You have no idea how much mocking it took just to get DH to put the lights on that first peak. I mocked him until he offered to let me climb the ladder so that I could climb onto the roof and do it myself, and when I got to the top of the ladder I suddenly realized there had been some kind of geological event and the roof had shifted and was no longer a gentle slope but a perilous and frightening hill of steepness and fear.
And so we called it a day. Last year the lights only went across the front porch, and the year before that we had no lights at all, so this is actually progress. Maybe next year we'll get crazy and put lights on the shrubs.
It was my blog buddy Nicki who inspired me to share this pic. She and her friend Emily went up on the roof with ropes and stuff. I'm thinking they're a little bit nuts. They did it themselves, no husbands involved. (Hear them roar.)
But I'm wondering if this is a Christmas task that stays pretty strictly divided along gender lines even in 2007... Is it mostly the guys that end up with this particular Christmas hazard, or are women venturing out on the rooftops as well? What's the deal at YOUR house? I'm curious...
I am the exterior lights person at my house. Bushes and railings only -- no roofline. I'd like to, but there's a precedent for me falling and getting hurt, so I'm taking no chances.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that one woman that voted pro woman-light-putter-upper so far, that was me. Cuz I'm a crazy roof scaling, diaper wearing housewife. Ok, I didn't put the lights up on the top eaves, Emily did - she's super woman. But I did all the bottom ones. And only because he reads your blog am I going to give Mr. Wright credit for doing the one lower eave. I don't want to give him credit because he COMPLAINED about it the whole time! He's climbed Mt. Rainier and rock climbs for Pete's sake. He just didn't want to do it. Minus 200 husband points for him.
ReplyDeleteI voted! I need a sticker.
ReplyDeleteI voted...it would be the man...if he'd do it *lol* It may end up being the woman next year at the rate we're going!!!
ReplyDeleteI still can't force myself to like exterior lights. The miracle at our house is that we actually have a tree. It's the cheapest, littlest standing fake tree you can get at target. There's one string of lights (LEDs!) and about 12 ornaments. I did it for the kids.
ReplyDeleteEvery year we change our outside light design. Not that you can even call it a design. I never like my lights so I keep changing them every year.
ReplyDeleteMy husband does most of the lights. For a couple years we did icicle lights. Until he said that "Icicle lights s@ck" and they were hauled to the curb.
I am terrified of heights. Don't know or when it happened, but I can't stand being on a ladder. So he does any lights on the house. This year, we just have a few spotlights and lights around our front door, which I did all myself.
Geological event, eh??
ReplyDeleteHeidi
Ok, I'm 100% serious here. In Dallas, people hire day laborers to put up Christmas lights!!!
ReplyDeleteBoth of us are afraid of heights. SO I spend the majority of a weekend in November bribing my brother and his wife to put our lights up. And it's totally worth it. I love Christmas lights!!
ReplyDeleteSeveral weeks ago a guy with a truck and a ladder knocked on our door, and said that they were in the neighborhood putting up lights for people, and would we let him put up our lights. I told him "No thanks, my husband is planning on putting them up."
ReplyDeleteOur lights are still not up.
I'm kind of wishing I'd at least asked the guy how much he would charge.
DH always puts up the lights, but he requires me to be there to "supervise". I think he just wants me to freeze with him.
Our neighbors across the street spend at least 3 days working on their lights. They have an amazing (but tasteful) display. Every line of thier house is outlined. They do have 4 sons that help them though.
I think light putting up is most definately the guys job.
Jill
Hi sue, I came over from my friend nicki's blog. Your site is witty and funny, and I really enjoy your writing. My husband actually did do our lights this year (none last year) and although he was out there in our snowy 20 degree weather for over three hours, all I could do was complain about holding the top of the 40 foot ladder from our second story window while he barely put the last few lights across our top peak. My hands were cold and the dang wind was blowing and I had no coat on. He did all the work so I guess I should stop complaining. Too bad Emily wasn't here to help.:)
ReplyDeleteNo lights in the apartment, but when we had the house, Bald Man put up the lights. He actually has people PAY him to do it. One customer was a man whose wife wouldn't let him do it anymore, because the previous year he fell off the roof. Sheesh.
ReplyDeleteEvery year my son is so disappointed we don't do lights on the house. It's hard though because I swear the pitch of our roof is 50 feet high! Not worth the risk of our lives. We do have lighted garland around our door and a lighted Christmas tree on our porch but that's all we do. Yours looks great. Less is more after all.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so we currently have no lights on our house. But we're seriously considering putting some up NEXT year (you know, just like the past five). If they ever do get put up it will definitely be me that does it.
ReplyDeleteMy X put up the lights, every year, and pretty much only him. I hovered offering encouragement and hot chocolate. We had the Tim Taylor house on the block. We even got in the papers. Our theme was the Grinch that stole Christmas. I'll have to post pics when I find them.
