Christmas in July

My parents used to leave their Christmas lights up all year (or at least most of it). But at least they changed the bulbs to match whatever occasion it happens to be. Like red for Valentines day, Green for St. Patricks day, orange for thanksgiving and Halloween. Some summers they come down altogether, but go back up again when Thanksgiving rolls around. It was actually quite fun when they did it.

I used to snicker at people who left their lights up. Afterall, if the lights are up all year, what makes them special when it's actually Christmas? I would never keep them up when I owned a house!

Or so I thought.

Last night, with only 168 days left until Christmas, we finally took our lights down. Christmas in July went out with a bang!

I used up all my excuses:
- "It rained today/yesterday/last week. I don't want to slip and fall off the roof"
- "I'm too tired, I'll fall off if I go up now"
- "It's too hot! The shingles will burn me!"

Yesterday was a perfectly warmish evening. Plus I don't want to have the lights up for our series of summer BBQ's. So up I went.

Why me? Good question! This is where Colin's excuses come into play (Colin speaking, of course):
- "I'm too tall, my center of gravity is higher, therefore I'm more likely to fall off"
- "I don't like heights as much as you"
- "If you fall off, I can catch you, but you couldn't catch me if I fell"

Really, I don't mind. It's almost exhilarating! I do like heights.

When the lights went up in December, we put up plastic light holders too, so that every other year we only have to snap in the bulbs. With Colin holding the end of the extension cord way down on the ground, I inch my way toward the edge. I snap off one light. Colin sees how easy it is, and pulls on the cord a bit. SNAP! The next light comes off.

Cool! Easier than we thought. SNAP! Another light disappears from my sight. I can't see Colin, but he must be yanking on the cord again. Then all of a sudden...SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!

The weight of the dangling lights must have been too heavy, and one by one, each light snaps off the plastic clip with no coaxing from Colin. The next thing I hear is our dear Christmas lights landing on our driveway with a big SMASH!

Good thing we waited all winter, spring and half of the summer to do this chore that didn't even require me to get on the roof in the first place. We could have shot the lights down with a .22 and got the same effect.

At least I got to clean the gutters while I was up there.