It's Christmas at Nine Gables

LIGHTS FIRST- out came all the lights that had been in storage for 2 years
and the decision was made to convert to LED lights.  This was a decision we had been putting off for years since we had many incandescent lights and very few LED lights.  We had tried mixing the two in the past but the effect was disappointing, the incandescent lights always outshone the LED lights.  It was all or nothing.  When Home Depot advertised their light exchange (i.e. old lights for 1/2 price off new LEDs) we took the plunge.  So now (apart from a few twinkle branches) we are environmentally conscious LED light users.  My husband is happy since it means a reduction in the hydro bill and I am satisfied as long as the lights don't need to be replaced every couple of years. 
The next feat was placement of these lights around the house.  Always ambitious, I wanted to outline the peaks (gables) on the roof - at least on the old part of the house.  This was easier said than done since some of these peaks could not easily be accessed by ladder - porch roofs were in the way! 
Solution:  climb up on the roof and shimmy out to the peak and place the lights.  Again easier said than done since some of the gables were quite peaked and the danger of falling high. 
Final Solution:  a special pole and clips ($20.00 from Lowes) that could be placed by reaching with the pole from the top of the ladder.  An exercise in frustration and extreme patience.  After about 5 attempts we managed to get most of the clips to stay in place beneath the shingles with the lights attached.  After a wind storm, they were still in place although not as straight as I would have liked.  I reluctantly agreed that these lights would be a permanent fixture.  Now I don't usually like the lights left up all year round but these lights are white and therefore not so obtrusive - I'm trying to convince myself - we'll reserve judgement until May.  After a day and a half of tackling the gables, the rest of the lights went up in a snap.  Luckily we had abnormally warm weather the weekend in November that we tackled this job which kept tempers at bay.  We were reasonably happy with the results and our next door neighbours were impressed (they had no idea that the Griswolds had moved in next door).  See the result below:

North side - still needs lights on gable -maybe next year.

Frosty the Snowman is a new addition to the light show and my husband's favorite.  He'd like to acquire more of these inflatables but I think one is enough.   I admit he looks pretty good at night but looks like a wet tarp left on the grass during the day.

Postscript:   Unfortunately 1/2 of 2 strings of roof lights went out during Christmas week so on a mild New Year's Day we pulled them down and returned them to Lowes.  I guess we'll try again next year but avoid the longer 50 light strings since these were the ones we had a problem with.

PUTTING UP THE TREE... AND OTHER BITS AND BOBS.

I spent a weekend by myself (the rest of the family had more interesting things to do) deciding where to put years of accumulated decorations.  The pictures below speak for themselves: