Xmas lights are done....

RuSsMaN

2,350 is the total count....(outside)

Is everyone else here my ****? Lets hear the numbers fellas......

Cheers,
Russ

TroyD

I have no idea how many....Stringing Christmas lights has got to be the biggest pain in the **** next to finding that damn hum in the world.

I don't string that many lights, but we have the animated reindeer, the lighted tree, handpainted elves and crap, bows, wreaths etc. etc.

THEN there is the inside of the house, the whole decor changes. We have Santas, nutcrackers and snowmen everywhere.

Wendi's whole year revolves around Christmas (her birthday is the 24th and our anniversary is the 30th) so you can only imagine.....

BTW all this stuff goes up on the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Troy

RuSsMaN

This is the first time we have actually deco'd inside, more than a tree, now that we have a house.

It's a trip, you can really do alot of stuff, but I stand firm, nothing, I mean NOTHING, no little fake holly, no stuffed Rudolph, NOTHING gets set on a speaker...

Cheers,
Russ

TroyD

Our doo dads are pretty much all traditional hand painted Santas and things. Nothing cheesy, it's all pretty tasteful. And yes, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING on a speaker.

As much as I **** to keep things undercontrol, I enjoy it myself.

Can anyone top 5 different places and almost 11 hrs to pick out a tree??

Last year we did the tree farm, cut your own deal, NEVER AGAIN! That is a whole other story.

Troy

juice21

still have some left to do, but i'm only around the 1,200 mark. the griswold family christmas isn't on my project list this holiday season...:D

RuSsMaN

I thought about the whole 'drive out to the boonies, pick it, cut it down.....etc etc'....

One stop shopping this year, went to Lowes, bought the 3rd one we looked at. 7 footer Douglas Fir, nice and full, about 3 feet wide at the base, hasn't dropped all the way yet.

Time seems to be moving fast this year. I almost have the attitude that no body is gettin jack from me, I want a selfish Christmas. Audio bug is bitin me hard.

Cheers,
Russ

hoosier21

Having a hard time getting in the Christmas spirit also, keeping the front up for the kids, but really who gives a crap this year?

Man I need a Christmas jumpstart.

Ron-P

This is the first time in the 9 years I have been in my house that I have put up any outdoor lighting. This year, being my first, I put up 4 strings (25 lights each) for a grand total of 100 lights.

That's it, that's all........no more, no less. In 3 weeks it will take me about 20 min. to take'em down:)


Peace Out~:D

mikemokr

Currently we are at 0 lights, but we got the tree yesterday so something'll get put up shortly. Nothing outlandish.

I cut the tree. We live sorta out in the boonies so it mainly was a matter of driving down the street a couple hundred yards to the nearest "tree farm" (read: "agriculture" tax shelter, ahem). Our neighbor doesn't trim his trees so they're not perfectly shaped full things, but I like the depth we get from the sparser nature of it, and the fact that it came from down the street.

We have a 12' cathedral ceiling but I seem to have a habit of cutting an 18' tree. Ah well, trimmings for the bough for the fireplace mantle. And for $25 it's hard to go wrong.

I am resisting the impulse to ask Troy about "handpainted elves and crap."

TroyD

The handpainted elves? Plywood cutouts attached to a stake and inserted in the ground. Elves, candycanes etc. See, this guy brings 'em to my mother in law and she gets them for Wendi (knowing Wendi will want them) and then Wendi feels obliged to pay for them. If I ever get my hands on that effer I will strangle him.

Here is my thing, our list of people that we buy gifts for is nearly 40 effin' people. 5 on my side, 35 on hers. Her side of the family may not be big on being employed but they got procreating down to a science. Even at 20 bucks a whack, that's 800 bones. By the way, ever try to keep your wife to 20 bucks a person?? You figure, her parents are divorced, so that make 6 parents total @ roughly 75 a whack...See what I'm gettin at here??

Like Russ, I am thinking about some serious audio upgrades but NOOOOO, we are buying Game Boys for some little **** that I have never even seen.

My **** about giving, it's all about reaching in and squeezing my **** until it turns purple.

I could rant all day on this subject but I going to hunt down that effin hum now.

Troy

TroyD

Last year, I will share this one with you guys real quick....

