Holiday Decorating

[jjonn3]

I usually put up a wreath in front - but this year I didn't even get that inspired...

 

[72-Jay]

I can imagine it gets hard as one gets older.
In my case, I just don't have the enthusiasm to bother. It's just me, now. Holiday season is a pretty isolated feeling time of year. A few years ago, there was a spell when I decorated small trees each year. But my heart wasn't really in it...

Yeah all that up & down ladders & wandering around the roof stringing lights deff gets harder the older you get. .lol.

I can totally see if you're living alone where there wouldn't be much desire to decorate. I've always heard that the holidays in general can be isolating/lonely time of the year for people. Hopefully all is good for you.

 

[72-Jay]

As for bubbling lights...

I found one of my sets today & plugged it in just to see it lit.
A whole tree of those would look awesome! (but would also be allot of power (and ofcourse cost of the lights themselves would be totally prohibitive))

 

[me203]

I can totally see if you're living alone where there wouldn't be much desire to decorate. I've always heard that the holidays in general can be isolating/lonely time of the year for people. Hopefully all is good for you.

Frankly, it's not good for me. The last week has been absolute hell with depression and loneliness.

 

[me203]

A whole tree of those would look awesome! (but would also be allot of power (and ofcourse cost of the lights themselves would be totally prohibitive))

I have to admit I have wondered what sort of impact my childhood Christmas trees had on the power bill, just with the C7 lights! Although the house was all electric, so the lights were probably the least of the worries in winter. But that house had hooks for lights along the roof, and I remember my father being adamant that we'd have no outside lights because of the power use. (I think, at that time, it was still pretty much only C7 or C9 bulbs--the mini lights existed, but all the ones I ever saw were built as a circular affair, with both ends connecting to the plug, which was not conducive to stringing along a roof. Plus I have no idea now if any mini lights could be safely used outdoors.)

At the end of my mother's life, I noticed that mini lights could do a good job of lighting a tree. I suggested to my mother maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to use a few strands of non-blinking bulbs for general lighting, but she didn't like the idea.

The years I decorated a small, real tree, I used mini lights the primary light. But I also added a small strand of C7 bulbs for old time's sake.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

Season's Greetings from 1966.

 

[me203]

Not a warm and fuzzy decorations video...but I always enjoy this:

 

[72-Jay]

Frankly, it's not good for me. The last week has been absolute hell with depression and loneliness.

Sorry to hear that. Hope things get better for you

I have to admit I have wondered what sort of impact my childhood Christmas trees had on the power bill, just with the C7 lights! Although the house was all electric, so the lights were probably the least of the worries in winter. But that house had hooks for lights along the roof, and I remember my father being adamant that we'd have no outside lights because of the power use. (I think, at that time, it was still pretty much only C7 or C9 bulbs--the mini lights existed, but all the ones I ever saw were built as a circular affair, with both ends connecting to the plug, which was not conducive to stringing along a roof. Plus I have no idea now if any mini lights could be safely used outdoors.)

Yep I remember it being pretty much just C7 & C9 as far as outdoor lights went, and yeah I deff remember those loop type mini sets! I've got a couple sets of those packed away in a box somewhere. Wish I still had the old original mini sets we had when I was a kid(have no idea what happen to those), still do have 1 set of C7 & 1 set of C9 from then though (wire is to old & brittle for me to consider them safe, but I'll keep them simply for historic/sentimental value)

 

[EddMarkStarr]

Merry Christmas!

 

[me203]

Sorry to hear that. Hope things get better for you

Thanks. It should start getting better once Christmas is over with...

Yep I remember it being pretty much just C7 & C9 as far as outdoor lights went, and yeah I deff remember those loop type mini sets! I've got a couple sets of those packed away in a box somewhere. Wish I still had the old original mini sets we had when I was a kid(have no idea what happen to those), still do have 1 set of C7 & 1 set of C9 from then though (wire is to old & brittle for me to consider them safe, but I'll keep them simply for historic/sentimental value)

I've been thinking of those mini lights, and wonder when the straight strands came along. I think I first saw one in the 1990s, but no idea how old it was at that time. My family got in the late 1970s some new lights--the old strands of C7 had some bad sockets, and my parents replaced them. We got a second strand of mini lights, too, which was definitely the ring style.

