Saturday, December 6, 2008

seriously, why don't the christmas lights work from year to year?


Every year it's the same ol' thing. We put a dozen or so working strings of Christmas lights away in the box in January. When we pull them out the next December, at least half of them do not work.

This year is the worst, I think. We have plugged in every string we have. I think four of them work completely.

It's such an absolutely waste of money. And those icicle lights are not cheap.

What happens to those lights in the box each year??

I have some theories.

a) tiny dwarves come play with our christmas lights in the off season, holding mini parties in our garage when we are asleep

b) it's a conspiracy: they are designed and made to only work one season so one must spend $$$ each year replenishing the supply

c) someone-who-shall-remain-nameless puts them away in a sloppy careless manner, actually causing the breakage of small bulbs, fine wires, and otherwise important parts

d) the heat of summer in our garage (where the strings of lights are stored) has blown out the mini fuses

e) someone-who-shall-remain-nameless purposefully steps on them and yanks on them harshly when putting them away so he'll have an excuse to buy new stuff the next year

f) it's the devil--he knows that arguing and stressing over the lights will cause contention in the house, so in effect we will start off the Christmas season on a frustrated note

This year, I said to heck with it. We have one or two good strings of icicle lights. Instead of buying more and draping them completely around our house like we have in the past, the two good strings will go on the front of the garage only. And we will be happy with it. Any $ we put in to lights this year will go strictly to the colored lights on our inside tree. The end.

Ha ha, mini dwarves. You will not get me this year.

(Don't forget to comment on any post between now and next week for entries to win Blog Candy)

21 comments:

Lorie said...

I am going with b. I always think things are a conspiracy to get me to spend more money!

linda said...

In this house it is answer C.. This year I am investing in organziation items just for the strands of lights, so that they are not just thrown into boxes after the holidays..

Anonymous said...

As for me, all my lights were in storage for almost 4 years and they worked fine when I took them out. Come to think of it, they were stored at YOUR house!!! So the dwarves must not like my lights, just your fancy-smancy icicle lights...

B

Anonymous said...

As for me, all my lights were in storage for almost 4 years and they worked fine when I took them out. Come to think of it, they were stored at YOUR house!!! So the dwarves must not like my lights, just your fancy-smancy icicle lights...

B

leaner said...

I feel your pain. My four strands of white lights to put on my tree were all messed up this year. Two of the strands only worked about half. SO what did I do? Nope, didn't run out and buy more. My tree, if you look closely, has half a non working strand shoved between the branches. And the top? not as lit up as the bottom.

I will be buying new lights at the after Christmas clearance sale, just like last year. (I bought a ton of lights cheap, because Will swore he would decorate the house this year, if I did it. Premonition that he would be gone? I think so. Before last year, he said if I wanted the house decorated, I would be the one standing on the ladder, which my fear of heights makes a little bit difficult!)

Christine said...

Us too! Our outside lights didn't work either. So I went and got the big c-9 lights and put those up cause all my formitive years that's what my dad had on the house and he would never buy the new cool lights saying that when the old ones died then we'd look. They just never died! So here's to hoping those buggers will stay lit. Well and I may just supervise the putting away this year because I believe my he-who-shall-not-be-named has some guilt in the situation too =>

The Bluths said...

I'll have to let you know how ours work next year. This was our first year at buying them. But I remember my parents always having the same problem. We ended up buying this little wand thingy that you could check each light to see where the problem was.

Jesika said...

It's so unfair!! Ours do the saaaame thing! Total rip-off but what are ya gonna do??!?

Randa said...

I'm going with another theory altogether. Sort of a morph, if you will, of a, b, and f. I do believe it's the Elf's Lament. It's a conspiracy alright; however, the conspiracy centers around the fact that the elves feel mistreated and they want to unionize - but the big guy won't hear of it. Wreaking havoc with our lights...well, that's just one of the ways they can be a thorn in the side of Christmas. It certainly works to their advantage when it comes to union negotiations.

http://www.metrolyrics.com/elfs-lament-lyrics-barenaked-ladies.html

*footnote* LED lights are another story entirely. They are definitely the work of the devil. Shun them at all costs =)

tif-do said...

Got you all fixed up on my live feeder updatey thingermajiger! I don't get to put lights up this year... sniffle!

Heidi E. said...

That is funny.. I haven't tried our lights yet, but I so know what you mean.

AZ HS Spotlight said...

I had the same problem, but with my pre-lit Christmas tree. So I had to put more lights on it, but I went ghetto and begged my mom for her lights since she has a pre-lit tree and doesn't decorate outside.

But, I have noticed if your Christmas lights remain on your house all year long, they work fine the next year. See, it's okay!!

Katrina :) said...

ours worked...maybe DANNY (i know who it was...u just can't be coy with me! lol) is very careless and wants more lights! lol...ours are be-ootifuulll! lol

Trina

Katrina :) said...

Dude! I'm the 50,000 visitor!!!! WHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahaha

Heidi said...

I can't keep up with all your posts! But I'll tell you one thing - didn't you know you're supposed to hang them half-lit? Sort of like YOU? LOL!

Toni said...

After spending 4 hours this weekend unwrapping the half dead lights off my tree, we decided to go with LED's. Supposedly they never burn out. We shall see. I hope cuz they cost way more!!

The Bluths said...

So who won? You hit past 50,000!

Delfina said...

Your to funny!

jinxi~ aka angi said...

Tomorrow I shall find out if the dwarves visited here as well.
Lets hope not, Im stressed enough as it is. Ugh

Melissa Henning said...

Hi! I'm a loyal follower of Steph, the crockpot lady. Yesterday she made ornaments and had some "fun stuff" at the bottom of her blog--one being mug brownies. I drooled over it, I mean read it when she first posted it, but didn't know she posted an after thought until I went back, now, so I could make them tonight! (my mugs are from savers. They are tall and pink). I just watched your video and i <3 it. Girl! You too funny!

Letter C is a reoccurring theme around here. My someone-who-shall-remain-nameless is very clever when it comes to excuses to buying new things (the douche).

Thanks for the laugh and for showing me that my crockpot isn't in as bad of a condition as I thought--it could be worse! ;) lol

I will be back tomorrow!

Smiles and blessings,
Melissa H.

Carca said...

Amen!!! I thought we were the only ones with bad luck when it comes to Christmas lights!!!