Monday, December 20, 2010

Snoopy & Woodstock String Lights

Stephen is 6'3" and I am 5'2". So, in the spirit of this post, Stephen is Snoopy and I am Woodstock... Even though my Snoopy dance is infinitely better than his. You should see it. It's spot on - crazy grin & all. Don't worry, the reason for the Peanuts-ness will become apparent soon.

Anyways, in an effort to make putting lights up on the house easier this year, Snoopy picked up a modified staple gun called a "Light Tacker" from Lowes.

 
That is his Professor Frink "HOYVIN-GLAVIN!" face.

The Light Tacker staples come with an extra bend to accommodate the wire and a little plastic shield to keep users from stapling through the wire.


Snoopy loved the Light Tacker. He gives it two thumbs up! It made hanging lights quick and efficient. We highly recommend it to those of you who find light hanging frustrating.
 
After Christmas last year, all of the LED Christmas lights went on sale at Walmart. Never one to pass up a bargain, Snoopy swiped all of them up. So, we have an assortment of colored and white LED lights. Since our Christmas tree has built in white lights, we decided to use all of the colored lights on the outside of the house.
 
Snoopy decided that we should spiral the lights around our porch columns. He measured each interval carefully to insure consistently even spirals. Woodstock approved.

 
With the spirals in place, Snoopy called it a night and went back into his house.

Right next to the front door...


 Yup. That lit up blob of lights in the corner of the porch is our Snoopy Christmas dog house. I swear, I told myself I would never own one of those Christmas light yard structure things... Yet, somehow it's on my porch. It's because I have a soft spot for Snoopy (my husband and the beagle).

 
You see, my dear motorcycle riding, hair curler wearing, 70 year old friend Glenda (the Good Witch) likes to give us things from her house. For example, I have one of her rocking chairs in Joseph's nursery. She made me pick from her four different rockers. You can't say no to Glenda. It's like trying to say no to Pop when he wants to give you more water bottles for your car trip. (Sorry, family reference.)

Anyways... Glenda convinced Stephen to take Snoopy and so now he's ours. If it were anyone but Snoopy, I'd probably put up more of a fight. But you know what? He's kind of growing on me. By day, I feel iffy about the whole undertaking. I've always been in the "classy white lights, window candles, wreaths, garland, and red bows only" camp...

But by night, I actually think Snoopy is kind of pretty.

 
And the colored lights are so bright and cheerful, that I can't be grouchy about them.

 
Besides, I like the way they make the porch look purple in the evening.

 

And  I like the way they throw colors onto the snow.

 
And the way they look in a bokeh shot.

 
So, those are our outdoor lights. Here's a quick peek at our tree and indoor lights:

 
I indulged in my white light preference inside. To the max. It's looking super pretty, but I'll have to share it in a later post.

Yesterday, I decided that the Sandwich Shoppe looked all dark and lonely next to the porch, so I scrounged up the last strand of colored lights and decked out the Sandwich Shoppe door. I'll probably dig out my window candles and stick them in the two Sandwich Shoppe windows and the two upstairs windows.



Overall, I think it looks nice, but I feel like The porch and the door are just sort of floating in space. I think it would look so much better if the whole front of the house were decked out. So, for next year's plans... I want to pick up even more lights after this Christmas. Enough to completely outline the front of the house. Make it look all gingerbread-like. Thoughts?

 
Snoopy and Woodstock signing out.

2 comments:

  1. Awesome light hanging device! And I totally agree, the house would look AWESOME if it were outlined all gingerbread-like. :)
    Of course, the question is... would Stephen ever take the lights down, or would we still be lighting them in July? ;)

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  2. When I first saw the light tacker, I thought Stephen was going to accidentally tack himself to the porch. Must come from having a brother who purposefully stapled his own finger.

    I, too, subscribe to the "white lights are best, no light-up characters or structures" when it comes to Christmas decorating, but the houses I want to drive by and look at? They have colored lights, structures and cheesiness galore! All that to say, I LOVE SNOOPY!

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