Cuckoo For Christmas Lights
I am passionate about Christmas. Each year as the holiday season draws near I tell myself that this year I will look through all of my Christmas storage before making any new purchases. But then I'll be at the store and will see a pre-season sale and cannot pass up a good buy. It seems that every year Christmas products hit the shelves earlier and earlier. When I was searching through the school supplies aisle on Labor Day weekend last year, I noticed that the Christmas lights were already displayed in the next aisle over. And now when the Halloween candy goes on clearance the Christmas candy goes on the shelves.
Last year I did not turn down the pre-season Christmas lights offer. They were inexpensive and I could not remember if the Christmas lights from last year still worked. Of course when I did go through the Christmas storage box I remembered that I had purchased new Christmas lights at a clearance sale after the previous season. My husband constantly reminds me to double-check what I have before buying more because we are running out of storage space.
Last year, though, I was glad that I had purchased the extra Christmas lights because the old strand was burned out. We did not even attempt to locate the bulb or bulbs that were preventing the string from lighting, we simply used the new ones. I suggested to my husband that we should buy new lights each year and donate the old ones to the school.
Each year the school seeks lights to use at dances, proms and plays. By donating the lights we are giving to a good cause and do not have to store and untangle them each year. It's enormously easier to decorate with new lights that are not tangled and all light.
The outdoor Christmas lights we use are more expensive so we are more careful in packing them so they don't get tangled. This is not as easy as it sounds because the weather is usually bitterly cold when we put away the outdoor lights. My husband won't stand for having the lights remain on the house after the holiday season. He says he will not be one of the home owners that leave the holiday lights up year round. He enjoys the light displays and he's into decorating our house and yard, but after News Years Day he's insistent that the decorations go back into storage.
This year I'm going to try and resist the pre-season sales until I go through the storage boxes. Although I know we donated the Christmas lights that we used last year, I don't recall if I bought more at the end-of-the-season sales.
Have a merry (and bright) Christmas.