ReplyDeleteNeil's afraid of heights but does it anyways. I think it's an assertion of his manhood or something. =P
ReplyDeleteI voted...it's the man.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, this year, we've got nuthin. Not a single exterior light. Plenty of paper snowflakes all over the house, though! (and all the scissor scraps all over the floor. I'll be finding them until February no doubt.)
My advice: get some of those net lights at the post-Christmas sales and use them on your shrubs next year. They are super easy to put up. So easy, in fact, that a woman could do it.
ReplyDeleteLast year, our lights didn't get put up (by my husband) until the day AFTER Christmas. This year, we were the first in the neighborhood. Want to know why? Because they were STILL THERE from last year.
ReplyDeleteOur exterior is technically not owned by us (at least that's what the HOA Nazis are saying), so we only do lights in the windows. Doesn't really matter who does them when you're standing on the floor, huh?
ReplyDeleteDoes turning on the porch light count? That would be me.
ReplyDeleteHow funny! My husband is the one that puts our lights up (not done yet) and he has to go up two levels too - it scares me just to watch him. Sometimes he drags our son up with him (not something I like one bit) - I am very afraid of heights. This was funny - the picture says it all. See ya. Kellan
ReplyDeleteIt was me, always me. Untangling, climbing ladders, getting clothing stuck on branches. The year I drafted my 10 yr old to help me and after getting all the lights strung up and he plugged it into the outdoor porch outlet and sparks flew, the lights went out and the plug was charred black. I have not hung a single light since. The husband pretends there is no Christmas.
ReplyDeleteLove that pic, Jen - I snorted on that one:)
ReplyDeleteNo lights for us cuz I'm too cheap to pay the extra on the electric bill!
Don't get me wrong, I love the lights and in fact BD and I used to put them up every year. Makes me think of a pic we have of our TOTALLY GHETTO CHRISTMAS LIGHT EXTRAVAGANDA of 2005 . . .man I need to find that pic - it was absolutely hiddeous and all the neighbors complained. We even had a thing we called the licorice tree . .. yeah it was that bad! And we loved it!
I LOVE doing the lights. But I'm a kamikaze type person. And we don't actually have lights at our house. But I do my parents and grandparents and anyone else that need lights. Plus I let my kids run around up there with me.... yeah, I'm that mom.
ReplyDelete(PS I even re-roofed my house. Oh yeah, I'm extraordinary ;)
Hmmmm, looks like my house. When we got married my husband boycotted the yearly putting-on-of-the-lights and I've done it myself all these years. But I'm not the climb-on-the-slippery-roof type of gal so we get the low-light effect.
ReplyDeleteI think it still looks good. At least we have lights right?
We don't have many up on our house either. Hubby's not real into the whole lights deal adn I'm not climbing up on the roof with ropes and whatever else! LOL
ReplyDeleteMy DH puts on the lights every year- and every year about 2-3 strands get burned out and he says that he is not going to do it- and stomps around like a little boy who doesn't want to do his homework- and I say "Whatever Honey" and he always comes through and they look beautiful!
ReplyDeleteUntil i got married three years ago I was the one who put the lights up at my parents. I love Christmas lights SO much and am totally anal about what kind, and how they go up, so it's all me! But now my m,an puts them up. He likes it.
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding? My husband won't even replace the lightbulbs in the porch light. And what with my own issues with the Christmas tree lights, we've opted to "go black" every Christmas since forever.
ReplyDeleteWe don't do lights. I don't want a high electric bill. LOL
ReplyDeleteBy the way, you've been tagged by me for a Hoopla - come by and see.
Oh. Lights on the outside of the house? I guess that's something we should get around to. So far neither of us have done it, but when/if we do, it will be a man's job.
ReplyDeleteI just thought you should know that since I started reading your blog, a little piece of my soul has died every time I've clicked over here and there wasn't a new post for me to read. No pressure though.
ReplyDeleteLove your lights - we don't put any lights on our house - I suspect out of shear laziness. I've suggested several times to my husband that we simply wrap the wiener dogs in lights and call it a day! And if that isn't enough, we could tie, one each, to the hand railings on our front steps!!
ReplyDeleteIlluminating and adorable!
Hallie
http://wonderfulworldofweiners.blogspot.com/
Last I checked, it's best to turn the lights on if you put them up. That would require electricity. Since my DH's sole mission in life (or so it would seem) is to save as much money as possible, there are no lights at my house. There will never be lights at our house. So, you guys are looking pretty good.
ReplyDeleteYour lights are lovely.
ReplyDeleteMy guy puts lights up every year. And talks about taking them down after New Years, talks about it for weeks until I finally do it sometime around oh Father's Day. June-ish. And then a few weeks later he'll say, hon, when did I take the lights down, and I say hmmm not sure baby. It's our Christmas tradition.
I just gotta say - 103 votes and 36 comments! PEOPLE! PEOPLE! You are KILLING ME!!!
ReplyDelete