Lights, ornaments, action: Wichita dad gives tips for putting up lights (VIDEO)
When your family averages 1,000 hours putting up Christmas lights, you probably have a few pointers to give the rest of us.
The Marshall family’s light show at 620 N. Stratford – north of Central between Woodlawn and Rock Road – should be turned on by Sunday. When you have this many lights to put up, you’re not exactly sure when you’ll be done. Especially when the wind won’t let you put your 15-foot star on the roof. This year, many of the lights are being updated to LEDs.
Mark Marshall has six children – two of them married – and involves them all in putting up the lights.
His wife, Susie, recommends coming by on weeknights or after Christmas Day to encounter less traffic. The Marshalls will have their lights up through Epiphany, Jan. 6. (You can find them on Facebook under “The Marshall Family Christmas Lights.”)
Mark Marshall says that safety and saving time are the two most important factors in putting up lights. Here are some of his tips.
▪ Make sure the electrical outlets are grounded.
▪ Use spools for winding lights and power cords to avoid the lines getting tangled in a box or bag. Marshall makes his own spools out of wood, and he’s always on the lookout for discarded lawn-hose reels. People usually toss those when the hose gets a leak.
▪ Be sure that extension cords (Marshall has 500 of them) that are on walkways are tucked under outdoor mats or other protectors so people don’t trip or slip on them. The cords get very slippery in icy or snowy weather.
▪ Stay off ladders as much as possible, and be extremely careful when you’re on one. One way to extend your reach is to use an extension pole. Marshall uses one, for example, to get lights into a tree.
▪ Use cup hooks at corners of windows (screw in) and gutter hooks along the roof line (clip on) for easy hanging of lights.
▪ When using icicle lights for the first time, place clips on the ends to hold the icicles down until they straighten.
▪ Label everything so that you can take lights to exactly the right spot year after year.
▪ While older lights are more apt to break, LED bulbs are more likely to come out of their sockets. Either way, expect to lose some strings of lights each year.
Reach Annie Calovich at 316-268-6596 or acalovich@wichitaeagle.com. Follow her on Twitter: @anniecalovich.
Re-use old lights, garland
The December issue of Woman’s Day magazine has these ideas for saving money by repurposing old or nonworking Christmas decorations:
Jumbo colored bulbs that don’t light up anymore can be unscrewed and turned into ornaments with hanging wire or stacked in a glass vase.
Old tinsel and garland can be used to make mini-wreaths with bows to wrap around glasses and napkins.
Check out thrift stores for decorations that people have gotten rid of.
Tell us about lights displays
There are certain houses that are over the top in Christmas lights – destinations that people try to drive by every year. And we want you to let us know about the ones that you see, or about your own, if you think it’s worth a trip.
We’ll put together a list of must-see houses online. If you know of one, e-mail the address and a brief description – and a photo if you have one – to acalovich@wichitaeagle.com. Put “lights” in the subject line. You also can leave the address by calling 316-268-6596.
This story was originally published November 27, 2014 at 2:10 PM with the headline "Lights, ornaments, action: Wichita dad gives tips for putting up lights (VIDEO)."