What Janelle had to say on Monday, December 14th, 2009
:santalights: One of the things I love most about the holidays is Christmas lights. I love seeing them on buildings, wrapped around trees, and adorning houses. Every night when I walk our dog I enjoy my neighbor’s Christmas lights — and some even have those mechanical lawn ornaments that move and light up, too. I really do love it . . . but I’ve never, ever, put up Christmas lights on our house. It just seems like so much work, and maybe that’s why I appreciate my neighbor’s attempts so much. 
So, what about you? Do you put up Christmas lights on your house and festive lawn ornaments? Or are you like me and just enjoy all your neighbor’s hard work? :SmallSanta:
Janelle Denison finds it hard to believe that it’s been nearly 25 years since she first started writing romance novels. At first, it was a way to pass idle time while her husband worked swing shift, but before long it became an obsession to get published. Luckily, she kept at it (it took her over 5 years to get that first book published!) and is now a Waldenbooks, Barnes & Noble, and USA Today Bestselling author! Now, after selling over 45 plus novels, she finds that her Plotmonkey pals help to keep her stories fresh and unique, and she can’t imagine writing a story without their input. Janelle lives in Oregon with her husband, Don, along with two teenage daughters that keep life interesting.
Destiny
Dirty Little Secrets
Once Upon A Valentine
Through The Night
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I’m more like you Janelle. I think it’s very pretty, but all the work of taking them down affterwards stresses me out LOL. It’s nice to admore the work of others though that’s for sure.
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Blow up Santa and Sleigh pulled by Flamingos? Check
Light up Frosty tipping his hat? Check
Christmas Trees and Lights all around? Check
Giant Wreath on the Arbor? Check
Giant Christmas Card? Check
Enough lights so that the airport uses our house to zero in on for night landings? Check (which means the kidlet should see it on the way in tonight) :bigtree:
I start the day after halloween, along with my T-day/fall decorations and taking down the ghosts and zombies.
We are working on next years plan already, that way I can get stuff on sale and have it ready to go, especially since I have switched to almost total LED lights.
And I love to go look at other displays. They give me ideas.
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I love driving around looking at all the creativity that others have with their light displays.
We don’t do anything extravagant – just some icicles around the house with a big white star on the front porch. :bigxmas:
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You’re amazing, Ev! That’s a whole lot of work! :walksnowman:
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Just like you I enjoy looking at other’s efforts. But then again, it would be hard for my family to decorate with Christmas lights since we celebrate Hanukkah.
Why doesn’t someone invent Hanukkah lawn decorations?
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They have, you just have to know where to find them :Han1:
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Unless you count the two bunches of dried Indian corn that I put up every year or the two mini pumpkins that my realtor leaves on my front steps for my girls every year for 10+ years….only to want to want to cry because every friggin squirrel in the county seems to think I put it out to feed them….I don’t decorate for Thanksgiving either…It’s too frustrating seeing the animals destroy them…hell….my friend/neighbor Irene even made me this neat wreath for Thanksgiving a couple years back…put it out on the gate door to the backyard…..and the friggin animals attacked it to use for nests (At least that’s what hubby says they used it for) I’m going on the theory the SOB’s did it to drive me completely insane!
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:santalights: This is the first year in a few that we have put up lights. We did all the time when the girls were little but just got lazy the last few years. This year we put a string accross the front porch, in the window showcasing the Christmas tree and I got a 3 ft light up Sants from my best friend who is standing proudly on the porch watching over it all. Not too much but not too little either.
:bigtree: I am not sure where all the Christmas joy has gone lately. We are the only ones on out block with lights. There are two down in the next block. I can remember when a lot of people on our block lit up. That’s okay tho we are sharing our joy with others when they drive by and see our house. :bigxmas:
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We have put lights on the house in the past, on the trees, lawn ornaments etc in the past when our daughter was much younger. Now we put out a couple of lighted reindeer and a wreath on the door. That’s it for the outside. A lot of people in our neighborhood put lights up on their house. Some of them had lights up even before Thansgiving.
