When our family was younger, we lived in a very small two bedroom house on the family farm. For some reason, we didn’t get into the habit of putting up a tree early; we put a tree up about 10 days before Christmas, and no more than 15 days before. But of course, our kids wanted decorations out earlier. I solved the dilemma by putting up strands of colored lights around two doorways, our front door and another door leading off of our small living room. I put up those lights early in December, and we’d turn off all other lights at night when we watched TV.
So, this happy habit has continued up until today. In this second, larger home, I place lights around our breakfast room window, and also on two shelves of teapots, where I weave greenery and lights around the tea things. I also put a strand along my counter top behind canisters, breadbox and coffee maker. A few years ago, they looked so pretty, a multi-colored light fest, that I left them there throughout the year, and when we had dinner guest, or I needed cheery surroundings, I plugged them in. I surrounded them with sprigs of dark ivy, so they didn't show unless I turned them on. If you scroll back in the early blog entries, there’s a pic of my port wine countertop with the multi-colored lights.
We are downsizing and moving into a new home in a couple of weeks. When building, I asked the electrician to put a plug up at the top of my kitchen cabinets, and a switch to that plug near the kitchen sink alongside the other on/off switches. You guessed it. I’ll lay rope lights or several strands up there near the ceiling for gentle lighting. I haven’t decided on the color, yet. The sparkle of lights is a beloved tradition of Christmas, but they can help create ambiance at other times of the year, too.
Gotta love those twinkle lights!!!
Do you use strands of lights in your home throughout the four seasons? If so, how?
2 comments:
Our children use strands of lights for extra light in their bedrooms at night rather than a nightlight. My son prefers colored lights and my daughter likes the white lights. The lights are plugged into a switched outlet so they're easy for the kids to turn on and off.
When I was younger, we left the mantle lights up al year. :)
I want to put up my outside lights this weekend, but it's been getting pretty cold now.
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