Then I was thinking of another mini style that I think I saw being sold in 1990-something. It appeared to use the same type of sockets, but the bulbs were small, round bulbs. I haven't seen them in years.

 

[72-Jay]

Thanks. It should start getting better once Christmas is over with...

Good to hear

I've been thinking of those mini lights, and wonder when the straight strands came along. ...

Approximate time ranges for the various types of mini sets are:
1960's - loop sets with screw-in bulbs
1970's - loop sets with push-in bulbs
1980's - straight-line sets
1990's - straight-line sets with a plug at the end

I have a set of mini with the the little round bulbs like what you mentioned.

 

[me203]

Those dates match what I'd have guessed for some changes.

I think I remembered our older mini lights were GE "Merry Midget." I did some search, and found on one site a claim that they were apparently first released in 1965. A bit earlier than 1970s--but pretty close. I have no idea when my parents might have bought those lights, though--I don't remember them new, but that would probably only date it to "before mid/late 1970s."

One thing I do remember: the base was different than newer mini lights. It seems to me there was a couple of small plastic prongs with the electrical contacts. Finding replacement bulbs needed more care.

I found the light info on this site, which has a lot of interesting historical info:

The Yule Lights Collection

yulelights.com

 

[me203]

Another fun mini light memory: my family was on a college campus about Christmas one year. We passed by a dorm, where window had a memorable way of dealing with decoration with mini lights. The lights were still in their manufacturer box, and the box was apparently taped to the window.

 

[72-Jay]

@me203
Oh yep I deff remember the GE 'Merry Midget' branded mini sets. I bet I even have a couple sets of those.

Bi-pin sets! I remember we had those when I was young! I know I've got a couple now, but sadly not the original ones from my childhood(have no idea what happened to those)
Those bi-pin bases were actually a better/more reliable design than the standard ones now (only bad thing was you couldn't replace broken sockets, something thats easy on modern sets)
I do remember some of the bi-pin bulbs were glued into the base, but I found you could generally break the glue loose then replace the bulb.

Interesting website, had a quick look around it.
A number of years ago I too had a more general Christmas lights website.

Lights still in the box put up. .lol.
There was one year where I put some lights still in their plastic holder things out on the roof to create a Santa's landing strip... probably 10 sets, but coulda been 20.
They were then connected to a controller that went to music - the bass part - so with each beat, it'd light so many (stronger beat = more lights) 10 outputs/channels.
Don't remember how I had it all held in place, not attached to the roof in any way(nails/screws in a roof would obviously be a bad idea) but it was held down well since we get strong winds here

 

[me203]

Those bi-pin bases were actually a better/more reliable design than the standard ones now (only bad thing was you couldn't replace broken sockets, something thats easy on modern sets)
I do remember some of the bi-pin bulbs were glued into the base, but I found you could generally break the glue loose then replace the bulb.

We never had any problem with that one GE set, except bulbs burned out. Although the same could be said for the second set of mini lights, too. My bad experiences have been entirely with lights made 1990s and on. I can't remember for sure, but it seems to me I've had cases of a working strand of lights that a year later is totally dead for no apparent reason.

I'd forgotten how those bi-pin bulbs were glued. Probably not problem when the bulbs with bi-pin base were readily available. And that certainly more convenient than the modern approach of remove the bulb from the base and stuff in a new bulb, while cursing the little wires that don't want to go out the little holes. This approach may be intentional to get people annoyed enough that just buy new strand lights every couple of years.

 

[me203]

Another memory, too, is the light style one grandmother had, which I think I've seen elsewhere. They were standard mini lights, but each bulb had a clear plastic thing that kind of looked like a flower. I supsect the idea was that it would help make the lights look brighter?

 

[72-Jay]

Another memory, too, is the light style one grandmother had, which I think I've seen elsewhere. They were standard mini lights, but each bulb had a clear plastic thing that kind of looked like a flower. I supsect the idea was that it would help make the lights look brighter?

Oh yep, those little flower-reflector thingies! I had a couple sets with them a long time ago. (no longer have them as those sets literally fell apart years ago)
I think the idea was to make the bulbs appear both brighter & bigger. There were various other shapes too, stars/crystals/etc. the ones with with little crystal-ish things on the bulbs had *sharp* points...they were not sets you wanted to leave laying around on the floor, because you don't want to step on one of them things in socked feet....