Christmas lights

[Runnergal]

I always did just white lights on the tree but once the kids started having opinions they wanted color so now we have both. We live in an apartment so no outside lights or even a balcony but I put lights around the windows in the kids' rooms. Usually colored. We are on the 5th floor so they are still visible from outside.

 

[texaslover]

I do the tree and the fireplace/mantle and am a white lights only girl! I would love to have beautiful white lights all over my trees, house, and bushes but we don't have the money to pay someone to do it and my husband isn't into that stuff .

We have a house down the street with every color light including purple and blue plus at least 10 different yard arts and blow ups and it actually makes me bah humbug every time I drive by. I like a little restraint in my decor lol.

 

[ronandannette]

I live in a condo, so the only lights are on the balcony and they are white. Inside, the tree, wreath and garlands are a combination of white and multicolor

We're in a condo too and we don't have an outlet at our front door so no lights there. We put them in the back, along the fence that's visible to the street. They're multi-coloured. So are the lights on our tree and the lighted garlands I use on the mantle and stair railing. I'm a stickler for matchy-matchy; all the lights are exactly the same type, size and mix of colours. We don't decorate until mid-December but I'm starting to look forward to it!

 

[Klayfish]

This year, we're going much smaller for a few reasons... DS10s' football team went on a hot streak and made it all the way to the 5th grade Super Bowl. That extended the football season until the Saturday before Thanksgiving, 3 weeks longer than normal. So it killed my set up time. Plus, we were in WDW for Thanksgiving week and will be there for 11 days around Xmas/New Years, so we're only home for 3 weeks of the season this year. So for this year, I'll only have a few thousand lights outside. They will still dance to music I broadcast on FM radio, but it's a fraction of what I'd normally do. My "normal" set up is:

Roughly 40,000 lights outside. A mix of white, colored, multi-color as well as a mix of size...regular "mini", C7 and C9 (those are the large ones), etc..
About 1/3 of the lights dance in sequence to music played over FM radio (I do the programming myself)
Several blow ups...Santa, Mickey, etc...
About a half dozen wire frame figures....reindeer, a dog, etc...
A "scene" or two that I set up
10-15 artificial trees covered in lights
Bushes covered in lights
Etc....

Inside the house, we have:
About 500 lights (the mantle, staircase railing, etc...) If you count lights on the trees, it's several thousand total.
7-8 Christmas trees (3 real, the rest fake)
Christmas village
A crazy amount of "nik nacks" such as nutcrakers, figures, things you'd see at Michaels or Hobby Lobby
Basically, the inside of the house is as over the top as the outside

So yeah, we go just a bit nuts. For 2018, we plan to include RGB technology outside. Those are the lights that I can make change to any color I want, and can change any bulb to any color at any time...very much like TV.

 

[ronandannette]

This year, we're going much smaller for a few reasons... DS10s' football team went on a hot streak and made it all the way to the 5th grade Super Bowl. That extended the football season until the Saturday before Thanksgiving, 3 weeks longer than normal. So it killed my set up time. Plus, we were in WDW for Thanksgiving week and will be there for 11 days around Xmas/New Years, so we're only home for 3 weeks of the season this year. So for this year, I'll only have a few thousand lights outside. They will still dance to music I broadcast on FM radio, but it's a fraction of what I'd normally do. My "normal" set up is:

Roughly 40,000 lights outside. A mix of white, colored, multi-color as well as a mix of size...regular "mini", C7 and C9 (those are the large ones), etc..
About 1/3 of the lights dance in sequence to music played over FM radio (I do the programming myself)
Several blow ups...Santa, Mickey, etc...
About a half dozen wire frame figures....reindeer, a dog, etc...
A "scene" or two that I set up
10-15 artificial trees covered in lights
Bushes covered in lights
Etc....

Inside the house, we have:
About 500 lights (the mantle, staircase railing, etc...) If you count lights on the trees, it's several thousand total.
7-8 Christmas trees (3 real, the rest fake)
Christmas village
A crazy amount of "nik nacks" such as nutcrakers, figures, things you'd see at Michaels or Hobby Lobby
Basically, the inside of the house is as over the top as the outside

So yeah, we go just a bit nuts. For 2018, we plan to include RGB technology outside. Those are the lights that I can make change to any color I want, and can change any bulb to any color at any time...very much like TV.

