Outside Christmas Lights - WHEN ?
 

I am at the moment sorting out my outside lighting display ready to put up by the end of this month.

Whilst doing so I found myself thinking about the forum and wondering how many people are doing the same thing right now.

I have my lights turned on at exactly midnight on the 31 November this is done by an automatic switching system.

Once the initial switch on has taken place then the lights turn on at 4.30 pm and off at 11.30 pm automatically every day ending 12 days after Christmas when I take them down and store for next year.

I would be interested to find out how other people do their lighting or even if they have lighting at all so PLEASE can you YORKIE members tell us what you do or tell us you do nothing at all and it is just me who is the lights nutter !!

Does anyone ever put photographs of their lighting on here ??

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I love the lights but do not do them at my house. We live in the country and my DH does not want to put them up. So, I only decorate inside the house. :) I don't put our tree up until after Thanksgiving. And the day after Christmas it comes down! That is just me! :D

Outside lights only happen if I can talk my boys into hanging them (house is 1 1/2 stories tall and they like to climb). The tree is usually vertical the day before Thanksgiving and decorated during the Macy's parade. It used to happen very quickly. This year will take longer,just me and the 16yr old so we will put stuff out in the house over several days. It does all start going back instorage Jan 1,but again it will take several days.

A few things I don't understand.

When is Thanksgiving ?

What is a 1 1/2 story building ?

What is Macey's Parade all about ??

Remember I am a stupid old English guy who gets confused when reading American English.

I live in a single floor house and this is called a "Bungalow" in UK.

I go well over the top with my lights and kids come from all over the area to see them.
I have no kids of my own and it is so nice to see the children's faces when they stand looking up at the lights.:D

Google is my best friend, so much info there and can be quite impressive at times

I already got mine up so Im not climbing on a latter that is coverd with ice or snow. :p or freeze my butt off. lol

I take it your conversational skills are not too good if you refer people to Google.

I did understand that this forum was to meet and talk but obviously I was wrong.

OK I did the "Google" thing and I now know a 1 1/2 story house is in fact a normal house which has a ground floor and one upper floor which we would call the first floor.

Is this a real problem for putting up decorative lights I ask ??

Thanksgiving is always the 4th Thursday in November. This year it is on the 24th.

A 1 1/2 story building is a house that has a room upstairs but not necessarily an entire 'floor'. It won't have several bedrooms and a bathroom... it usually is just a bonus room upstairs.

I live in a 'bungalow' as well, but it is 2 stories with a basement. It is called a bungalow because of it's sloping roof. Attached is a picture.

The Macy's Thanksgiving Parade is an annual parade on Thanksgiving and is put on by Macy's a large department store. It has been held since 1924.

As for Christmas lights, we just do simple white lights and a wreath on our door.

We usually pick a nice warmish day to put the lights up - but, they aren't turned on until December. I can't stand when the lights are turned on before December 1st though...

I really do thank you for taking the time to explain all that to me I now understand what it is all about.

When I did a Google search I did not get the explanation you have given so I did think it was just a normal house with two floors and as far as the parade went I just did not understand it was a store in USA.

We have exactly the same in UK. We have those who love the lights and those who hate them saying they are a waste of power.

In many cities or towns the lights are on right through November and if you were to visit a town called Blackpool you will see the most famous lighting display in UK which starts in September and people travel a long way to see them. They are known as "The Blackpool Illuminations" and well worth a "Google" to see them.

I put my lights up during the last week of November and they get turned on at midnight on the 31st and I will be the first to admit I go over the top but this is my way of getting into the spirit of Christmas.

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Well before we moved from our dream home, we had ours up and turned on the night of Thanksgiving. We lived in Alabama at the time. Most of our neighbors had them up at the same time if not earlier. Then we take them down on the 2nd of January. However, after we moved due to the hubby's job change we no longer put up lights. We rent a mobile home in a nice community and the idea of lights on a mobile home just doesn't appeal to us. If we do choose to buy a home (depending if the hubby stays in this location), I'd definitely put lights back up. When we did do it, we had them on a timer. It gets dark a little later in the south and ours would cut on around 7 pm each night and cut off at 5 am the next morning. This will be our first Christmas in the mobile home and I am going to decorate as tastefully as I can. We will have decorations inside that have lights on them, but none outside. So all you will be able to see is our lights on the tree from the big bay window we have. Even though it's not outdoor lights, I do love to take pictures and will try to share our things as soon as I get them up. I know it will not be near as fancy as some, but we enjoy decorating. :)

I usually hang the outside lights thanksgiving weekend, but don't turn them on until december 1st. I saw alot of people out hanging up lights this weekend around my area...probably because the weather is good. I've spent many a thanksgiving weekend with frozen fingers trying to string lights, so manybe they are on to something. Regardless of when I hung them, I still couldn't turn them on until december.

I see no harm it putting them up early and I will be doing just that next week but I never ever switch on until the 1st December.

I have to say folks, thank you all for taking part in the thread I am learning so much about your culture.
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Oh! I've spent many a time in Blackpool...cold as can be...but still dipping my toes in the sea while munching on a stick of rock :D Being from Sheffield, it was a fav BB mini break destination.