Exterior Illumination: Phase I

The holidays are fast approaching so I thought I would write about a Newman family tradition that started when I was a kid and has continued on as Jessi and I started our own household.

Clark W. Griswold has been an idol of mine for many years and in fact, I like to think I have a little "Clark" in my blood. From lights to Christmas music to all kinds of other holiday traditions, we like to celebrate the holidays to the fullest. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not quite as aggressive as some of the local radio stations who started playing holiday music earlier this month but nevertheless I like to try to take it to the extreme. Thankfully, Jessi has the common sense to hold me back and keep me from going too overboard!

Our tradition has included decorating the interior of our home during the weekend after Thanksgiving but I like to have my "exterior illumination" completed and ready to hit the "on" switch the day after Thanksgiving. This past weekend I started on phase I of my project. As you can see from the photo above, I like to get my upper roof line completed as early as possible before the snow, ice, and frost settle onto the roof for the winter season.

I also decided to go to LED lights which meant I had to replace all of my lights this year. The downside is the initial cost of new lights while the upside is the energy savings that we will see over the next several years. Another bonus of these fantastic lights is that they rarely burn out. Every year it seemed like I would get the upper roof line up and within an hour or less I would have to climb back up to replace burnt out or broken bulbs. Not the case this year!

Besides the initial cost, the only other downside I can see so far is that the lights are not quite as bright. Jessi also thinks they are a little more blue than white and I will have to agree as they are a little less white/yellow than I thought they would be. Maybe that's not necessarily a bad thing though because as I was crawling around my roof after dark the other night, my neighbor across the street came out of his garage to let me know he liked them better than last year's lights.

I think we just may officially have a great start to the holiday season! I can't wait to share with you the next 3 phases of my project coming to a blog near you. It sounds like this weekend's weather should be prime for some light hanging and roof crawling so be sure to check back soon!