Christmas Lights 2012: “Let’s Make Them Nice This Time”
It’s another year and I’m still a huge fan of the LED Christmas lights I first tried last season. It’s hard to argue with the insane energy savings. Assuming my calculations from last year are correct, they cost under a penny to run each day, which is roughly 90-95% less than conventional bulbs.
Wife and I took advantage of the nice weekend weather to put them up (it’s a little early… I know). We did it a little differently this year, though: we used clips on every single bulb. Every. Single. Bulb. EVERY. SINGLE. BULB.
The issue we had last year was that the wind would knock the lights all over the place, even into the gutters. Also, since the LED bulbs are more directional than traditional bulbs, it’s very noticeable when things aren’t aligned neatly in a row. So we resolved to fix that.
Of course I used clips last year, too, but only directly on the wires and spaced them pretty far apart (every six feet or so). This year we used the clips we bought on clearance late last December (foresight FTW) and used over 200 of them.
They’re easy, but it takes a lot longer. Wife and I are very, very pleased with the results so far.
I should probably get a tripod and a remote, but considering that these were taken in near-total darkness we’re lucky we can see anything at all.
And yes, those are pumpkins on the porch. We won’t be lighting these regularly until after Thanksgiving.
2 comments
Sarah said on 2012-11-14
I <3 our Christmas lights. You are, in a word, awesome.
Susan said on 2012-12-12
Love the pics, especially the black and white one. You should put that as a backdrop to your family Christmas pics. :)
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