I feel like Clark Friggin' Griswold! *UPDATED*

And no one has flipped the switch yet...WTH!?!?! If you don't get the reference, go and watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and it will become clear to you.

So, the inside of our house has been decorated and it was time to do the outside. I wanted to get it done today because we're supposed to have snow tomorrow and God knows I'm not going out in the snow to hang Christmas lights! The husband, the boy and I headed outside with a plan. I wanted garland around the door with white lights and then multi colored lights on the bushes and the big tree in the front of our yard. NO PROBLEM! Everyone was on board with this plan. We did the garland and actually was able to run some across the front of the house. I was excited because it was really going to look nice all lit up. The husband then had to head to work and it was just too cold and windy to stay outside anymore. The boy and I headed inside and we relaxed for a bit, I finished our Christmas cards and then decided that the outside needed to get done. I went back out. I took the icicle lights we used on our garage last year and put them in one of our trees near the edge of the house. I don't really care for icicle lights, never have, but they light things up so nicely. I had a friend in college suggest I use them in the middle of our tree to light the tree up from the inside and it worked like a charm! Using them on this outside tree worked just as well!

After the icicle lights I realized I was pretty much running all clear lights and covered the rest of the bushes in clear lights. The big treat near the middle of the front of the yard can be done in the multi colored lights. Everything was set and I was pleased with myself. I plugged the lights in to double check that they all were working. They were. I unplugged and headed inside to wait for dusk. The kids went to sleep, I started sealing our cards, did a little straightening. And then it was dusk. Back outside to plug in the lights. The power runs off an outlet just outside our front door. The garland was plugged in the extension cord running from the outlet and then from there each light strand was connected to the one before it. It was probably the best laid out light stringing I have EVER done! So I plugged them in and they lit up beautifully. I mean it. They just looked gorgeous. I was so happy! I couldn't wait for the hubby to come home so he could drive up and see the house lit up and glowing.

I came back in and the kids were waking up from their naps. I made some dinner for the boy and then sat down to feed the girlie. We chatted a bit and played and ate...had a good time all around. I stood up to get her some dessert and took a peek outside and just as I did the lights went dark! I thought, "Oh crap! A whole strand out! COME ON!! They're brand new lights!" I walked to the front door and saw that every single light that I had put out was out. Every. Single. Light. WTH?!?!?! I switched the plug in the outlet. No luck. I switched the extension cord to a new one. No luck. Then I thought maybe a fuse blew. No luck. (On the fuse front, I may have flipped the wrong switch in our box so it still could be that....not sure though!) So now I sit here utterly upset by the fact that my hard work is not lit up. It looked SO PRETTY. I am so upset. This is the first time in all the years I've been doing outside lights- for my parents, my grandparents, us- that the lights have not worked right. I've always been able to figure it out. I know how Clark felt. If only I had some moose glasses to drink some spiked eggnog from, maybe I'd be ok!

UPDATE
Well, I did pour myself a glass of eggnog, just not spiked. I considered calling the husband at work to see if he could maybe figure out, over the phone, what the issues were. I thought better of that. My parents happened to call so I told them the story and my dad offered a few suggestions: the circuit breaker- no luck, a grounded outlet that needed to be reset- no luck, just a bad outlet- nope, the fuse in the lights may have blown- BINGO! The fuses in the first set of lights blew out, I overloaded it. Within moments I had this fixed and the house was re lit! YES! Thanks Dad!