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Bright Ideas for Holiday Lights
November, 2012 - Issue #97
Presents to buy. Parties to attend. Limbs to remain intact. (You think we're kidding. According to the Product Safety Commission, 11,000 people end up in the ER each holiday season due to decorating injuries - and that's not including the 100, on average, fires that are caused by overloaded circuits or faulty wiring!). When it comes to putting up holiday lights, who has the time, expertise or energy?

Lucky for you (and us!), there are a few ways to share the holiday spirit with all who pass without going "full Griswold." (We'll leave those antics to Chevy Chase.)

Wrap the handrails of your front porch to pull double duty; you've just upped your "festive" quotient while providing added illumination for guests to more safely gain access to your door.

Create "Christmas trees" of a whole new variety by stringing lights around the limbs and trunk only (for a classic look) or between different limbs (for an eclectic look) of your front-yard tree.

For the time or resource challenged who still want to "decorate," simply highlight the architecture of your home by outlining your front-facing windows and doors only. It's a humble way to avoid the "bah-humbug" feeling of an unlit home.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Quickly hanging pre-lit "shapes" (Think: mistletoe, holly, Santa!) may be "cheating," but it's not going to land you coal in your stocking. Quite the opposite, in fact. These designs are often the favorite decor elements of the under-10 set.

Let there be Light!
Perhaps the brightest holiday lighting tip of all is this: Let someone else do it. We know, we know. You and everyone else are caught up in the midst of the Do It Yourself era. Putting up holiday lights isn't rocket science, you say. And you're right. (Though if you tend to underscore the power of electricity, we have a kite ready-made to fly during a lighting storm that we'd like to sell you.). But hear us out for a second. Professional light installers have a few key things going for them that you don't. (Like the right kind of ladders, for one. Skill and a sense of design, others.). They also ensure that your lights stay bright through the season, performing required maintenance as needed. And our favorite part - they take down the lights (A fate worse than death, in our world.) and can store them for you, too, if you choose to purchase a set. (Yes! You're inferring correctly. You often don't need to buy the lights if you don't want to - though professional installers are just as happy to use your existing lights, if that's what you prefer, or sell you their professional-grade strands and accessories.).

Local Professional Holiday Light Installers Include
Christmas Lights Installation by Darell Lee
serving the SCV since 1999.
297-7013

Landscape Pros
an authorized distributor of Brite Ideas Decorating.
510-8865
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