Christmas lights are also called fairy lights, twinkle lights or holiday lights. They come in a dazzling array of configurations and colors.

Christmas lights are not just for christmas time anymore. Once upon a time people would get made fun of for leaving their Christmas lights up after Christmas had passed. But I have found that you can leave your christmas lights up until Easter without hearing much from the neighbors.

When I went to college I used strings of christmas lights to decorate my apartment and many other students did the same in their dorm rooms. Lots of the houses in the student neighborhoods had christmas lights decorating the outside of the homes all year round and it made for an attractive addition to otherwise run-down looking domiciles.

In my family we go all-out every christmas season and decorate every inch of our house. We use several different colors of lights outside and usually have a few standup decorations in our front yard. Our house was always the most expressive during the holiday season and in a relatively new neighborhood our neighbors tended to be more conservative than those in our past neighborhoods. Our next-door neighbors never put up christmas lights and we naturally assumed that they did not celebrate christmas.

We lived next door to them for nearly 10 years before we found out that they did indeed celebrate christmas; it was just not the way we did. You can decorate your home with christmas lights and still retain a conservative appearance. Many people choose to use all white christmas lights if they think that colored lights are somewhat tacky.

When it comes to holidays or the christmas spirit in general we believe the more the merrier. Much like the scenes we all know and love from movie favorites such as National Lampoon's Christmas, an array of christmas lights can bring much cheer to all those who view them. Our little town hosts a christmas light event every winter at a nearby nature park. By donating a few cans of food you can ride through the many miles of brilliant lights and displays. I have gone every year since I was a child.

This Christmas I hope that all of those who are touched by the holiday spirit go nuts with christmas lights and light up the whole neighborhood. Don't worry about your electric bill because that moment of awe and wonder that spectacular christmas lights bring to those who view them is worth a lot more than how much you will pay the electric company.