Totorus

Photo credit by McBeth

Nothing lights up your house or the neighborhood like Christmas lights. If you're like most families, Christmas lights are a yearly event that everyone looks forward to. Usually we think of lighting up the Christmas tree or hanging them from the gutters, but there are a lot more uses for Christmas lights than you might have thought. If you decorate for Christmas, take a look at the many different ways that lights can be used. You'll see that there is much more to use them for than the tree and the gutters.

When you mention Christmas lights, you probably first think of how they adorn your Christmas tree. A great number of people decorate their tree with festive lights in addition to the ornaments, garland, and other things that we can put on the branches.

When it comes to lights, you have many options. There are all sorts of different sizes and styles of Christmas lights. You can buy small bulbs, large bulbs, clear bulbs, as well as colored bulbs. You may find Christmas lights that are a combination of colors. Many Christmas light sets come with a little electronic box that can control patterns in how the lights blink as well as provide music that can play along with the lights and even sometimes make the lights blink in unison with the music.

Although Christmas lights are used mostly on Christmas trees, there are plenty of other uses for them as well. As mentioned above, you can use them to decorate the outside of your home. You don't have to be restricted to putting them on the gutters. Get creative! Many people put them on their trees, bushes, and around their doors and garage. You can usually find lights that are made specifically for outdoor use. Most of the time they are larger bulbs, but they can be small as well. The hanging icicle type of lights have also become very popular in recent years. They attach to your gutters and they look like lighted hanging icicles which is a nice winter look.

If you have trees in your front yard, you can decorate them as well with Christmas lights. Especially if you have an evergreen tree, you can decorate it just like your indoor Christmas tree for a very festive effect. Usually these trees aren't too tall so it's easier to decorate them. If you can climb high enough or have a tall ladder, you can string a bunch of Christmas lights on one of your other trees in festive patterns. Even just decorating the small trees and bushes is a great way to give a touch of holiday cheer to your neighborhood.

Getting back to the inside of your house, try using your Christmas light to decorate individual rooms. You can use them to line the ceiling or around doors. Which ever room your Christmas tree is located in you can decorate the entryway with lights to give that room a little more Christmas spirit. And don't forget your bedrooms. Especially if you have younger kids, they really enjoy having their room lit up during the holiday season. It makes waiting for Santa that much more fun! You can also find little mini Christmas trees and adorn these with lights to put in different rooms of the house for an extra special touch.

Now that you have some great ideas for your house, let's not forget about your home away from home - your workplace or office. Not everyone celebrates Christmas, so this may pose a problem. If your HR department gives you the OK, sometimes it is fine to use Christmas lights around your desk or cube to add a holiday feel to the office. If you keep it relatively low key it should not be a problem, but if your decorations scream Christmas you may find that others may complain. Just keep it quaint but festive and if your boss approves, why not bring a little cheer to a dreary desk? I hope you've found that there are many different and creative ways to use Christmas lights. Beyond decorating the Christmas tree, you can decorate your whole house inside and out and even your office. Christmas lights are just another way for you to bring the holiday spirit to your home.