Christmas lights and decorations up after New Year's!
Posted By: CAMT on 2007-01-18
In Reply to: Pet Peeves - Sara.
We always take ours down New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. Our neighbors still have theirs out (lawn decorations and everything) and up until just a week ago they were still turning them on at night! Ugh! It also bugs me when people leave the Christmas lights on their houses year-round. I love the holidays and I love having my Christmas stuff out, but when the holidays are over, so are my decorations!
Complete Discussion Below:  marks the location of current message within thread
- Pet Peeves - Sara.
- Christmas lights and decorations up after New Year's! - CAMT
The messages you are viewing
are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select
the boards given in left menu
Other related messages found in our database
Christmas Tree & Decorations
We always try to have the tree lit up and the decorations out on display by Thanksgiving day. I think having a fake tree makes that possible.
Do you set a deadline to have the tree up and decorated by Thanksgiving week? If not, when do you try to have it finished?
Christmas Lights
Did you know that Orthodox Christians around the world do not celebrate Christmas until January 7th? (We call it Nativity). We then keep our decorations up until Theophany, which is the baptism of Christ, which happens to be today. Just thought you might appreciate a view from a different angle.
We don't do christmas lights. Instead we
do halloween decorations. We have more fun with that and it helps that halloween usually falls during a time when our energy bills are normally the lowest for the year.
Anyone not putting up Christmas lights?
I usually make a big to-do out of having the house and yard lit up, but this year I don't think I'm going to. The few hours they are on a night sure packs a punch on the electric bill. How bout everyone else?
Now, THAT's what I want for CHRISTMAS this year! lol
:) :) :)
The year without a Christmas?
Was it that bad financially? Christmas is not supposed to be about gifts; it's about spending it with your loved ones and celebrating the religious aspect of it. Money or not, we celebrate it every year. It really saddens me that you feel this way. Please share your situation, maybe we can come up with some suggestions to help. 
Christmas this year.
My family and I have talked about this already, too. My daughter and son-in-law are expecting their first child in November and will have many added expenses. We have decided to limit our gift-giving to 1 gift per person (except for the new grandson, of course). I, for one, am much relieved. I love to celebrate the season with my family. As a Christian, I am more than thankful for the reason that we celebrate Christmas, but the shopping and the increased financial burden is very harrowing for me and, I am sure, for many others, too. My parents, sisters and me stopped swapping gifts several years ago as we all have what we need and most of the time get what we want during the year. So, this year, our Christmas will be about family. 
Congratulations!!! I know that's all I want for Christmas..for my almost 20-year-old to get a job
Mom is tired of supporting her and working 2 jobs.. 
Not a good year or Christmas...
...yep, I'm feeling sorry for myself. I didn't receive a single Christmas card or gift. My only child and I decided to forego gifts for each other and just concentrate on providing gifts for my granddaughter. A friend said she would call last week and we'd go to lunch, but I never heard anything else from her. Makes me realize I really have no friends and am not worth remembering. Just a card would have made me feel better.
On top of that, I fear I'm going on such thin ice with both of my part-time jobs that I'm afraid every day I go in, I'll be called into the supervisor's office and fired. I just can't keep up with the transcription as well as the other part-time person has done. I'm in debt--really have not had a good-paying job in 2 years and things have built up on credit cards. I used to think I was pretty intelligent--but now have doubts about that, even. I'm ashamed about my predicament and have avoided people for over a year, so I'm sure that's part of my isolated feeling. What can I do?
I wish Christmas were all year long,
xxxx
Last year I said same thing, Christmas is for children. SM
And I got clobbered on this board. Practically called un-Amreican.
I believe Christmas is for children. Up to age 18. After that, perhaps a check is in order, but that's about it. As far as gifts for aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, postman, WHOMEVER, forget it. Bake cookies. Have a party and invite friends and neighbors.
