A House Divided: White vs Multi-Colored Christmas Lights by Elizabeth Maddrey

ElizabethMaddreyHeadshotElizabeth Maddrey began writing stories as soon as she could form the letters properly and has never looked back. Though her practical nature and love of math and organization steered her into computer science for college and graduate school, she has always had one or more stories in progress to occupy her free time. When she isn’t writing, Elizabeth is a voracious consumer of books and has mastered the art of reading while undertaking just about any other activity. She loves to write about Christians who struggle through their lives, dealing with sin and receiving God’s grace.

Elizabeth lives in the suburbs of Washington D.C. with her husband and their two incredibly active little boys. She invites you to interact with her at her website www.ElizabethMaddrey.com or on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ElizabethMaddrey

A House Divided:

White vs Multi-Colored Christmas Lights

I live in a house divided. Every year, the day after Thanksgiving, my husband and I start pulling out the Christmas decorations. And every year, we have a…let’s go with vigorous discussion…about how all-white Christmas lights are better than the multi-colored ones (or, if you’re arguing from his point of view, how the multi-colored ones are the only kind that are actually Christmasy.)

I love the look of a tree with twinkling white lights. I love the lawn with twinkling white lights in the trees. And twinkling white lights on the eaves of the house? Perfection. I say it’s peaceful.

Hubby loves the cacophony of color: red, green, blue, gold all clashing together. He says it’s cheerful.

It’s possible we’re both right. After all, I don’t suppose all white lights are cheerful, but they are peaceful. And he would never claim that riot of color as peaceful…but it does make him smile.

Last year we ended up needing a new tree (we’re fake tree people. At least we agree on that!) and we found one that has a switch that allows it to alternate between all white or multi-color! And then my eldest son discovered the setting that has it blinking between the two every thirty seconds or so, and hubby and I found something we agree on: it has to be one or the other, the blinking thing is for the birds.

Even though we discuss the colors, hubby and I do both also agree that there need to be lights, and lots of them. It takes two full days to get everything set up the way we like it. But my favorite part – and I think he’d agree that it’s his, too – is the large Nativity that takes center stage on the front lawn. We get a lot of compliments from neighbors on it, even though it’s a simple affair lit by a spotlight. It’s our way of reminding ourselves, and others, that no matter what else is going on, Christmas needs to center on Jesus.

The hero of Operation Mistletoe, Gabe Robertson falls firmly into my husband’s camp. And he loves Christmas lights so much, he sets up a display on the entirety of his property and opens it to the public for the season. He uses it as a way to reach out to the community and share the good news of Jesus’ birth. Victoria Spencer hates Christmas. And she’s pretty upset that she got assigned a light display by her editor at the newspaper. Is it any wonder they clash?

What about you? Do you like white lights or multi-colored?

More about Operation Mistletoe:OperationMistletoeCover

Victoria Spencer hates Christmas.

For the last ten years, disaster has struck on Christmas Eve, leaving Tori dreading the holidays. When she’s assigned to cover the light displays for her newspaper, she’s determined to spend as little time on the article as possible. Especially once she realizes she’s to feature frat boy Gabe “The Babe” Robertson, her former college crush.

Gabe Robertson is a different man than he was in college. Every December, he transforms his acreage into a winter wonderland designed to celebrate the birth of Christ and share God’s love with the community. He also uses the lights to raise money for Operation Mistletoe, an organization that sends Christmas to troops stationed overseas.

Unable to set aside her prejudice, Tori looks for ulterior motives in Gabe’s actions and determines to dig deeper. Will her investigations destroy any chance of a Merry Christmas?

Operation Mistletoe is free for Kindle through July 22nd. Happy Christmas in July!

Available at Amazon

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I’ll start by answering Elizabeth’s question… I like both, but I have all white lights on my tree (also fake).

Blessings,

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15 thoughts on “A House Divided: White vs Multi-Colored Christmas Lights by Elizabeth Maddrey

  1. I agree that white lights are peaceful and colored lights are joyful. I have used both, but normally I go with colored lights on the inside and white on the outside. I love the peaceful look of white lights surrounding a house at Christmas time. I have always wanted a fairly large nativity for my front yard, but don’t have one, YET. Maybe this will be the year!

  2. We prefer the colored lights on our tree, but enjoy trees that have all white lights. We also prefer to cut our own tree and love the smell of the tree in our home. We choose a tree that is tall enough to just touch the ceiling, because my hubby doesn’t like looking down on the tree. We like to sit around the tree and sing carols every night. Some years we read a chapter every night from a special Christmas book. I collect nativities, and even have one that the children can play with.

  3. I like both, so on the tree inside we have multi-colored lights and on the outside of the house we put white lights.

  4. We do colored lights on the tree and white lights are the stars above our Christmas village and nativity scene. Best of both worlds. 🙂

  5. We do an artificial tree for convenience sake, but it’s got to have colored lights…the kids (17 & 20) still insist!

  6. Colored lights for me! Although I will admit, I like white lights outside. Especially when it’s snowing out, they look absolutely beautiful.

  7. I live with my 93 year old grandma in her mobile home so we don’t have very much space. We have a fake tree as I am allergic to real trees (instant migraine). We both love the colored blinking lights and the lights have to blink!!! Or grandma isn’t happy, lol. I agree though I love the different colors and I love the blinking ones. I have to admit though driving by a house with all white lights does give a peaceful, calm feeling.

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