Best 20 bucks I ever spent

I love the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas when everyone decorates their homes for the holidays. There are people at both ends of the spectrum, you have the folks who are up on ladders stringing lights on the roof or out picking up a Christmas tree before the Thanksgiving turkey is even in the oven. And then you have the folks who are hanging the lights on their front porch on the down low in the dark on Christmas eve because they were the only house in the neighborhood without lights up (been there - done that).

During this period I especially I love the drive home with my son once I have scooped him up from the afterschool program. Since its dark earlier now we get to admire and comment on the lights in the neighborhoods between school and home. There’s even a 25 foot tall electric menorah outside the supermarket we pass, right next to their 50 foot Christmas tree. For eight days, we get to do a little math when I ask him how many candle holders there are in the menorah and how many of the candles are lit or are remaining to light.

I think the best part of this time has always been pulling up to our home and seeing our own twinkling lights greeting us. But this year we are playing it low key, there are no lights on the porch (Ok, “low key” really means, I haven’t poked my husband enough to get him out there to put the lights up - so we might just go without…). So my need to have twinkling lights on display must be met by the 3 foot fiber optic mini tree which blazes multicolored in our little bay window. The problem is, if no one has been home before dark – no one turns on the tree in the window. And once you are in the house, getting to the switch to turn on the tree is a struggle – you have to climb/lean over the big-ass sectional couch, hang there in a very unflattering position, and reach to the floor, while fending off the dust bunnies to hit the power strip.

Until a few weeks ago, (queue angelic singing here) I was in Bed Bath & Beyond and was actually looking for a light timer to plug the tree into – my quest to have twinkling lights greeting us when we got home would not be thwarted! And instead, I found a wireless remote system. What wonderful magic was this? You plug the tree into a receiver that is plugged into an outlet - and from anywhere in the room you hit a button on the remote and the tree is on! Happy-Happy Joy-Joy!

This was the best 20 bucks I ever spent on a gadget. Now it’s so easy, even my husband will turn on the tree if he gets home before me. And the system came with more than one receiver – so now I also don’t have to climb under the Christmas tree in the living room, and fend off needles in the face to turn it on too!! (oh!!... Now I just have to try using the remote from the car as I am pulling in the driveway!!)