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November 29, 2004
The great Christmas Light controversy - in praise of white
Ok, maybe not so "great" but interesting as the strings-o-white vs multi-color argument starts making the rounds of the blogshere. Lileks kind of straddles the divide doing red/green, while Michele contends it just isn't Christmas if it's not multi-colored. Rick Moore also weighs in as a colored-light man and sniffs at the whites
We had a white light Christmas tree about 10 years ago or so, but it was so boring that I think I would rather have skipped Christmas than do that again.[hattip Hugh Hewitt]
I do white lights outside and multi-colored on the [fresh] tree inside. I don't apologize for my blaze o'white and I confess I was ahead of the curve since I've been doing white icicle style lights on the outside of my house since 1984 ... when there were no icicle style lights even being offered.
Maybe I was part of starting the trend. Not too egotistical there, eh??
I grew up, late 50's - 60's, in Granda Hills, CA. Like all homes on Curry Avenue*, the Thanksgiving weekend found the men on ladders and roofs (these were one-story post-WWII ranch-style tract homes) very carefully laying the strings of multi-colored lights. Either moms or a trusted older kid got to hold the line and feed it carefully to dad as not to have the lightbulbs clink against each other and break. My dad always tested them inside for dead ones and loose ones. A falling blub made a really neat exploding sound when it hit the driveway, but trying to clean up the fine shards was almost a futile effort. A few always got away to be found later stuck in the bottom of a sneaker (and hopefully not the hard way of stuck in the bottom of a bare foot). Dad's artistic sense (he's an advertiser by trade and an artist by advocation) dictated that all the white bulbs were removed from strings and the remaining colors - red, green, blue, yellow, orange - were distributed in a repeating pattern of warm/cool colors. The effect was cheerful and serene.
*My old house at 11344 Curry Ave, is no more. It would be about the number 3 lane of the 118 freeway.
So what happened when I was old enough for my own lights? Oh, we first had the same lights as the parents and I followed the prescribed patterns. But I've always loved the tiny, almost crystaline, lights. My parents' friends, Jeannie and big Ronnie, had tiny little lights on their tree and I fell in love with the look as a kid. Those were strictly indoor lights and more expensive (at the time) then the regular strings of treelights (where the bulbs were the 4 watt nightlight style, and got just as hot ... hence the popularity of having fresh trees 'flocked' to fire retard them). In summer of 1983, my (then) husband and our three kidlets, aged 4, 2, and 5 mos (and you wonder why I suffer brain damage?) moved into a new home. That first Christmas I used the old-fashioned strings, a couple which I knew I was going to have to replace the next year.
But I wanted to do something different.
I've always had snow-envy. I grew up realizing Christmas was at hand when mom pulled Bing Crosby out of the record rack and "White Christmas" accompanied our lighting efforts. I could only image what our lights would look like reflecting off new fallen snow. I could only pour over magazine advertisements with carollers bundled up in a frosty night of white and twinkling lights.
Thanksgiving 1984 found me at Gemco (kind of the Wall-mart of their time) in the Christmas deco section looking to replace a frayed light string and staring at a display of strings of tiny white lights. The boxes declared indoor/outdoor and I was rooted to the spot as the boys in the basement (that deep echoing cavern of my mind that many times gets me in trouble) were leaping up and down screeching "buy! buy! we've got a great idea!"
My husband just raised his eyebrows when I came back with a few bags filled with boxes of white lights. I then set out with the ladder, hammer and staples and spent a few hours carefully creating icicles with the lights. Hammer in staple, stretch four lights straight, staple, skip five lights to dangle, bring sixth light over close to last straight light, staple and repeat along the edge of the house. Then white lights draped through the shrubs under the front window. I brought my husband and kidlets out onto the front lawn and threw the switch.
My house, another ranch-style tract built in 1983, was iced in white, like illuminated Victorian gingerbread. The kids squealed in delight. A few neighbors came over to admire the effect.
In a town that would never see one snowflake, where the coldest night may mean frost on the lawn at dawn, were the only ice to be found on Christmas day would be cubes in the waterglasses on the dinnertable ...
... I finally had my White Christmas.
Posted by Darleen at November 29, 2004 09:16 AM
Comments
- A number of years ago I did a "Griswald" Chrismas Vacation house display which actually knocked out the next door neighbors air conditioning when I first turned on this Mother of all light strings. It was made up of every dusty string pulled from the bowels of the attic boxes stretching back several generations worth. My mom, who was still with us then, wasn't amused. After all it was her house and I was just the annual guest. The following year when she asked Me to go easy I promised and when I saw the "Xmas light ball from hell" that had been just jangle-jammed together from the year before it took no convincing. I ended up running a single brilliant extra-large spot bulb up on the middle of the roof. When the great Moment came in the dark of night I turned it on while she watched....And there it was in all its brilliance... A single great big Red thing of beauty....she laughed and laughed till it hit me with her words...."Ok... but I get to pick the customers and 20% is your cut, take it or leave it....."....
Posted by: Hunter at November 29, 2004 10:52 PM
I split the difference: I put a long string of the classic big multis along the backyard fence (because it's Christmas in the alley, too!) but use mini white lights on the garland that frames the porch entry. We've always used mini white lights on the tree - the children would riot if we used anything else.
When they all leave, we're so going back to the fat multi bulbs of our childhood. Maybe even bubble lights...
If I had a scanner, I know just the house I'd send in to Michelle. I might even send a photo of our creche - it always elicits a certain amount of comment.
Posted by: Sal at November 30, 2004 05:57 AM