Making the most of your Christmas lights

One of the most fun elements of Christmas-time is the beautiful lights and displays both indoors and out.  On homes, businesses, city parks, churches, just about everywhere you look there are lights.  Whether it be twinkle lights, spot lights, C9's, what have you, the joy they bring to everyone is a great reward for the work involved.

So why doesn't everyone put up lights at Christmas.  Frankly, not everyone cares to, but, there are probably quite a few that would if it weren't so time consuming and such hard work.  I myself have had moments when I have thought I might scale back and perhaps not hang light on the roof line, or maybe not have as many displays on the lawn.  It's a lot of work, and if the weather doesn't cooperate, it can quickly become miserable work.

What a tangled web we weave...

Nothing will ruin the fun of decorating like a set of tangled lights.  After a frustrating fight that could go on until my hands and arms are sore and my nerves on edge, I have been known to give up, throw them up as they are, or more likely, go out and buy a new set and just forget about the tangled set until next year.  

What's the solution.  Well, let me tell you, I am so excited about this that I can't wait to share it all of you.  It's so simple, it's CRAZY!!

Coat Hangars.  Yes, Coat Hangars.

I have all of my lights on separate coat hangars.  It took all day to get it done, but, I have had them organized this way for almost two years now, and this system has stood the test of time. First I had to go through the tedious task of untangling all of my lights, which I did a strand at a time, first testing to see if the whole strand lit up, and if it did then I would untangle it.  Once it was nice and straight, I wound it around a coat hangar, starting with the female socket end (that's the one that you use to connect a second set of lights to it) and ending with the male end.  This way, I could easily attach a set while it is still on the hangar, and unwind as I decorate to avoid it getting all tangled up again.  Some light sets are bigger than others, but they all fit on coat hangars.  If they were particularly long I would just use a strong hangar to hold the weight.  Then, I put curtain rods in the rafters of my shed and hung the light hangars in order of color and length.  This way, I can easily see what I have, and not have to dig through a pile of lights.  It's made my decoration boxes so much easier to sort through, too.  Oh, and I got this tip off of Buzzfeed, but, there are other holiday decoration enthusiasts that have posted this tip.  Not sure where it originated, but, whoever came up with it is a genius and I will be forever grateful.  They took the most frustrating task in decorating and made it a snap.

Stay tuned, in my next blog post I will give more tips to make your holiday decorating a little less grinchy.

Spring, the best time to prep for the holidays!!

Oh I know, Springtime is all about warmer days, sunny skies, and everything suddenly growing, but, it is also about Spring cleaning, and that is the very reason why it is the best time to prep for the holidays.



Think of all the broken lights, lawn ornaments in disrepair, and the faded paint on the blow molds.  So many decorations suffer the elements year after year, and when do we typically remember that they need fixing?  Fall, at the earliest, and usually when the weather is cold, wet, or some combination of both.  What a miserable time to be pulling things out of storage and sorting through the repairs.

I can't tell you how many times I have just used twist ties, duct tape, or whatever I could muster up to make a quick fix just to get it done.  The worst is when I don't realize something needs attention until it is set up in the cold.  I have vivid memories of numb fingers, wet shoes, and very little fun involved in what is my crowning joy every holiday season. So why not skip the misery, and not only get things fixed in the warm weather, but, get a jump on the decorating by having everything organized and ready for a quick and easy set up.

So pull all the boxes and bags out of storage and set up a place where you can sort it, categorize it, and repair it.  I like to start with the lights, as they are the biggest project and I often use them through the year for other holidays.  First they need to be sorted by color, then by length.  As I pull each one out I plug it in.  Any strands not working at all get tossed in a bin for later.  The partially working strands are also tossed in a separate bin, and finally the fully working strands are wrapped around a clothes hangar for easy storage.  When decorating time arrives, it's so easy to unroll the lights as we go instead of dealing with tangled strands all wrapped up in each other.   I have curtain rods hanging from the ceiling of my storage shed where I have all of my lights hanging.  It's so easy to see what I have, grab what I need, and then easily put them back when I'm done using them.

Testing broken lights strands is tedious work, and best set aside to go through slowly and when you have more time.  Right now, the focus is on getting a picture of what you have and what needs fixing.  Now that you have your working lights on hangars you can move them to your storage area and hang them up.  Next, lawn decorations.  I have several deer, several trees, a large selection of blow molds, a play house that doubles as Santa's house, a sled that has our name painted on it, and various other decorations.

I start with the deer as they are the most likely to need attention.  Again, each one is plugged in to make sure it is working.  If it isn't, I move it aside and check the next one.  Any that I find are in good shape I collapse for storage and move out of my way.  The deer that are having light issues but are otherwise in good shape are my first focus.  I use a light tester and find the offending lights, replace them, and check all the moving parts, if any, and repair what is needed.  Then I move onto the deer that need major work on them.  For instance, Rudolph will need a new tail this year as his old one is simply missing.  Don't ask me how, it's a mystery whey anyone would want Rudolphs tail.  Once all the raindeer are repaired and spruced up they are put into storage.

