Pat and I were driving up to a tree farm to pick the Christmas Tree for our holiday.  Now normally we have a wonderful false tree that is gorgeous, but with the kids coming, we went searching for the perfect real tree.  Selected a very nice White Fir.  Anyway that is not the reason for this blog.

Today was gorgeous.  After 3 days of fog so heavy no plane could land at the airport, even driving to our dining out evening a couple of nights ago was dangerous.  Today was gorgeous.  8°C with no wind and blue skies and the mountains looking like a post card.  A great day to go pick a tree, but I did have an issue.

As we were driving home we saw several homes where the owners were hanging their outdoor Christmas Lights, taking advantage of the great day.  I was very upset.

As we all know, to get into the spirit of Christmas, you must hang your lights outdoors on a cold rainy day in late November, like I did.  Otherwise, you are taking the easy way, and what is the point of that?

Granted I no longer pursue the Chevy Chase version of exterior lights, and I do not have access to my children to assist (unlike a couple of years ago), but given the fact that most of our neighbours are either Asian or living in their winter homes in Palm Desert, our house is not bad for our street.   (Photo 1)

As we spend many of our evenings in the great room, looking into the back yard, I spend a fair bit of my resources on lighting the back yard.  (Photo 2)