Christmas Lights
Kevin McClintock GateHouse Plus

Every holiday season, it's an outdoor decorating frenzy. Front yards are set ablaze with blinding color. The ancient Oak tree is wrapped with 7,000 winking, blinking lights. Reindeer peek from behind bushes and tree trunks. Blow-up Santa's and life-sized snowmen dot the landscape. Even fake snow smothers the green grass throughout the warmer climates.

Americans spent $3.3 billion on outdoor holiday décor in 2004, which was a 4.5 percent rise from 2003, according to Unity Marketing research. Individual spending on holiday décor in general is up 36 percent since 2003, says the National Retail Federation, and more than $46 per person will be spent this year, according to a poll of more than 6,000 consumers.

Overall, the winter holidays is the largest spending holiday of the year, with an estimated $460 billion spent annually.

John Anderson said while he likes decorating his home with lights, "I love walking along some of the neighborhoods when they have created special displays."

He hopes the number or brightness of Christmas lights isn't the only way folks measure their holiday spirit.

"I just think doing something like that makes a person feel happy and a lot more special than any display of lights ever could," Anderson said.

Fortunately, Christmas lights offer more choices than ever before. Unfortunately, it takes some research to find out what's trendy and what was so yesterday. For example, does one go with white or multi-colored lights? Miniature or large bulbs? Straight or ice cycle design? Always on, blinking or lights in motion?

You can really go extra-curricular by obtaining a special projector, which displays Christmas images on the garage door.

The end results make up for the drudgery of unstringing that knotted wad of lights and the annual climb up to the roof.

Here are some

tips to remember:

• When decorating the backyard, most people opt for a less flashy display.

• Consult an electrician, who can tell you how many lights you can safely plug in. (Amperage varies by product, and an overloaded circuit will cause a blackout.) It's best to replace inexpensive minilights each season because they deteriorate in bad weather, creating an electrical hazard.

• Choose a theme such as red, white and blue, as opposed to all-white or redand green displays. Kids like bright and over-the-top, but adults usually prefer a quieter, more elegant look.

• Lights can be synchronized with music via computer. A low-power FM transmitter enables passing motorists to listen to your music on their radio.

• Be an early bird. Once outdoor decorating items are sold out, they're gone for the season.

• Use plastic clips or hooks - which can be secured onto the roof's gutter or beneath the shingles - so you don't have to staple them down and damage the roof.

• Ensure the lights you use are UL listed, suitable for outside use, and linked to a residual current device or RCD.

• Replace bulbs with the same voltage or wattage.

• Turn off all Christmas lights when you go to bed or leave the house.

• Don't string more than three sets of lights together. If the lights develop a fault and short out, it could start a fire.