Cher :bigxmas:
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I love driving around and looking at all the lights, but I don’t really put anything up. Really just seems like too much work for me. The people that live across the street from my dad’s house start putting up their lights around Halloween.
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I love to drive around and look at the Christmas lights. But I do good to get the inside of my house decorated. I’m don’t have enough over-achiever qualities to get the outside decorated too!
My youngest son loves to have lights on the house, and for the past three years he’s taken on that task. However, for the past three years it’s ended up being a huge hassle – he puts up one string a night (he lacks the over-achiever gene too) and so it takes a week or more to get it done. By that time, his dad an I are fussing at him and…well…this year I hid the outside lights!!
A big thanks to everyone who does decorate, because I, for one, enjoy them very much!!
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Good grief, obviously I haven’t had enough caffeine yet this morning either! Sorry for the typos and confusing sentences. LOL
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I followed your post without any problems, LOL!
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We don’t do outside lights, but my husband likes to put lights on inside (why, I don’t know).
I love it when others decorate their house! Hope everyone had a great weekend. My husband got a concussion (he slipped on a piece of ice while handing out cub scout flyers). He’s been fussy about resting, and still has a headache, so I am sure they’ll have to run more tests.
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Katie, I hope your husband feels better soon!
Talina
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Hugs to your hubby, Katie. I hope he’s okay! :SmallSanta:
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thanks everyone…I have been a little frustrated with him, you can tell! Concussions are not something to mess around with.
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I am Like you Janelle, I like to look at the neighbors lights.
I like a tasteful wreath and some bows tied to the light fixtures on the front porch and that is about it. :bigxmas:
I have a friend that does the major decorating. She and her husband start the first week in October putting everything out so that it is ready to turn on Thanksgiving weekend. That is just way too much work for me. :bigtree:
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:decor: DIDO JANELLE :santalights:
Decorated palm trees just aren’t the same though. And who wants to sweat like a horse putting up lights and decorations anyway!?! So, I have to appease myself with what the web has to offer as far as pictures. I adore christmas decorations and the white picket fence in the front lawn all strewn with lights and garland. Maybe you remember the movie Deck the Halls. Well, they had the loveliest fence surrounding the front of their home. The snow just added to the beauty.
Ok, there’s my two cents worth… :SmallSanta:
Have a great Monday everyone!
Talina :bigxmas:
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Someone could make a killing by putting up a buisness for decorating peoples homes. :santalights:
Talina :decor:
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You’re right, Talina. That’s a great idea! :bigtree:
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they do! We have several in our area!
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My mama always says there’s no such thing as tacky at Christmas, and I couldn’t agree more. The bigger and flashier the light display, the better I like it! I don’t have the patience to do it myself, but I’ll definitely drive out of my way to see someone else’s.
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No lights or decorations at our house this year.
We have about 2 feet of snow in our yard. So I get to enjoy the rest of the houses that put up their lights right after Thanksdgiving. :santalights:
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:santalights: Janelle, I believe you live next door to Clark Griswald! :santalights: Do the lights at your house dim when he turns his on?
I put a big red bow on the front door! It’s very easy to take down after the holidays. :wreath:
Tami
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We put lights in he trees in our yard.
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:bigtree: I’m enjoying the neighbors lights this year. :bigtree:
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I enjoy the neighbors that put up outside decorations & lights. When I was married we almost always lived in the country where not many people would enjoy them. We always put our tree in a window so that could be seen. So far I haven’t even managed to get out my Christmas candles! Just can’t seem to get with it!