This year my big project will be repainting a lot of the blow molds and the wood decorations.  I've kind of neglected them over the years.

Krylon and other paint manufacturers have a full line of spray paints for blow molds and playhouses.  It'll be nice to see them all looking like new.  After they are repainted, touched up, detailed, etc, it's time to check their lights for any problems.  These guys take up so much storage space that I have resorted to putting them in the attic above the garage, which makes it more of a challenge to get them down for decorating, but, I just do not have the space for all of them in the shed anymore.  Inflatables would be easier to store, and lots of people love them, but, I like my decorations to look the same night and day.  Running power to them all day and night just to keep the inflatables, well, inflated, is just not an option, so, I don't have any.


Now I just need to go through the same process with the trees in checking lights, repairing parts and pieces and then storing them together.  I test and then store all of the flood lights and spot lights. After that, it's time to go through all the miscellaneous decorations and then store them away.  I also check my extension cords, and wrap them around a hangar for storage, too.  I can't tell you how wonderful it is to just glance at the nicely wrapped cords, see what I need and just grab it without digging through a box or bin for the right length or color cord that has the outlet fitting that I need (ie grounded etc).  All of my towers, timers, and connectors get a once over test and then are put in their bin.  The final step (before going through the not working or partially working lights) is to gather into one bin all of the stakes, hooks, and other supplies I use when setting everything up.

  I will spend probably four or five evenings leisurely testing the partially working lights, and the non working lights, figuring out if it is just a fuse, or one random burnt out bulb, or if the whole strand is bad.  As I store my lights on the curtain rods, it's easy to hang up the strands I repair along with the others without having to dig for a box.

Now, when the weather turns chilly, or if there is an early snow, or we have only one good weather day to get the outdoor decorations set up, we will be ready and will know that everything works and where everything is. No more dreading the huge project, or putting it off when it should be a fun part of holiday decorating.  Next, organize the indoor decorations, but, that will be a later post when the AC is on and I'm longing for Christmas.

Getting back to normal

Just a quick post to update everyone on what has happened to me since my last post.  Well, I was sick.  Very sick.  In a lot of pain.  So, the blog suffered.  I had surgery in October, right at the beginning of the holiday commercial season, so, if you have to be laid up in bed recovering, what better way to do it.

My surgery was two days before Halloween, so I was able to get my house ready for trick or treaters, and then I handed it all over to my grown up girls.  After the 31st I instructed the kids in taking down the Halloween decorations, and getting them kind of put away the way I
do it.

Then I slowly, over the course of the month of November, got the house all decorated, inside and out for Christmas.  Even without my actual manual labor the whole thing turned out pretty good.


So, it wasn't my usual over the top display, but, it will do for this year.  I've spent most of the holiday pretty much in bed, but, watching holiday specials and movies has made the whole thing bearable.

Now that I'm back on my feet and ready for another great year, it's time to say farewell to 2014 and hello to 2015.

Six Months Til Christmas!!!

Yes, just six months and it will be Christmas.  I'm just a day behind, as yesterday was exactly six months til Christmas, or, as it is known in the vernacular, Rudolph Day.

This weekend we will be having Thanksgiving in June, as a prelude to Christmas in July. It's a good thing I have these traditions, as one of my older daughters will be in Asia all this Fall, and will miss Thanksgiving. So, she is especially appreciative of her old Mum for being so crazy.

We, of course, do not have all of our Thanksgiving food in June. Just a turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, corn on the cob, cranberries, and for desert, pumpkin pie.  We hit the highlights is all. What we leave out is the sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts with pancetta, egg nog, stuffing (well I may concede to making stuffing this time as it is my traveling daughter's favorite), crescent rolls, the traditional brunch buffet of finger foods for during the Macy's parade, and we will have ice cream instead of whipped cream on the pumpkin pie.

 I think this year I may go one better and have a variation on the pumpkin pie, like, pumpkin cheesecake for instance. That's the beauty of having an extra holiday season, you can play around with recipes. There are just some things you cannot mess with at Thanksgiving without upsetting somebody.

  The traditions are not just expected, the lack there of can cause something of an international incident. So, what better time to try out that Pinterest recipe for a completely different stuffing than June? It's perfect.

Buying a turkey this time of year isn't horribly expensive either. Yes, they are holdovers from Thanksgiving and Christmas, but, they have been frozen so they are just as good. What I should probably do when they go on extreme sale after Christmas is grab a couple of them for our summer celebrations. Either way, we're talkin lots of leftovers, so, it's still a bargain.

Building the Christmas playlist

Building a Christmas playlist is a daunting task. With so many wonderful versions of the literally countless holiday songs, the idea of compiling them all into a playlist seems overwhelming. But, listen to Christmas music we must. The playlist will of course have to vary in selection and in mood, without repeating the same song with only a change in the version or performer. So, how is one to accomplish this all important job?  Sigh, with hard work, time, and organization.  That's the only way.

