Creating warmth for the holidays

Since I was in high school, my mom's big thing for the holidays has been her Mickey Mouse Christmas topper. It's an animated robot Mickey who waves a lit lantern around in the air. Anyone who falls asleep while the Christmas tree is plugged in is sure to drift off with the creepy "whrr whrr" of his robot arm in their ears.

This year, even though there was trauma when Mickey's lantern burnt out, the focus wasn't the horrific topper of Disney doom. It was LED christmas lights. This was a typical conversation between me and my mom:

Me: I'm worried about school. I need a job, and Tampa isn't the best market.
Mom: Do you think I should buy LED lights for the tree? I think they're having a sale on them at Kmart.
Me: Ummm... They save energy. Maybe. Didn't your tree come lit?
Mom: What? (She's hard-of-hearing.)
Me: (louder) What are you going to do with your old lights?
Mom: I'll throw them away. Don't these LCD, LUD, whatever lights stay cooler than regular lights?
Me: (still louder) LED. I don't know. LED lights are used in lots of stuff. My computer has an LED monitor.
Mom: Oh, well, do you think I should buy them? They're on sale.

Then, we went to my sister's house, where she does have LEDs on her tree. The tree was beautiful; I couldn't really see any reason not to buy them. And, after checking out How Stuff Works (which I'll review in my next post) I found out LED lights do save energy. They are cooler. And, they don't burn out as quickly. So, LED it is.

The possibilities for my own use of LEDs are pretty much endless. About two years ago, my room in my old commune-type-college dorm was covered in Christmas lights that cast a rosy glow over my room, transforming it into either a very festive place, or possibly some sort of love den. I love decorating with string lights; I hope my landlady doesn't mind holes in the ceiling.

This post was sponsored by Holiday LEDs. They offer Halloween, wedding, and rope lights. The picture was taken by me, and it is a picture of my tiny all-year tree next to my mother's Christmas tree. Next year, I'll take a picture of scary Robo Mickey.