I See the Light

Lights are a touchy subject with me... Christmas lights are no different. I'm picky. Not so much about the shape (well, ok, yes, I can be), but it's more about the warmth, the tone. I'm a yellow person... and while I love blue for some things, fully believe in blue for many things, please don't put too much blue or purple in my lighting. Grizzled knows this. Grizzled has long been trying to get us switched over to compact fluorescents and knows he's walking the fine line of my lighting needs. Too blue?? Too purple? Too COOL!!! Well, it makes for a cranky me. I can't help it. I'm sensitive to light. I have specific requests due to the use. I need something more like daylight for painting. I need those happy fluorescent in the laundry room (I don't generally like fluorescents, but these are happy ones and Grizzled knows not to vary). I like warmth in the majority of my household... good old incandescent warmth... even if it's faux.

I even need it in my Christmas lighting. A number of years ago we noticed more and more LED lights popping up. Some look really fun. I can also get behind their reasons. I understand the savings, I understand not wasting fossil fuels to power a month of frivolity. I can understand it. Can't they just make them a little warmer? I mean even the white ones are COLD... and BLUE! Look at the regular Italian light next to the LED light and you see cream vs cool blue. I can deal with some blue, just not all blue... or if you're going to go blue, really go BLUE!

The LED lights I've seen a lot of have been these jewel-tone monstrosities that aren't even holiday colors. Now granted, I live in a 50's house that looks perfect with those old fashioned C9's in cream, yellow, orange, red, green and blue. Some would say orange is not a Christmas color, but it still works. I love those lights on this house... it's decade-appropriate and it makes me feel a bit like I'm living in a crab shack. But they're a power draw and they don't sell them as much. Grizzled has been trying to gently nudge me over to the LED side. It's just almost all of the LED ones I've seen are jewel tone! They aren't green, they're an emerald green verging on teal! Teal is an 80's color, not a Christmas color! And don't even get me started on PURPLE?!?! They include purple in the string! Yes, purple is a liturgical color for Advent so I should be able to understand that, but my eyes don't... especially when it's next to teal... and a red that looks more like magenta... Those are not the colors of my holiday... those are not the colors of my crab shack...

Flash forward to Black Friday... we had agreed that we would try the LEDs and that Grizzled would do his best to work with my color needs. He went out to Home Despot in the wee hours just so he could score the huge roll of LEDs that was left. I got up that morning... Grizzled was off somewhere else at that point and I saw the 80's roll of colors on the table. What took place next was me telling myself I could live with them for a year... Grizzled's been through a very rough stretch recently and was still trying to meet my Christmas lighting needs... I could do it. I could put up with this... for a season.

In comes Grizzled. "So? What do you think?"

Me: "AHHHHH! They're wonderful, but AHHHHHH! Were they out of rolls that didn't have teal and pppppurple?? But they're fine... even with purple..."

Grizzled said they were out of the other rolls, this was it. He said he thought they still looked happy. And they did, but I told him they looked Easter happy, not Christmas happy and there was a difference! Later in the day, Grizzled tiptoed out, took them back and tracked down a bunch that were less "blue" and had no purple, no teal. I could live with those. I thanked him profusely. We'd put them up and give them a try.

We did... last Sunday... in the middle of a snowstorm. We missed one of the warmest Novembers on record and were putting up lights in the middle of a snowstorm, but it was fun... and when we saw the lights later that night, as we were driving back home, Grizzled said, "They're too blue. Next year we go back to the old ones."

:)

Comments

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

pfft. colors. who cares about colors?

[Jennifer]

>:(

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

COME ON. I am SO kidding.

I have the same argument with missus zombie, who is an engineer, and wants every light to be fluorescent, and hell with color rendering.

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

Sometimes, people even pay me to care about colors!!

[Jennifer]

I know you were kidding, you WIENER! :)

Every light a fluorecent?!?! I'd become a serial killer... in seconds flat.

Sometimes, people even pay me to care about colors!!

And rectilinear spaces...

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

And rectilinear spaces...

I have one client who is always disappointed if my design for him does not contain a curve. In fact, I once designed this for him.

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

better picture...

[Jennifer]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, that's a nice curve... a little blue, but still very nice.

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

Blue skies... long since they've been seen.

[Jennifer]

Now that's a large blue expanse I can live with.

[Jennifer]

Also, before BG comes over here and gets all in my face about the righteousness of blueness... there are a lot of blues that are AWESOME! I just don't necessarily care for colors that veer towards blue, when not being blue. I'd rather have an garnet red than a blue red. I'd rather have a yellow green than a blue green. That's all I'm sayin'. But some blues are great and a blue anodized, aluminum tumbler is still my favorite and makes my heart sing.

[ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®©]

Pardon my interruption!

I just wanted to say that the dark is pretty cool.

Try the veal!
~

[Jennifer]

Did someone hear thunder?

[blue girl]

"Also, before BG comes over here and gets all in my face about the righteousness of blueness" LOL

I am very bad with color. Which are the cool colors, which are the warm ones. I don't instinctively get it. I think all the colors I like are "warm" because that's a better emotion word (colors that are warm feel cozy) than "cool." I know, I'm an idiot. lol

I do get why you're not into the Easter egg colors at Christmastime though. That was perfect way to describe it! And I love the thought that you like to decorate your house "decade-appropriately."

All that being said, for years and years, all we did was decorate with blue lights. It was very soothing and glow-y. But, I think they were cool blue lights! I think! Not sure. :)

[Jennifer]

I remember a very big "all blue" phase in my childhood. I don't mind all blues lights at all. It's fun. I saw a great bunch last night where the blue was more of a phthalocyanine blue. It was awesome.

I can tell which colors I like because not only are they pleasing to the eye, but I get a hum in my chest. :) They strike a note within me that I can feel and then can hum. :) Ok, the men in white coats have just shown up...

[fish]

What have you got against blue? It's not like it is red or something.

[Jennifer]

fish, fish, fish...

[fish]

One fish two fish red fish blue fish

[Jennifer]

:)

[zombie rotten mcdonald]

One fish two fish red fish blue fish

...FROZEN FISH!!!

[Jennifer]

YAY!!!!