Say you are sending check to charity of choice and ask family and friends to do same. That is charity of their choice, since I know my family doesn't agree on anything.
But presents? Presents most of the people would not even want? Forget it.
Are you cutting back on Christmas this year?
With things being the way they are with the economy are you cutting back on what you buy for Christmas this year? I will to some extent but then I'm always pretty careful anyway.
Cutting back on Christmas spending this year
I thought it might be a good idea to post ideas for gifts that are inexpensive. I have made a few Christmas gifts in years past, but, since I've already given these particular gifts and my family members already "have one", I need new ideas!
I will start with the ideas of gifts I have given in the past:
I made family wreaths for each of my kids (grown). What I did was, buy a nice size wreath at the craft store, purchase inexpensive small frames at the dollar store (or wherever I could find them), made copies of baby pictures of my kids when they were little, family picture, pics of the grandbabies, etc. and framed each one - wired each framed photo onto the wreath, put in some berry sprays or whatever, and a 20 count string of white lights and some ribbon. Then I sprayed them with spray glue and sprinkled with the white snow stuff. Also, I put a few blank frames with Christmas card fronts so that they could add pics from the inlaws (who I did not have pics as children) and new baby pics as appropriate.
They were darling! My daughter in law actually cried when I gave them their wreath!
I also made a similar thing for my mom - I made her a Grandchildren tree - because she has too many grandchildren to get all their pics on a wreath. I just purchased a small, prelit tree from Wal - Mart, and basically, did the same thing - framed pics of all the grandchildren and children, glued ribbon to the back of the frames - hung them like ornaments, added some ribbon and some berry sprays. It was beautiful and she has used it every year since, because it is small and she can put it together herself - without much work.
I will post more ideas in a little bit, but, I need other ideas from all of you - because, how many memory or family wreaths can you give . . .
Don't feel like sending Christmas cards this year
Christmas is next week. Got pix of the family to put in the cards, and tons of Christmas cards from last year's Christmas sales. Every day, I say, I will do these cards. At least to grandma and grandpa on both sides. Every day, I put it off. DH got a roll of stamps and he has the cards sitting on his nightstand with pix, he has not done any either.
Thus far we got several newsletters from people, saying they did this, they did that, they celebrated this birthday, their kid did this and that. We don't plan to do a newsletter this year, b/c it seems to me these newsletters sound so self-centered! They are not even from family members, they are from DH coworkers and such.
My friends send me e-cards pretty much or we chat over the I-net. We send holiday greetings and catch up that way. My son will be getting grandma and grandpa's on both sides presents the end of the week, and I think I will just put the pictures in the packages when I send and forget about the cards.
This is really sad. Years ago, Dec 1 we'd get a bunch of cards and have ours sent out. Different colors of ink on the envelopes, red and green, holiday stamps, it would be so fun. All the cards we'd get my dad or I would put on a board in shape of a tree and we'd put it on the wall.
Now, it seems with snail mail, and so many other worries about cutting budget, finding enough work, I am not in the mood to write cards. Maybe it will become a thing of the past, and the boxes of cards will accumulate dust in the top of the closet.
Anybody else in this predicament? Thanks in advance for sharing your card stories.
Absolutely love Christmas. Start shopping every year by end of August for kids. sm
Start getting lists from rest of family by end of Sept. into Oct and usually have everything done, bought, and wrapped by Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!! By doing that I can sit back and just enjoy the beauty of the season.
quirky decorations
Yeah...inside the house....A jackelope....a jack rabbit head with small deer antlers on it given to me by my sister I'm not one for dead things on the wall, but it does crack everyone up who sees it....Now folks reallly get scared when the 6 foot iguana (they thought was stuffed on the mantle) decides to start running around.
Only businesses put up decorations before that. $$$
x
I remember those plastic decorations
being sold as fundraisers at our school. I think it was the Band Boosters. I'm in East Central Indiana, BTW.
Your decorations sound great. He has no business telling...
you how to live or how to decorate. Comparing Halloween decorations to the Amish shootings is more bizarre than your decorations could be. I would definitely not take it down. Just because he does not celebrate Halloween is no reason to ruin yours.
Installing pot lots over the mantle and just changing the decorations out can do
s
I found them! Those funky 1970s plastic decorations
It was driving me absolutely nuts and I finally found out what they are called! Google or do a search on E-Bay for 'Melted plastic popcorn decorations' and see what you find! I'm gonna try and make a bid for one or two because after seeing that one in 'MT of Oz' picture there, I suddenly felt this NEED to have one again!
Thanks for reviving happy memories MT of Oz!! 
What are people supposed to call Christmas Eve and Christmas Day now?? (nm)
x
3-way lights
They do now make them for 3-way lights. They are hard to find, but they are out there.
lights
We put ours up every year. We only leave them on for about 2-3 hours a night and not every night. We do it because our kids love them.
lights
I use hooks and bread ties.
got my new one - 1300 lights on a 7-1/2
I posted earlier about prelit trees. Ordered one from Home Depot because it was free shipping and delivered to my home since I have no way of getting a huge box home. I always got a skinny one - but this year everyone is gone but me so I figured it could take up the whole living room! It is stunning!
I found the lights very helpful
I suffer from SAD to some degree no matter where I live, but I did not realize it until I started breeding birds as a hobby. I had a room with dozens of cages stacked together. On the two long walls, I vertically mounted two 6 foot uncovered natural lights and on the short walls I horizontally mounted two 3 foot of the same lights.
After I brought the birds their breakfast in the mornings, I would sit in the room for an hour to watch the birds' behavior. After about a year, I realized I was feeling better than I had ever felt in my life. Not only no depression, but my energy level was higher, my house stayed neater, I was better able to concentrate, I interacted better with people...
My work space is now located next to a sliding glass door and I keep the curtains pulled back all day every day. If you want to go look into the lights before you buy, a good source is in a pet shop in the lizard/snake/aquarium area where natural lights are sold in different strengths and shapes. They are NOT cheap, but the ones in pet shops last a long time and you should find something that would blend into your home. If you can't find them in the pet shop, look for a magazine like Bird Talk online and go to the merchandise/advertiser section for a distributor.
After all these years, the love lights are
burning stronger than ever.
Those low-mounted driving lights that - (sm)
illuminate both sides of the road are really helpful on dark country roads at night, and in the rain, too. They help me see puddles of deeper water, especially those along the side of the road that can get you spun around if just one front tire hits them. They're also good if you're watching for deer, pedestrians, etc.
I've learned a few tricks that help improve night driving vision:
First, if your windshield is pitted, replace it. The pits diffuse bright lights and make it hard to see.
Keep your headlights, tail-lights & turn-indicator lights clean so they'll be as bright as possible.
If I've been doing a long drive from daylight into night, especially if headed into the sunset, I'll wear sunglasses that are as dark as possible during bright daylight. Once the sun sets, I'll switch to more lightly tinted ones and wear them for as long as I can to help get my eyes better adjusted to the dark.
Once it's pretty dark, I usually take a break at a service station, and in addition to the slight rest I get from topping off the tank, I also take that opportunity to get my windshield as clean as possible - inside and out.
Next I'll wipe off my driving glasses, and finally, use some "Clear Eyes" eye drops in my eyes.
Finally, a sort of "last resort" trick I use to improve my vision right after passing an oncoming car with very bright headlights is to close one eye for a few seconds as the on coming car is within a certain distance. That way the iris in that eye doesn't have to readjust as much as the one that was blinded by the oncoming headlights.
All of those things make driving at night a little easier.
I live in the boonies, have never put up lights nm
nm
putting up Xmas lights
Sorry if this may seem really dumb but I've never done this before - how do you attach the lights to siding on a house around windows and doors? It's not wood siding, it's an older home with aluminum siding.
sorry...pot lights or high hats over the mantle...nm
s
I'm going to turn out the lights, lock up the house, -
and instead of doing the trick-or-treat thing, am going on a Halloween night costumed inline skate through the streets of S.F. with my skate-buddies. Most likely WE will eat the candy I originally bought! ;)
Wow! Those glowing eyes fit right into the tree lights!
NM
We went to the local botanical gardens for the lights - sm
then out to dinner, home around 10, 1 daughter had a friend sleeping over so they watched The Grinch who stole Christmas (Jim Carrey), my other daughter and I watched the old (first) version of The Posiedan Adventure until 12 or so then went to bed. DH went to bed about 11 and slept through. Okay evening for the most part. No hangover.....haven't done that for years.
Buy motion-sensored exterior lights
//
my mom is always telling me about Friday Night Lights
That is one of those that I didn't start watching from the beginning and never want to just cut in in the middle.
i saw a preview for it the other day and went wish i would have watched that one... my mom is ALWAYS like i can't believe youre not watching that one!!
must be pretty good? But is it not a high school show? i thought it was like a 90210 kind of show, and im too old for that! :)
I soooo love Friday Night Lights, except sm
they are actucally putting it on Friday Nite. I am afraid that many people that watch this show actucally go to Friday nite hight school football. My hubby and son always go see our high school team play. I just don't want them to have low ratings and get dropped.
Friday Night Lights and Brothers and Sisters, love them!NM
nm
Home Alone 1, A Christmas Story, Home for the Holidays, Chevy Chase's Christmas, sm
There "The Gift of the Magi," He sells his gold watch to buy her a comb for her hair and she sells her beautiful long hair to buy him a chain for his gold watch. It used to be on "Short Stories by O'Henry" but that's long gone, long ago. Good moral to the story. I can't stand "It's a Wonderful Life" -- too depressing, especially with banks closing, too intimidating right now!!!
Mailing thank you cards to houses with nice Xmas lights, never heard of such a thing and I'm in
..
My small town is offering a price of 1 month of free electricity for the best lights nm
nm
..:) Depression glass, cut crystal, candle sticks, figurines. Strings of twinkie lights
s
Bigger issue - a 16 year old living withi a 29 year old and liability
Are you still not responsible for him until he is 18, how can he tell you where he will live? Unless he emancipates himself and he does something wrong, can they go against you since you are his mother and legally responsible for him? I worry more about him living with a 29 year old sister rather than returning a house key to me that is a bigger issue.
My 14-year-old is going to be a mother-in-law (so funny) if you google it and 11-year-old daughter
x
Won $2,000 on slot machine on New Year's Eve. What a way to start the year. nm
!
Set my budget a year in advance, save all year and
nm
What a difference a year makes! Last year, sm
we had the same problem. Fines everywhere for watering.
Paid $60,000 on principal last year and this year
planning on another $30,000 after my taxes paid for the year. We are getting our house paid down very quickly.
55-year old woman has birthday sex with 12-year old
DAYTON - Gloria Murphy gave children celebrating her 55th birthday alcohol and then had sex with a 12-year-old boy at the party on Thursday, Jan. 29, according to police.
The boy got into Murphy’s bed at 5440 Rawlings Drive, where the married woman had sex with her adolescent neighbor, according to police and Montgomery County prosecutors.
Two of the children at the party ran home at about 6 a.m. Jan. 30 and told a parent they saw the boy and woman having sex, according to 911 audio.
The parent then called police at about 6:15 a.m., according to a police report and 911 audio.
Murphy did not force the boy to have sex, but since he is younger than 13, it is considered rape, Lt. Patrick Welsh said. No other children were involved in the sexual encounter, but some other children at the party consumed alcohol, according to police.
People who keep their signal lights on for miles and miles
Shut them off already. Can't you hear the clicking noise!
|
