Although it’s not yet Halloween the major store in my area already has started putting out Christmas decorations. It’s funny. There are a couple of aisles in the center of the store with all of their Halloween stuff and then almost the entire garden center is already set up with Christmas decorations. I love Christmas decorations. Even though Christmas is a hard time of year for me at work because my hours almost double overnight, I still enjoy the holiday. Normally I will take the kids out several times to look at all of the Christmas lights and when I have the time, my house has more lights up than anyone on my street.
One of the things I have noticed this year is that the LED Christmas lights are starting to get a bit cheaper than previously. That’s cool because I prefer the lights. They are much brighter and sharper and really show up nicely, even when it’s not quite dark out. They are also much safer than regular incandescent lights as well because they don’t burn quite as hot. According to a 2003 report from the EPA they estimate that we (the United States) use enough electricity each year with miniature Christmas lights to run 200 homes for an entire year. They also figured that a 20% market switch to LED holiday lights would reduce annual electricity consumption in the U.S. by 400,000 KWh. Since they don’t burn as hot and use less electricity they also reduce MY power bill and that’s a darn good thing when I pay less money.