right. But my husband never met a Christmas light he didn’t like. Chevy Chase was one of his heroes before Christmas Vacation, but the decorating job in that film cemented his appreciation of the Griswold patriarch. Over the years, we’ve made progress on our differing decorating ideas. And thankfully, Dean’s come a long way in his decorating skills since the early days of our marriage. I can look back now with a certain fondness for the years when he outlined the words “Hi Santa” on our roof. That didn’t look so bad (though you had to be fairly far from the house to appreciate his talent), but the lighting on the rest of the house was another story. Instead of outlining a roof or winding around a column with the lights, he’d string a strand of lights from one column to another – horizontally—to flap in the breeze like the plastic flags around a used car lot. He’d pick up white wire spiral trees and nouveau stuff on clearance after the holidays to torment me with the following year. But with age comes wisdom. Our lighting is little more restrained these days, and looks less like an amusement park attraction and more homey. I’ve relegated most of the multi-colored strands of icicle lights to the backyard for around our pool in the summer (okay, so that’s a bit fun-park-ish, but it’s the backyard). The candy canes that used to freeze in the ground until the March thaw have been happily misplaced. And I’m pretty sure he broke the white wire spiral tree trying to pry it out of the ice one February. Our roofline is now edged in white icicle lights in addition to my more traditional stuff. I can live with that! Isn’t compromise a happy thing? Although I noticed today the multicolored strands are stacked by the back door, almost as if he has big plans in mind for them… So what do you usually do to spruce up the home exterior for the holidays? A wreath on the door? Greenery on the patio? Or do you like to break new records on the electric bill with a light display that brings out the neighbors? Chat with me about your decor and I’ve got a signed copy of any of my backlist books AND a signed copy of Catherine Mann’s Silhouette Desire, Propositioned Into a Foreign Affair for one random poster. Tags: Christmas, decorating, holidays 23 Responses to “Light Up the Night”Leave a Comment |
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November 11th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Honestly, I’m delighted if I manage to clear enough living room space to put up our tree (complete with increasing numbers of kid-made ornaments :)) We don’t tend to decorate outside the house much, but we do have some neighbors who go all out, and it’s very fun to enjoy their displays during the holidays!
November 11th, 2009 at 10:08 am
I pretty much decorate the entire living room, dining room, kitchen and bathrooms of my home. I won’t say that I do it happily, but I have the stuff, so I might as well. Then it takes me a month or so to get the gumption to take it all down again. lol
Deidre
November 11th, 2009 at 10:28 am
I like these icicle lights for the roofline, and we have some other lights outdoor, but no multicolored. I can have something red in the windows, but very small ones. Inside I decorate a lot, and especially our three cats enjoy it!
November 11th, 2009 at 10:53 am
We decorate both inside an out. We have a real tree with trains around it… decorations both bought and handmade… little statues, Nativity, lights all around, snow globes, themed towels, stockings for us and our pets, etc. For outside, we do the usual wreath, lights, sleigh, reindeer, etc…
November 11th, 2009 at 11:09 am
I don’t decorate a lot but I do put up a few lights and hang a wreath on the door. I spend more time decorating inside than on the outside.
November 11th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
I decorate every room in my home with at least something Christmasy. Maybe some figurines or candles, but every room has something.
For outside (and on the tree) I only use white lights. They’re taseful and timeless.
November 11th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
I live in an apartment so I don’t get to decorate outside. I remember though when I was young my mother was almost like Clark Griswold. We lived in a two story house that had two roof lines and I remember having to get up there with my brother to hang lights up. I have a fear of heights now, I guess I didn’t back then, maybe thats what caused it. She had the big santa in his sleigh on the roof with umpteen reindeer and all kinds of lit up decorations in the yard. We had extension cords running everywhere. What a fire hazard. I have a friend that has a Christmas tree of some kind in every room of her house during the holidays. She has a really neat one that hangs upside down from the ceiling. It’s really cool.
November 11th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Hi Joanne, Here in France people are just STARTING to decorate their house for Christmas. ANd their mostly people with young children. It’s really not something we do here. For any hollidays. The first time I sent to the US it was aroud Halloween. I remember all the decorations in people’s garden… awesome ;-)
November 11th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
My husband is a Christmas Light nut as well. I enjoy it though. We have three big inflatables and tons of lights. This year the neighbor wants to rent a cherry picker and string lights from his house across the street to ours! I can imagine the electric bills! Our son loves it though and we get a lot of driveby traffic. It is fun - and when it gets dark so early, after we put all the lights up it looks like daytime in the middle of the night.
November 11th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Sometimes I put lights on the inside of our front windows, in addition to the outdoor ones along the eavestroughs.
Always have a wreath or a huge Santa Claus on the front door.
No patio. No greenery.
Don’t spend more on electricity than necessary, other than to turn the Christmas tree lights on in the daytime sometimes.
Christmas tree has momentos hung since the kids were born, including items from their crib mobiles, stuffed toys, ALL the stuff they made in school (like handprints and pinecones), etc. I labeled everything through the years, so they will know whose is who’s, and we can read who gave them what and when. (It’s not like any of us could remember them all!)
One year I burnt the angel by putting the Christmas light too close to her skirt. Oops! The following year I bought a box of Christmas decorations at a yard sale and included in it was an old ugly angel. I took parts from both angels to make a new and improved model — and she hasn’t burnt to a crisp (yet)!
We use garland on the tree, as well as around all mirrors and framed areas.
We have taken a family photo every year since my eldest was a baby (never by a professional photographer) — and always at special functions (like an anniversary, a BBQ, Christmas if we left it till then and were desperate, graduations, etc.). So we had 5×7 framed pics across our entire living room wall in 3 rows. I decided that we couldn’t go a 4th row without hitting chairs, so I converted all those 5×7 pics into 4×6 pics and placed 9 each in 3 big frames, allowing some extra space for future photos. I used acid-free paper for background and framing, as well as a labeler to explain when and where each photo was taken. It’s amazing when company comes over and wants to check them all out, as not only do you see how the kids have matured, but you see how the parents have turned grey and packed on the pounds. At Christmastime, I use stick-tack to “hang” all our Christmas cards on top of those 4×6 photos in glass. Does it ever look nice!
November 11th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
We live in an apartment so I can’t really go all out with the decorations. I do try to put up lights, window clings and a little wreath on the door.
November 11th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
We put some lights on the windows and some straw animals on the tables.
November 11th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Ahhhhh… Christmas decorations! I love them! We have all the traditional trappings inside - creche, tree, stockings, advent wreath, seasonal dishes and handtowels. Outside, I insist on lights to get into the holiday spirit since we live in Florida and there’s no snow.
One of my favorite traditions came about a few years ago as our decorations grew to such proportions it seemed it would take weeks to set it all up. Now we have a pizza party for our fours kids and their friends. We all decorate together. The only instructions I give? Where the tree and nativity are to be set up. Beyond that, they can use their imaginations. Needless to say we end up with fun and different “looks” every year!
Thanks for the fun blog, Joanne! I still remember that “Hi Santa” Christmas btw!!!
November 11th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
If my hubby had his way it would be the Griswald christmas here on my block. He loves to decorate and if the funds would allow there wouldnt be an inch of space without some kind of light or decoration. I just turn my head and walk away, it is the safest of things to do.
November 11th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
We have the mechanical deer which compete with the real ones
I always put out an antique sled that belonged to my husband’s mother. We have added a couple of lighted wreaths and a lighted tree. My husband is not a Christmas decoration kind of guy so our outdoor lights are very restrained.
We always have a big tree 10-12 feet and the best decorations are still the ones created by my children when they were small. I have a white tile block on which one son painted a Christmas tree. I had it framed in a shadow box. It looks lovely and is one of my favorite Christmas decorations.
November 11th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
My husband is a Grinch when it comes to outside lighting and decorations so I make up for it on the inside. We have to have a live tree (the bigger the better)and I have a tree trimming party every year. I do put lights in the windows from the inside and as long as he doesn’t have to do too much, I can do all the decorating I want :)
November 11th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
we have LED lights framing the house front and we have a gigantic blow up snowman on the lawn. 2 reindeer silhouettes lit by white lights grace the front lawn. I have candy cane light markers which we haven’t used yet for the front walk.
November 11th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
We don’t decorate a lot anymore. I don’t think we put up any lights last year, but I plan to put out a few this year.The last time we put up our icicle lights my hubby left them up until July so I wouldn’t let him put them out again. I was mad about it. I did buy a few decorations after Christmas last year like some dear and I will put them out this year for sure. I just haven’t had time yet to do it.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
I’ve always loved the Christmas lights dancing down the streets on light posts, on buildings, & finally on the houses. We started out with a few “twinkley” deer & when our daughter & husband came to live with us, he added a lot :) more. It is so much fun to see cars slowing down so that young & old eyes could see what was displayed. And it is as much fun taking some of our “older friends” (who are kids at heart) to see all the light displays, as it is the grandkids.
Christmas decorations just seem to want to be in every room in the house. Sometimes with a theme & sometimes with a”just because we love them”! And I always put a pan of water filled with apple peelings,orange rind, cloves & cinnamon on the back burner of the stove. That “lights” up the “Christmas” air in the house!
November 12th, 2009 at 8:08 am
Emmanuelle, I had no idea that outdoor Christmas decorating wouldn’t be as popular abroad. As much as I give my husband a tough time about the lights, I’m sure I’d miss them if we didn’t have them. And Laney, I could picture your photos and the Christmas card display so well! Sounds very nice!
November 12th, 2009 at 8:28 am
Mmm… Jean, your mixture on the burner must smell fantastic. I do that sometimes with cloves and cinnamon, but never the fruti peelings. Yum! And Sandy, I’m envying your sleigh! I’ll bet that’s pretty.
I’ll admit, I do like the big, splashy display at other people’s houses. When we lived in Shreveport, a private home used to decorate with every conceivable light-up display outside (including a Santa arriving in a helicopter) and we visited it every year to take in the sights.
November 12th, 2009 at 8:39 am
Thanks so much for visiting with me! I’m newly inspired and appreciative of my light-happy hubby
. Cheers!
November 12th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Congrats Sandra M!