Please Pretend You Are Not as Disappointed as I Am
It's official. 2008? Will forever be known as the year full of fail. No matter how many things went right this year, one very significant thing went wrong: the Christmas lights were never all put up. Even worse, of those that were put up, half of them decided to stop working. I could blame Mother Nature and her damn 5 degree temps, 40 mph winds, and never-ending torrential downpours (because, you know, if it's not 5 degrees then it must be 70 degrees). I could, but I won't. It was just a bad year for the lights. Instead of looking like this:
Our house looked like this:
Try not to be jealous of the lake in our front yard. I fully expect to find that the pond fish have moved to the deeper water in the middle of the lawn any day now.
The good news is that in my quest to replace the defunct icicle lights, I called Mr. Husband to verify the quantity of strands that I should buy. He? ROCKS. He told me to buy twice what I thought I needed because next year at this time WE WILL NOT BE IN THE SAME HOUSE. It's good to know that I'm not the only one who can't wait to move to a bigger house with a better electrical box. I'm sure that is exactly why Mr. Husband wants to move--so we have the wiring to put up twice as many lights.
(Note to self: Last year the rain ruined your sparkly parade, too. PUT THE DAMN LIGHTS UP IN NOVEMBER. Ignore the whiners and just do it because Pittsburgh in December = RAIN.)
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Reader Comments (30)
Well I still think you lights look awesome. Much more exciting than mine.
And if you can NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY!!!!! I'm in the real estate biz believe me. :)
Hmmm. I'm gonna start when you do next year too. Make sure you blog about it. I waited too long this year and then we got so much ice and snow, it covered EVERYTHING I put up and now it can't be seen. There's GOT to be a better way. Merry belated Christmas. Oh, and happy house hunting too!
Lord the rain! I was ready to start building an ark with the lincoln logs. But it was good to be home!
And your house looks great.
Honestly, I don't see anything wrong with the way those lights look. But then, I didn't even put up a tree.
You can put lights up in November. No law that says you have to turn them on before Thanksgiving.
Our lights stopped working, too. But, you still had way more than us, if that makes you feel any better.
What fun it will be to decorate next year - at your new house!
I think it still looked very nice!! Merry (late) Christmas!
Put the lights up as early as you want...just don't turn them on until Thanksgiving.
I definitely don't think you have anything to be ashamed of- the lights look great!
And there's nothing wrong with putting the lights up early- just DO NOT turn them on until after Turkey Day or I'll have to hate you ;)
hmmm. still looks pretty awesome to me.
Hey, I had NO lights, so you're one up on me there!! I think it looks beautiful!!
We didn't manage to get all of our lights up this year either. It was just one of those crazy years where nothing quite worked out as planned.
Now next year....GAME ON!
I'm sorry that you're christmasfication didn't turn out just right on the outside. I hope you get your new house and have a gazillion lights and an electrical box that will support it!
Put out a can now to collect money for the upcoming electric bill!
I think they look pretty. I love the lights in the tree, that was the look I was going for, but the electrical box didn't allow it.
Well even though you think it was a fail, I think they looked wonderful!!
About 3 days before Christmas---1/2 our lights stopped working too.
Hmph!
If that's failure then you don't want to see the sorry-ass mechanical deer, and single strand of indoor lights (outside) that we called Christmas glory.
P.S. Might I recommend San Diego for your house hunting?
It looks amazing! Seriously, it looks fantastic, even if you were disappointed in it.
And moving? WOO!
I can not believe the rain we have had! Lights look good to me...what do I know;P
Pretty lights!! I so agree. I've already decided my tree's going up in early November next year. I was so far behind this time. I didn't even bother to get the tree topper down. that was a first. I let Sis make a ring of paper doll/bears and stuck them on top. I was so tired & lazy and rushed.
Your house looked great to me...the thing I thought was missing were those way cool red & white bulbs...the BIG ones. They rocked - last year.
We went by & looked at the house that won best house in our area. It was awesome. People were milling all around in their driveway. It was kinda of insane!
While I was marveling at it all I saw their lab & Shih-tzu strolling the yard. They must have been boys because they were marking every strand of light, every plastic tree, deer and blow up thingy. I gagged a little...
Of COURSE he wants to put up more lights. Heck, just build the house yourself and then you can put an outlet every 5 feet. And design the inside to accommodate just as many inside lights too! ;)
Maybe next year you could go with an aqua theme just in case ;)
At least you bet Cleveland today--I am so annoyed with my Browns I became a Cowboy fan today. That did not work out well ;)
If it ever does get cold (maybe it'll go from 7 degrees to 70 degrees, ahem, and then right back to 7 degrees) again, your yard pond might freeze over and you could have your own little hockey rink! :)
I did a crappy job of decorating this year, too, because I just wasn't feeling it. Maybe next year will be different.... I don't know if I'll ever be as "all out" as you are, though. But then again, I no longer have little ones at home who really get me into the spirit. I'm waiting for grandchildren now!
Peace - D
If you weren't moving, it would be so much easier to just let the lights up year-round. It's the thing to do.
The actual photo looks pretty darn good to me.
Maybe my expectations are too low. But I think you rocked it.
I think the lights look great, but what do I know, I didn't even manage to get any up this year. *pout* Happy New Year and happy house hunting!
Same thing happened to us, too. We blow fuses like the dickens here. Ugh :(
I wish you'd bought the giant inflatible leg lamp thing.