Outdoor Christmas Lights

Outdoor Christmas Lights

LED Christmas lights save approximately 80% in electricity reducing your holiday energy costs over C7 or C9 lights. The cost savings are just one reason for the growing popularity of LED lights. Its long bulb life is another; on average LED lights last up to 50,000 hours! Also, if one of the bulbs on the string burns out, the others will remain lit - yet another bonus of LED lights. Finally LED lights come in a wide array of colors and textures and illuminate with a unique, vivid glow.

Mini Christmas lights are inexpensive to buy and power, thanks to 1.5 or 2.5 volt bulbs. Xmas Mini lights are available in 50, 100, 150 and 200 light strings. The maximum recommended number of lights in a continual connected string is 350 to 400 lights. Mini lights are better suited to deciduous trees (trees that lose their leaves) and smaller shrubbery.

Christmas Rope lights are small lights enclosed within a rope of transparent plastic tubing. Christmas Rope lights are generally sold by the foot; with the average being a 150 foot roll. Homeowners can choose between steady ropes or chasing ropes. With a steady rope the Christmas lights glow at a constant rate; chasing ropes feature Christmas lights that 'chase' each other along the rope and lights that blink to pre-set patterns. Xmas Rope lights are ideal for trimming windows, doors and railings or outlining an entire building.

Christmas Net lights are great for blanketing bushes and trees with hundreds of mini lights at once. Simply lay the net over bushes or wrap it around tree trunks. Most Xmas net lights come with 150 lights, for a net 24 feet in size. Christmas net lights make it easy to create uniform illumination in those hard-to-light areas.

Outdoor Christmas Lights

Christmas Icicle lights are meant to replicate the look of icicles hanging from the eaves troughs. These lights come in a strand of 100 or 150 lights, usually in clear, white or pale blue bulbs. Most Christmas icicle lights have blinking capabilities to create the illusion that the icicles are melting. Hang icicle lights from the eaves trough gutters, railings or fences.

Christmas Spotlights are used to highlight trees, wreaths, decorations, windows or doors. Spotlight bulbs can be white, clear or colored, with the most popular colors being red, green and blue. Strategically placed spotlights can provide dramatic contrast against the night landscape.

Outdoor Christmas Lights

Outdoor Christmas Lights

Outdoor Christmas Lights

Outdoor Christmas Lights

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Christmas Fun

Christmas Fun

Xmas Fun is dedicated to the child in all of us. Fun for all ages. Christmas songs, jokes, games, stories, downloads, etc. Lots of Christmas fun!

Christmas Fun

Christmas Fun

Christmas Fun

Christmas Fun

Christmas Fun

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Christmas Snow Scenes

Christmas Snow Scenes
Snow, Ice and Christmas often go together, although why it should is a bit strange! There is no snow or ice in the Christmas story told in the Bible. However, snow does fall in Israel. Bethlehem and Jerusalem are on a range of hills that go north to south between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan valley. The top of these hills are about 1600 ft (500 m) high. The hills often have very cold weather from November to April and snow can often fall. So, although the Bible story may not have snow in it, Jesus may well have seen some snow in his life!

Christmas Snow Scenes

Christmas Snow Scenes
Christmas Snow Scenes
Christmas Snow Scenes
Christmas Snow Scenes
Christmas Snow Scenes

Christmas Snow Scenes

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Christmas Themed Wedding Pictures

Christmas Themed Weddings Pictures

It may sound like a slightly corny idea, but Christmas themed weddings can be magnificent. Instead of appearing tacky, you can design your wedding to be stylish, elegant and simple. Capture the spirit of Christmas with these simple hints and tips ...

Wedding Attire:
* Your dress does not necessarily have to make you look like Mrs. Claus unless you would like it too of course! A long velvet cape would be quite a subtle addition to a traditional dress, and you could use a decorated muff, rather than a bouquet.
* Traditional Christmas fabrics include taffeta and plaid, so keep this in mind when you are selecting your dress.

Christmas Themed Wedding Pictures

Colors:
* Use red, white and forest green, but also consider gold, silver and burgundy.

Christmas Themed Weddings Pictures

Christmas Themed Wedding Pictures

Flowers:
* Fire and ice roses are white with red-tipped petals. These would work perfectly for a Christmas themed wedding.
* Instead of flowers you could use sprigs of holly, ivy and pine.
* Otherwise, consider using poinsettias and baby’s breath in your flower arrangements

Christmas Themed Wedding Pictures

Music:
* Obviously you could ask the organist to play church hymns.
* Otherwise, a choral group would be fantastic, particularly if they are dressed in Dickens-esque Edwardian or Victorian clothing.
* A harpist or a string quartet would be another great alternative too.
* You could even incorporate hand bells ... but not as you walk down the aisle, as this will probably detract people’s attention from you!