:bigtree: Last night on HGTV I watched part of a special on the behind scenes for getting Disneyland ready for the Holiday season, it made me want to get on the next plane to go down there & see it all in person! What a magical time to go there. What a lot of work goes into creating all that light magic! :santalights: :reindeer: :lights:
:bigxmas:
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Hey Janelle, I love looking at lights too. I really appreciate the effort people put into decorating their places. I don’t do much for the holidays though; no lights, no decorations, no tree, no nothing. I am a bit of a scrooge around this time, but I like watching Xmas movies and listening to the music…maybe my problem is that I am just plain lazy…lol…I love the pic you have here.
Peace and love,
Paula R.
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Every year we load up the kids in the car and drive around our small mountain town looking at everyone else’s lights. It’s a fun tradition, and we are usually not the only ones taking an evening cruise around the neighborhoods.
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Taking a drive and looking at all the fun light displays is one of our annual traditions. I just love them!
Bruce put up our lights this past Saturday, after a long day of doing other stuff. Unfortunately, it was dark and cold by the time he finished, so he decided to just tape up all the cords & outlets the next day. Uhh…one ice storm and a deluge of rain later, and he was convinced we’d had our entire, sum total of outdoor lights on for the holiday season…as in ONE night! lol!
Fortunately, everything dried out and they’re on again tonight, looking lovely.
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LMAO thinking Bruce MUST be related to my hubby and my dad because that’s definitely something they’d both do…LOL
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I’m like you I don’t put up outside lights but I really love looking at them. Most years I do good to put up a tree.
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:santalights: I live in an apartment complex so I can’t decorate outside. So I enjoy everyone elses. Happy Holidays everyone. :bigxmas:
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I just look at others work now. I used to be one of the crazy ones and my whole house and yard were decorated. Now my children are grown and away from the house so I do very little in the way of decorating and just enjoy what others have put up.
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:bigxmas: My son and grandson start work on decorating our yard just as soon as they finish eating Thanksgiving dinner. They go all out, putting lights in all of the flower beds, high up in the trees, hanging two-feet-in-diameter balls of Christmas lights from tree limbs, etc. The place is beautiful when they get through and they get lots of compliments. I laugh and say that if my son ever marries and moves out (the grandson is my daughter’s child, not my son’s), I will put a bow on the front door and call it a day. They were fortunate that they decorate on Thanksgiving this year, for our weather has included cold, snow and rain just about ever since.
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i used to put them up…white twinkly ones…..and they’d still be up come July…..we’d just unplug them…..after about 4 years they crapped the bed so we took em down…and never put any more back up…..we also had the lighted moving Moose….that blew too…so hubby took out all the light wires and then we weaved different kind of wire through it…stuffed with moss/grass stuff…and then packed with soil and planted plants in it…It’s a big beautiful planter….that happens to have been a christmas moose in a previous life…lmao….it’s still a moose…only now it grows moss down from it’s forehead that looks like hair and has chicks and hens (sempervivum) plants growing from it everywhere…
But I do decorate the Christmas tree with Hallmark Ornaments like mad….and every year hubby puts out this big plastic deranged looking Santa light up thing from the 30′s or 40′s that used to belong to his grandparents….looks sorta neat from a distance but close up….it always scared our kids….lol.
And no…the neighbors don’t decorate the outsides either….but there are a lot in town who do for the Christmas Light Contests….So I guess I enjoy those….even though there’s this one lady who has some that are technically Valentines’ and Easter Lights but we won’t go there…at least she tries…..(Even though driving past it last week Autumn was like….what does a lighted heart with an arrow through it have to do with Christmas???
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my mom and stepdad go all out. we have a few reindeer, santa climbing into the chimney, icicle lights, christmas trees and candy canes lining the walkway, and a blow up santa flying a plane in our tree with a lit runway.
My favorite christmas lights though are the really old big colored bulbs that they don’t sell anymore – it’s just such a classic chrismas symbol.
Happy Holidays!
<3 J
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We actually had Christmas Carolers last night. They live in a old house across the street that has been converted to apartments. We call it the House of Perpetual Construction.
They came to me cause of my lights! :bigxmas: