INTRO

Beginning at seven years old, I can remember our first outdoor Christmas lights. It was around the time we also had our first TV. (No, I’m not that old, but it was during a time of significant new influences.) I remember each with equal fascination. During that time (circa 1963), there were limits on TV coverage and Christmas lights!

The TV wasn’t a 24-hour event, and neither were holiday lights. Today, there are lights year round and for every occasion; but for me, Christmas reigns supreme.  

In the United States, it became fashionable to outline our tract housing, with Christmas lights, like the home I grew up in, beginning in the 1960s.

Last Christmas, a friend and I were driving around to see the lights, she commented she believes, “Anything goes during Christmas.” She is a generation younger than I. As the years rolled on from my youth, so did the amount of light each home displayed. (Except for those oil embargo years, but let’s not go there.)

This article isn’t about judging what you do with your holiday lighting, not at all. But I come from the generation where we don’t need to illuminate everything and everywhere. Did you know, our Christmas illuminations increase the level of light pollution, as seen from orbit, in the US by up to 10 percent? In other countries, it’s even higher!

Yet every year, I light the side arbor entering the back garden and the crape myrtle in the front of the home. I can only ever get so high up the tree, though. I have no fear of heights, but I’m limited to the size of my tallest ladder. This year, I took the plunge and hired a climber from Leaf and Limb Tree Service.

Hiring a professional climber, yes, that is what they’re called, will make your Christmas lights go from ho-hum to HO HO HUMMMM!!! Wow! 

MATERIALS

It was difficult to estimate how many lights I needed. I bought my lights at Lowes Home Improvement, where I knew I could return any unused lights. My purchase included a string combination of 50 (12 packs) lights per string and 100 (4 packs) lights string. I wanted to give climber Chris some options for longer branch runs versus shorter runs. Chris was able to get twice the height I’ve reached in the past, and hiring Leaf & Limb. is much better than renting scaffolding or a bucket truck!!! Left over were three strings of 50. I used those on the arbor.

Those days of untangling and making sure of all the lights worked are over for me, and so are energy-inefficient incandescent light bulbs. There is a better way with light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which we are increasingly encouraging as being more energy-efficient. When they first came out, the color couldn’t match our traditional warm yellow light, but LED improvements have come a long way. While a little bit more expensive than other bulbs, the energy savings pays for itself. 

ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention any environmental concerns. There is a compromise between the attchment to the magic of Christmas and common sense. Mood (I don’t do well with shorter days) and the tradition of lighting during the holidays is essential for us; at least it is for me.

Start with purchasing inexpensive timers; at night, they’ll automatically turn off your festive illumination. It will bring savings because each lamp consumes electricity (even LEDs), and while not illuminated, lessens the environmental effect. A timer limits light pollution. Also, you and your neighbors will sleep better if nothing lights up the bedroom…stay with me, we’re still talking Christmas light here.

The blue light emitted by LED bulbs makes it hard to stargaze, and can cause severe consequences for wildlife, whose biological rhythms and nocturnal instincts are disrupted when they are near a lot of artificial light. We see this more of a problem in the spring and summer than in December. 

RECYCLE

Another potential environmental problem is all the disposed of lights showing up in our landfills!

Please do not put Christmas lights in your recycling cart! They make a tangled mess and force the recycling equipment to a grinding halt. You can, however, recycle Christmas lights anywhere that accepts electronics for recycling.

So let’s skip the lights fantastic and let us celebrate the tradition of night lighting during the holiday season by adding light until we start to see an increase in light from the Earth’s tilt. Just like we limit our TV viewing, putting time limit on our night light is also a good idea.