Last year Wendi has the bright idea that we will go cut our own tree. Oh yeah, btw, she told her mom and her dad (they are divorced) that we will get thier tree as well. Total of 3 trees.

So, we ride out to B.F.E. to the tree farm and it is unseasonable warm, about 80 degrees but humid and damp and it has been raining for a week and is still pouring like a cow pissing on a flat rock. So this place is one big mud puddle.

Anyway, we get there, they point us in the right direction and hand me a saw that is, to put it mildly, completely inadequate. 2 hours later after we have looked at EVERY friggin tree in Dorchester county she finds one that will do. Repeat this two more times. Then I have to drag these friggin trees like two miles because of course all the good trees are WAY on the back of the property.

Don't forget that these trees are special, so they cost twice what you would pay at any other place, 60 bucks each. So by now I am REALLY pissed.

Anyway, we get the tree home and of course it is about 5 feet too tall for the house (gee, didn't I mention that BEFORE I cut the sumbitch??)

Anyway, we don't go to the tree farm anymore.

Troy

Ron-P

Yeap, did the tree farm ONCE, never again.

Thank God for Home Depot.


Peace Out~:D

juice21

did the tree farm thing for the third year in a row this year. it's only about 10 minutes away, and they have horse drawn cart to carry your trees back for you, so it's not that bad...

madmax

No lights or tree yet for me. I always put things off. I figure if I wait too long I'll just turn on all the equipment and that should be enough lights. Still would need a tree though.
madmax

ntculenuff

the wife put all the inside decor up last week told her she had to wait until we got i first legitimate christmas card. i have to put some lights up outside not many though just a little strand around the door and windows, just have'nt done it quite yet, decided to get a good head cold this weekend instead. what is with this year? i am having a hard time getting into the whole christmas thing myself

on a side note to TroyD

Here is my thing, our list of people that we buy gifts for is nearly 40 effin' people. 5 on my side, 35 on hers. Her side of the family may not be big on being employed but they got procreating down to a science. Even at 20 bucks a whack, that's 800 bones. By the way, ever try to keep your wife to 20 bucks a person?? You figure, her parents are divorced, so that make 6 parents total @ roughly 75 a whack...See what I'm gettin at here??

my family puts names in a hat and draws them out so you only have to buy for 1 person, works well, this way you don't go broke buying stuff for every one

TroyD

We do that with the adults, however, Wendi's family is quite large and splintered (Her parents are divorced and have each been married 3 times) and we buy for all the kids. Ever see Christmas Vacation, Cousin Eddie? I'm in-law'd to a whole bunch of 'em.


Troy

juice21

Originally posted by TroyD
Ever see Christmas Vacation, Cousin Eddie? I'm in-law'd to a whole bunch of 'em.


Troy

clark, that's the gift that keeps on giving the whole year...


that it is edward, that it is indeed....

mikemokr

Forget the tree farms and the 17,000 lights and all those gifts for pseudorelatives you don't even like. What REALLY sucks are those cheap lousy Christmas tree stands. You know, the ones with the shallow red basin and flimsy detachable green legs. Just when the tree is almost stable, you turn the last screw a couple more times to fine-tune, and ... the thread strips. You try to compensate by tightening one of the other screws a little more, and ... THAT thread strips. Before you know it, the tree is sprawled flat on the living room floor and you're calling Home Depot to see if they're still open and have any stands left.

Actually, there was one unsung quality about the star of this True Story: its aerodynamic properties. The stand flew like a Special Edition Master Tournament Frisbee when I flung the motherf***er out the back door into the woods.

Strong Bad

I about fell on the floor laughing at that heartwarming story. What a laugh riot!!!

Those stands are a piece of sh**, ain't they!

mikemokr

Originally posted by john d. strong
Those stands are a piece of sh**, ain't they!

Yeah, and as I was driving to HD I was thinking how I'd get a stand to tide me over through this xmas and then build one of my own that would be strong enough to hold a lifetime's worth of Rockefeller Center trees. But HD has a cast-iron model that actually seems sturdy enough to last for more than a few weeks. $20, such a deal. The checkout lady raved about it, said she's got a bunch of kids and cats and what not and in 10 years she hasn't had a problem with one of these stands. Solid as hell, at least so far. So we'll see if I have another story to tell next year. I hope not because this thing is so heavy I might hurt myself flinging it.