Hanging Up The Christmas Lights

Friday's job (other than sleeping in as late as we wanted!) was to put the Christmas lights up on the house. I keep vowing to do this job in the balmy weather of October before Halloween, but it just never seems to happen that way. Last year, I waited until Thanksgiving, and weather did not cooperate. Whenever I had time off (holidays or Saturdays) the weather was too inhospitable to be on the roof.

Yesterday, on Thanksgiving day the weather was perfect. Sunny skies, temperatures in the 50's and no wind. Today, however, the skies were cloudy, we had a strong South wind (which means a storm is coming) and it was quite chilly. It was dry, however, and I knew that if we didn't get the lights up today, that chances were we would miss getting them up again this year. Tomorrow it is supposed to snow!

We got our lights out of storage, and the gutter/shingle clips with which to attach them. We all climbed up on the roof (that is me, Bryan and Amy -- and major bravery points for Amy!) only to find that our 10-year-old gutter clips were now so brittle, that ever time we tried to attach one to the rain gutter, that they snapped in two.

I had remembered seeing some gutter clips at the local Harmon's grocery store just inside the front entrance. So we made a quick trip to the store, got the clips and came back.

The new clips worked just fine. Bryan really wanted to help, so for the first time I let him attach the gutter clips, and then attach the light strand to the clip. I insisted on doing the work around the corners of the roof, which are much more dangerous. I was proud of Bryan being such a great help. Amy also helped by keeping us supplied in gutter clips, and bringing a new strand of lights to us when we were ready for them.


We got all the lights up and then just spent a few minutes admiring the view from the roof. While we were up there, I took a few photos. Here is the view looking toward the east from my rooftop: Click on Photos for larger images. Also, you Can see more photos from Thanksgiving Weekend Here.