Is that you, Clark? Watch out for gift boxes that meow!

 

[Klayfish]

I still that you, Clark? Watch out for gift boxes that meow!

I actually have sound clips from the movie that I use in between songs during my outdoor show. I also have a couple of t-shirts from the movie that I wore in WDW last week, and got tons of comments and smiles.

 

[soccerdad72]

All white lights - inside and out, with one exception. There's a pine tree right outside our son's window that I decorate in multi-colored lights.

 

[MIGrandma]

No lights. No tree. No decorations.

Aw, bah humbug.

For us, we no longer decorate outside. When we were younger we put white blinking lights all along the railing of the deck on the west side. On the east side we put colored lights on the bushes on either side of the walkway and garland and colored (the old fashioned, large bulbs) lights on the light pole. The only "outdoor decorating" we do now is put wreaths with big red bows on the doors. And we have a huge lighted star on top of our farm grain leg. It has blue lights and white light tips of the star shape. It is several hundred feet up in the air. DH usually climbs the leg in the fall to replace some of the bulbs, but this year our nephew did it. He appreciated the help.

Indoors we string multi-colored lights in the bay window. They are called "Jingle Lights" and have 3 settings. Blinking (to the tune of the music) and loud music, blinking and softer music, or just blinking. And we have the Christmas tree with 1100 multi-colored lights (not blinking). Garland and white lights in the archway between the dining room and living room. Two table-top Christmas trees (one in the office and one in the dining room) with white lights. And tons of other decorations including Old World Santas, Hallmark snowmen (and lots of other snowmen), Christmas knick-knacks on every possible surface, Christmas tablecloths on all the tables, etc. etc. etc. I love decorating for Christmas!!

 

[prprincess]

Clear lights on trees--we have two in the house. But we never put them on the house outside, and just put out a few light "sculptures" - snowmen, reindeer, sleigh, and a tree. Although my husband went out and bought a projection light system, so now we'll have multicolored lights outside!

 

[Hikergirl]

I put lighted garland on my mantel and on top of my kitchen cabinets. I have a lighted wreath hanging in the dining room. They are all white lights. I keep the lights white on the tree but my youngest ds likes the colored so he changes them, then I change them back when he leaves the room LOL.
When the kids were little we used to decorate outside with lighted dear in the yard, white icicle lights on the house and colored ones on the pine tree out front. Now I just put a lighted wreath on the front door. This year I may get a couple small lit trees to flank the doorway.

 

[cinnaminny]

My husband does the outside lights, he has creative control and he usually loves it to have a variety of color. We usually have a lot going on out there. I prefer the white lights so that is what we have on the tree. Although I am willing to switch it out on occasion and do a colorful tree. But really I prefer the white. I like the color in my house in small bites in general, its just my style.

 

[BDL]

At my last place, the lights were in the bushes (color), on the mantle wrapped in green garland (white), on the inside railings (color) and on the tree (alternating white/color from year to year). Also, some fun Christmas road signs outside, along with a couple of inflatables. As well as a Christmas countdown clock.

Now that we're in our new place we're still in the planning phases of what we can, should and will do. BUT... As an anniversary gift, my mom gave my wife and I inflatable Mickey and Minnie. So thos will definitely be going up.

But just wait until next yr. You'll see us on ABC's Great Light Fight.

 

[RangerPooh]

We have multicolor c9 bulbs outside. I had the privilege of being on the roof attaching them.

Inside is a mixture. The tree lights fade from white to color. The banister garland is multi, while the tv cabinet garland lights are white.

DH use to go all out with choreographed lights and holiday songs, but life has gotten much busier the last few years. Hopefully it’ll return next year.

 

[BLAZEY]

I used the LED multi-coloured light strings. The follow the same colour pattern along the roofline, and across the deck. I also use multi colour on my tree as well. Our deck goes along the fron to our house so DH doesn't need to get up on the roof and can use a step ladder to attach them.