To begin with, we must organize our holiday music collection into categories.  My chosen category names are Spiritual, Classical, Old Favorites, New Age, Movie Hits, Rockin, Jazz, and Kids. I am careful to put each song into the most fitting category.  This could mean stacking CD's in piles, or boxes labeled for the category, or, in the case of digital copies, creating a playlist folder appropriately labeled to drop them in. For compilations the task is a bit more complicated.  We will have to either put them in a category already created, or, if they are truly a diverse compilation, we may have to make a separate category just for them.

After all the available music is categorized, we then move onto removing songs that are either duplicates or we just don't like them enough to have them in a playlist.  This could involve making a note for each CD, perhaps a sticky note, with the names of the songs we do want, or, removing the digital copies from our playlists.




That is truly the most time intensive part of this job.  Now it's time for the fun part, making our playlists, and yes, I do have more than one.  After all, I'm not always in the mood for the happy, peppy songs like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer or It;s a Marshmallow World.  There are plenty of times I want the playlist to just be soft and cozy feeling.  Other times I may want to hear a variety that moves from one category to another randomly. So, that adds another category, and you can name it anything you want, I prefer to just call it Christmas, with the other specific categories being Christmas Jazz, Christmas Spiritual, etc.  Those are the final playlist names, and if you just want one playlist that contains everything, the job is almost done.

So, now I have my categories sorted, with all duplicates and unwanted songs removed.  Now, make sure you know how much space you have in your music storage device, be it a hard drive or I-pod or what have you. If you don't have enough you will need to clear it for your music, because we all know that the music takes priority.  Something else will just have to go, or be stored elsewhere.

Now comes to time intensive part. Here is where you create the final playlist folders, with the final names you have chosen. With your digital songs you will just be dragging and dropping them from their original folders to the final folders. The CD's will be a slow going process of inserting the CD, selecting the songs you want to download and into the folders you want, and then wait while they move from CD to folder. Lather, rinse, repeat.  Yada yada yada.

After all of your songs are transferred into your final folders I highly recommend backing up your playlists to either an external hard drive or a cloud drive. The last thing you want is to have to repeat this whole process over again if your current hard drive crashes.

And there you go. 

Christmas in July!!

Every year we try to celebrate Christmas in July, partly because it's fun and partly because it's halfway to Christmas and we're having a hard time waiting. So, we bring a few of our traditional foods into a holiday style dinner.  Sure, we could put up a tree and share gifts but that is just more than we want to do.  It's all about the Spirit of Christmas after all.  So, on goes the Christmas music and at one point we watch a holiday movie. We make only some of the things we typically have for Christmas dinner, but, leave out some so we maintain the specialness of the actual holiday.

This year we are going to be starting a few new traditions for Christmas in July that will set it apart from our December celebration and create a unique new holiday.

To start with, we will have a barbecue.  When cooking on the grill, Christmas doesn't usually spring to mind, but, using a little imagination we can fix that.

Let's start with the appetizers.

Sparkling Cranberry Brie Bites will be a nice way to nibble while we wait. 

Lumps of Coal made from Oreo cookies and Rice Krispies adds a bit of fun for the kids.

To drink we'll have two decanters. One with cold water labeled Melted Snowflakes and the other with lemonade labeled Yellow Snow.

For the main courses we'll bring in the typical turkey but give it a barbecue twist by using turkey breast and legs and grilling them. The side dishes will be Sweet Potato Fries 

Mozzarella Avocado Tomato Salad with it's green and yellow color

For fun after dinner we'll have a snow ball fight.  Yes, I said a snow ball fight, in July.  Here's how that works.

Get a bunch of white water balloons.  Fill with water and throw. 

You could be as creative as you want, with holiday versions of most backyard games. 

For dessert we'll be having Santa Hat Brownies

Egg Nog Cupcakes

and Big Bad Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

And to top it all off, instead of hot chocolate, we will have Chocolate Italian Sodas. 

The decor will be in holiday colors but decidedly Christmas-y, with white lights in the smaller trees, and the larger trees up-lit in red and green. We'll have Christmas music playing, and the tables will be set with our Christmas best. Everyone will be expected to dress for the occasion, in reds, greens, white, and be as creative as they want.

I've saved the best part for last. As we all know, Christmas is a time for giving, and no celebration of that wonderful season would be complete without some kind of special service to some unsuspecting neighbor. This year we will be making peach preserves and setting jars on the doorsteps of some of our neighbors just as we would at Christmas. 

So there you have it. I'd love to hear your thoughts, or about your own Christmas in July celebrations. 

The most wonderful time of the year is now in a blog, too!!!!

I've been told before that I should open a Christmas store, and I've thought about it, but, the amount of money I would need just to get it going is out of the question for now, so, why not start a blog about my holiday craziness I thought. This is my answer to that question.

I hope you enjoy my ramblings and postings. Feel free to share if you'd like.