Deck the Halls in Pitch Black Darkness
Fa La La La La! La La La La!
Despite my best efforts each year to be better organized about getting the Christmas lights up, I always end up on the roof. In the dark. Until about two hours past sunset. Last year, it was because our icicle lights decided to defy statistics and all reach their MTBF (mean time between failure) simultaneously. That caused a delay while Lisa went out to buy new ones.
This year, the "rope lights" that trace our roof-line were about 40% burnt out. My guess is this was a result of removing the cones from our bunya pine last spring. To save wear and tear on our wood shake roof, I decided in years past to leave the rope lights up year-round (unlike the icicle lights, which come down, the rope lights are not very noticeable when unplugged). As the 5 - 10 lb. cones pelted our yard and roof, they no doubt took out some of the lights.
No pictures yet from this year, but here's a shot from last year to give you an idea.