Reception Games:
* Why not hold a special ‘singles dance’ where each person is provided with mistletoe headdress wreaths. This will add a fun element to the proceedings, and will help your guests to mingle with one another. And you never know, you might be at their weddings next!

Christmas Themed Weddings Pictures

Christmas Themed Weddings Pictures

Christmas Themed Wedding Pictures

Reception Refreshments:
* For drinks you could serve eggnog or mulled wine. Don’t forget how nice cinnamon sticks smell!
* Your wedding cake could be decorated with tiny Christmas ornaments or holly. (But make sure that you don’t use poinsettias, as a relatively large number of people are allergic to their secretions).

Christmas Themed Wedding Pictures

Decorations:
* Install Christmas trees with tiny white fairy lights, or simply string up the lights in bushes around the church or chapel.
* Greenery roping looks fantastic twisted around furniture, and is relatively cheap to buy.
* Buy some beautiful red potted poinsettias to decorate the altar with.
* Candles are always good, but are particularly effective at this time of year.
* Don’t forget, if you are getting married in a church then it may well already be decorated. This has really great implications if you are a little short on money.

Christmas Themed Wedding Pictures

Transportation:
* If you are lucky enough to live somewhere which is guaranteed snow, why not arrive on a horse drawn sleigh?!
* Otherwise, you could play on the Cinderella ball theme, and arrive in beautiful a horse drawn carriage. You could decorate the carriage to co-ordinate with your dress and the decorations inside the church or chapel too.

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Christmas Stocking Stuffers

Christmas Stocking Stuffers

A Christmas stocking is an empty sock or sock-shaped bag that children hang on Christmas Eve so that Santa Claus can fill it with small toys, candy, fruit, coins, or other small gifts when he arrives. These small items are often referred to as stocking stuffers or stocking fillers. In some Christmas stories, the contents of the Christmas stocking are the only toys the child receives at Christmas from Santa Claus. Other presents are wrapped up in wrapping paper and placed under the Christmas tree. Tradition in western culture dictates that a child who behaves badly during the year will receive only a piece of coal.

By tradition, the stocking is hung on the fireplace mantel, but, since many contemporary homes do not have fireplaces, stockings may be hung in almost any location.

Christmas Stocking Stuffers

The true story of Santa Claus and Christmas Stocking begins with Nicholas, who was born during the third century in the village of Patara. At the time the area was Greek. His wealthy parents died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young. Obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor," Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man. Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land for his generosity to the those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships.

Through the centuries many stories and legends have been told of Saint Nicholas' life and deeds. These accounts help us understand his extraordinary character and why he is so beloved and revered as protector and helper of those in need.

One story tells of a poor man with three daughters. In those days a young woman's father had to offer prospective husbands something of value—a dowry. Without a dowry, this poor man's daughters were unlikely to marry.

One night after the daughters had washed out their clothing, they hung their stockings over the fireplace to dry. That night Saint Nicholas, knowing the despair of the father, stopped by the man's house after the family had gone to bed. He peeked in the window and saw the daughters' stockings hanging by the fire.

Inspiration struck Saint Nicholas, and he took three small bags of gold from his pouch and threw them carefully, one by one, into the stockings. The next morning when the daughters awoke, they found their stockings contained enough gold for them to get married. The bags of gold, tossed through an open window, are said to have landed in stockings or shoes left before the fire to dry.

This led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from Saint Nicholas. Sometimes the story is told with gold balls instead of bags of gold. That is why three gold balls, sometimes represented as oranges, are one of the symbols for St. Nicholas. And so St. Nicholas is a gift-giver.

The tradition began in many European countries. Originally, children simply used one of their everyday socks, but eventually special Christmas stockings were created for this purpose. Today, stores carry a tremendous variety of styles and sizes of Christmas stockings, and Christmas stockings are also a popular homemade craft. Many families create their own Christmas stockings with each family member's name applied to the stocking so that Santa will know which stocking belongs to which family member.

Christmas Stocking Stuffers
Christmas Stocking Stuffers
Christmas Stocking Stuffers
Christmas Stocking Stuffers
Christmas Stocking Stuffers
Christmas Stocking Stuffers

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