- December 20, 2024
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Outdoor holiday decoration is not an easy endeavor.
One of the first tasks in the holiday season is to string lights on the house in an eye-dazzling design. It’s important, because lights remind us it’s the holiday season, in case all of the Christmas spirit abounding in the stores isn’t enough.
Secondly, among men, the outdoor decoration of the house is approaching barbeque prowess as the top competition. (“You placed a sleigh on the house? I’ll call your sleigh and raise you flashing candy canes along the driveway.”)
I once graduated from decorating with mere lights to a herd of deer. I’m sure there were deer somewhere in the Christmas story. Anyway, they continually nodded their heads up and down, adding some choreography to the display. But sadly, living on the beachside at the time, they only nodded for a couple of years until the ocean air rusted through the moving parts. Then, they stood staring straight ahead, most likely contemplating the true meaning of Christmas.
The first step in the annual endeavor is to locate the decorations stored away in the attic or garage among dozens of other boxes all marked “Christmas.”
After you locate the light strands you wound and stored so carefully, you must spend an hour untangling them, because they have somehow become balled-up knots that Houdini would have trouble with.
Next, do you pre-position the lights along the house and bushes, so that installation will be easy? Neither do I. I believe in starting at one end and letting creativity take over. All that pre-positioning seems like such a waste of time.
As we connect the light strands that we’ve gathered through the years, and were manufactured in different countries, we witness a variety of technology. There are plugs that only have two small prongs. Plugs with a large prong and a small prong. Plugs with a third prong, because of the new-fangled notion that electricity should be grounded. It takes creativity, and not a small amount of electrical savvy, to marry them all together.
Last year, I had a brainstorm to take pictures showing how all the wiring went together. I thought it would come in handy when finding myself in the confusing situation of trying to connect two female plugs together.
After searching on my computer, I found the photos I took last year.
Ah, thanks 2013 Wayne. You’re a big help to 2014 Wayne. Those close-ups of connections really explain the wiring ... Not.
And then the moment came for the big “plug-in.” The awe, the spectacle … the realization that some of the bulbs are burned out.
I have a new idea for this year. I’m going to draw a diagram of the wiring. It could save me a couple of hours out in the bitter 60-degree weather. On the other hand, it would take away the challenge and improvisation. What holiday fun is that?
It’s good to light up the night in late December when it’s dark by the time we get home from work. It warms the spirit. It reminds us that on the darkest day, somewhere a candle still burns, and a reindeer’s nose still flashes.
