Christmas lights! Bah Humbug!

Its nearly Christmas and time to hang the Christmas lights, bring out the little white deer and green Christmas tree and start assembling the yearly display.

Its not that I don't enjoy the sparkling decorations of Christmas lights, its just such a job to put them up and later take them down.
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I don't actually hang the little devils, that's my husband's job. He gets so much enjoyment out of standing on a ladder and hooking the string of lights onto the cup hooks that we've got screwed into the porch railing and eaves of the house. (he's a retired electrician....to his way of thinking...this is FUN) Since we live in Nebraska, the time to hang decorations is shortly after Thanksgiving, when the temperature is in the 20's and there's usually a stiff wind blowing.
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Every year Ken sees something that catches his eye....this year it was an 11 foot long 3 foot high metal train that is outlined by tiny lights. He saw the beauty in it, I saw another hour of being out in the cold and then trying to straighten out the multitude of wires that kept the lighting system together.
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At this time of year, we visit Menards nearly every few days...fortunately (unfortunately?) its very close to our home. This train was displayed on the east wall, and it was love at first sight. Ken is a model train enthusiast, and anything remotely resembling a train catches his eye.
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I'm not keen on climbing ladders, so my job is straightening out last year's mess of lights and determining which ones no longer work. I thought last year we made an effort to neatly wrap the stringers around a big box to keep them from getting tangled. I was wrong....we didn't do it...must have been on my "to do" list.
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I could never understand why, after sitting quietly for a year, some of the lights decide to no longer light. They were just fine for Christmas last winter...what major event happened in their lives to cause them to quit working?
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Bad news! Looks like we'll be making another trip to Lowes or Menards today.....we don't have enough working lights! I'll have to check to see who has them on sale.

We store the Christmas decorations in our backyard shed....evidentally it has become the "mouse motel". Lots of evidence of that. All it takes is for one mouse to taste test a stringer of lights, and poof! that stringer is history.
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I think next year one stringer will be plugged in to the light socket in the shed.....then we'll see who goes "poof"..... the lights or the mouse!