I JUST took down my outside Christmas Lights!

What is the HOA cortjo73? Is it the housing authority or something like that?

I live in a subdivision with covenants which are rules to abide by. If we break them, the HOA (Home Owners Association) gets involved. They will send a letter saying what we are in violation of and ask us to remedy it. If we don't they can fine us, or deny us things like access to he common area like the pool or something. Not sure what all they can do because the hubby and I are never willing to test it...LOL! But, I can see them getting all fussy if we left our lights up as long as you did! Actually they once got on us about leaves in our yard. Our yard guy got his truck and equipment stolen and the hubby and I were feeling a bit lazy so, we just let the leaves get mostly broken down and absorbed in the yard but, there were still some that they got ticked about. The problem is, our yard sits in the center of what we call a vortex. Every time the wind kicks up, everything from every other house around us, gets blown into our yard. I am not just complaining about this because we are too lazy to do our own yard work. It really is that way. Plus, we saw our next door neighbors yard people, and the people that live in the house on the other side of us, actually blow their leaves into our yard. I kid you not. We have actually witnessed them doing it. So, we got annoyed, were not brave enough to stand up to them and tell them to cut it out and, decided to give up. LOL! I know...we're big babies! But, it just got to be an every day cleanup thing what with our own leaves from our trees and both of our next door neighbors leaves, then anything the wind generated! So, whew! I bet you are glad you asked! Aren't you glad you don't live in my neighborhood? LOL!

Those HOA are good for many things though. My parents always used to say they were wonderful because that way nobody could park a rusty old RV in their front yard for months at a time making the whole neighborhood look trashy! Or... god forbid, 4 or 5 non-working cars or old toilets, etc. etc. LoL! It happens... believe me, I have seen it before!

thanks for the best response. i appreciate it much.

Hi Hatley - That is funny about the contest between your husband and the neighbor. Those christmas lights would probably STILL be hanging up if you & the other wife did not make them take them down! :) LoL

I have never ever left our x-mas lights up 4 this long before... I swear! LoL! I would have done it myself long ago but I try not to do many things that require a lot of reaching & standing on top of things like taking down our lights. I developed some weird condition last April, a year ago and my primary doctor, including the neurologist I see, haven't been able to give me a diagnosis yet! It is soooo frustrating. The neurologist says he is only 50% sure it may be Multiple Sclerosis. My legs get really weak and painful, including all around my hips. I get a lot of other pains but if I were to tell you everything this post would take all dang day! LoL

i do that myself. it makes a nice soft glow in the room while you are relaxing.

Hi scarlet_woman - The white or clear light are pretty I think too. In the last place we lived we hung them up around on the wall up near the ceiling all around our family room. We would turn them on at nighttime and turn off all of our other lights. It was really soothing actually. The ones that I just took down from outside our apartment however were the colored lights. I have actually seen a couple houses around here with theirs still up too and some of them were even turned on! LoL

LoL... that is funny about leaving them up the whole year and then come to discover he had to buy new ones anyway. That must have been a real let down! LoL! I agree it is definitely my husband's job (poor him & he's muslim at that! LoL). He is just finishing up dental school however and has been exhausted lately (well, lately means the last year & a half since he began school! LoL). Poor guy! :)

PS now he takes them down usually right after New Year's.

thedaddym - Hi, you are very efficient in getting them down on New Year's Day! Good job! :)

I was got so sick of looking at them hanging there, blowing in the wind (lol). Another day of it and I might have gone crazy!

my mother used to do up her house and she won two years in a row for best house in the city where she lives. I have seen it and yes it is beautiful all the lights lit up on every house.

Hi winterose - That is a shame that a lot of people in your area do not even put up christmas decorations at all. It is sooo pretty when a lot of neighbors all have up pretty decorations during the holidays. It makes everything look so nice. Sometimes our family will drive to specific neighborhood who really go all out just to look at their light & decoration yard displays. I have been to many before throughout my lifetime where the cars were lined up and backed up for blocks just to see them! So pretty! Have you ever done this before?

I love the decorations at Christmas-time drannhh! The house always seems so bare once taking them down. I have not recently, but for awhile I was buying pretty fake flower/ivy strands and putting them up above some of the doorways in our apartment to make it pretty. In the fall I would put fall colored leaves up and in the winter-time I'd drape pointsetta strands down our stair railing and, of course, in the spring I would buy pretty spring colored ones, like purple, pink or yellow to brighten up the place. I do like the white clear lights too, especially since we can't use candles too often because of our cat. I'm afraid she will knock one over and start a fire. So, the clear lights make a nice ambience, almost like candlelight.

Yes, the cat will do that. Once ours knocked down the whole Christmas tree and knocked the lights and decorations all over. It was a wonder the house didn't burn down. You are wise to avoid any decorations that could become dangerous when mixed with cat play :=)

LoL! I found two Christmas decorations yesterday too - one in my kitchen and one near my front door. Finally took them down too... I hope I do not find anymore! Maybe I will when we start packing to move out of state this summer! Thanks for replying missbdoll! Hope you are having a nice day! ~ Jill (koalatbs)

I almost forgot missbdoll... what are Kewpie dolls? I have never heard of them before. Or maybe I just know what they aren't but not by their name.

I understand about not wanting any bad luck to come your way! No wonder my life is so crazy right now! UGH... should've took them down long time ago. LoL!

Well I am up here in MN and they are predicting a big snow storm, hopefully our last one, feel free to come for a visit next year, I am sure we will have moreThe only good thing is that of course it will not last, suppose to finaly hit 70 sometime next week.

Ohhh... how I miss seeing snow! I am envious of you. You must live in the north somewhere. Currently, we are in sunny California so I haven't seen any snow in a few years. :(

Well, my luck has been just terrible this year so far and hasn't improved since taking the christmas lights down either. Maybe there is some true in that supersition then... maybe it really isn't a supersition at all! Hmmm... either that or I just am being punished for some odd reason. :(

You poor thing. I hope your luck changes soon. I have had a couple of years when the year was full of bad luck and that was nothing to do with taking Christmas decorations down - it just happens that way sometimes. Wishing you a better ending for the rest of the year! :)

LoL - I think you are right fifileigh! However, I have to defend my husband here as he is just finishing up a grueling 2 years of dental school, due to graduate 1st in his class this June! He doesn't have much time for anything but school right now, so I don't blame him one little bit at this point. Now, after he finishes school if this happens again then he will be in big big trouble with me! LoL :)