Nothing is perfect, I suppose, but overall our new solar Christmas lights have the potential for being much better than those we had last year. The cost is about the same as last year and the year before. Hopefully, I won’t be buying new lights next year. As I said, the potential for these lights is spectacular.
There are a few tips to remember when purchasing solar Christmas lights. First of all, something I totally overlooked this year when I was planning, the weather has to be good for the most part. In other words, there is still the need for sunlight during the day. Unfortunately, the week before Christmas — this week — has been filled with a heavy cloud cover and lots of rain. At least the lights are clean.
I really cannot blame the lights for being dim this year. But, in truth, they are rather spooky looking this week. There is not enough direct sunlight during the days to give them a good glow this week. Last week when we had sunny days, they looked great. This week we are back to looking like Halloween with reindeer.
There is nothing I can do about the weather. By 6:00 p.m. the lights are shining, not too brightly, but at least they are working. I tried to convince myself that the weaker lighting looked as if it had snowed. We know how lights seem to glimmer against snow. The truth is that by 8:00 p.m. the lights can only be used as a deterrent to a burglary. A thief would surely hurt himself tripping over the reindeer or bumping into the big old fat Santa. By midnight Santa could not find our home from the sky above.
The lights are not the problem. Last week they were magnificent. Of course, we have placed them away from the house so as not to have interference from the electrical lights. Solar lights do show up so much better against the darkest backgrounds. Maybe next year I will hope for good weather throughout December or maybe I will try to find some lights that have a battery powered backup.
Overall, I am more than pleased with the improvements in the lighting. I just didn’t take weather and rain into consideration. That was an error on my part.
However, if there is a bit of levity in the whole dull situation, it came from one of the little neighbors. “Maggie, those reindeer look tired. Are they going to be bright on Christmas Eve so they can get Santa to my house?”
Well, okay. The best I can do at this point is to pray for a sunny Christmas Eve.
