Throwback Thursday: blue Christmas lights? #TBT

[#1]

It's Thursday!

Back when I was a kid, the Christmas lights outside were generally the regular size light bulbs but in colors green, yellow, red, or blue.

My wife does not light blue Christmas lights as decorations for anything (outside the house, on the tree, inside windows, ...). Blue lights for Christmas is a total no-go for her. I actually kind of like them. Especially when the whole series is blue.

Sooooo, are you on team blue Christmas lights or team NO blue Christmas lights?

Let’s make it a great Thursday!

KGM

[Barbara Szczesniak]

Merry Christmas @Kristján Geir Mathiesen! 

I've never been bothered by blue Christmas lights, but I do prefer multi-colored lights over the monochrome. I also like the old-school 1-inch bulbs for on my porch.

[Rinjini Poddar]

Merry Christmas, folks! 🎄✨ My cousins and I put up blue lights every year, along with yellow and colorful ones—red, green, and yellow — to brighten up the season!

[John Funk]

I don't know that I would like them on the tree - but I certainly like it when a house is completely outlined with blue lights. I have not done that before but certainly wouldn't be opposed to it. This year we went with the multi-color large bulbs. 

[Anne Saunders]

For our own house, it's all warm white lights, but I like it when other people get colorful! Silver and blues can be really lovely, but it feels too cold for me personally.

[Holly Scott]

Oooh, I love the big, colorful bulbs. Cool designs can be in the blue, but I feel like it's more a business aesthetic. Just feels too stuffy and modern, for my home anyway.

[Kythera]

I. LOVE. Christmas. Lights.

Being a night person, the dark half of the year (Northern Hemisphere) is my favorite time of year. And that always means MORE LIGHTS! Multicolored lights, blue lights, white lights, all the lights! "Warm white" are probably my least favorite, but I won't turn them down. Christmastime was always my favorite time of year at Disneyland because of the lights [Nota bene: I'm a Los Angeles native and kept an Annual Passport before prices skyrocketed and I moved to Texas].

Alas, with no outdoor plugs there's not a lot of outdoor decorating I can do for my little apartment. INSIDE, however...I present "The Relentlessly Queer Wintermas Tree": 

When I bought the lights, the package didn't make it entirely clear that a) it's several strands branching off of a central strand, meant to wrap around the tree in sections, b) the lights were always on in a single mode (Philips' "Create Motion" brand has a VERY misleading name), c) the "multicolor" meant each of the six strands was a single color, or d) those colors just happened to be Pride flag colors. I was 1000% okay with this surprise turn of events!

In fact...the tree has actually been up all year 'round since 2022 because whenever I would tell myself "okay, it's time to put it away now" I just got really sad. Well, it's my apartment, my rules, I can decide to keep it up all year long if I want. Snowflake and kitty ornaments and all! 😅 

[David Johnston]

There is indeed something quite different about blue light. As a child even an incandescent bulb painted blue stood out and not just because it was incredibly dim. :-)

Taste of course is permissible, but your wife should watch the incredible story of the Japanese researcher who invented the blue LED on YouTube,. This is despite academic experts saying it was impossible with many failed attempts in big corporations. This individual continuing experimenting even when his company had dropped support. 

Modern displays depend on his technology!

Blue LEDs came in around 2000 and because of the novelty got over-used (and are still being overused) in interior décor. As a result, some class them as downmarket. I am afraid I am a anti-blue LED snob too, but at Christmas IMHO anything goes.

[jackobson6]

I’m definitely team blue lights they add a cool, striking vibe to holiday decorations. It’s kind of like how a well-crafted piece from D&Z Statue can instantly transform a space and catch everyone’s attention.

[Kristján Geir Mathiesen]

Takk for all your comments and...

[Stephen_Lugton]

Blue lights mixed in with other colours works well, but we've also got blue icicle lights running along the window shutters that gives a very nice glow from outside!