Lighting up your Christmas – safely

Among the many, many things that Christmas is – it is a lights-and-sounds event. Merry tunes fill the air and multicolored lights twinkle all around. The sounds are easy to come by; there’s always Christmas carols playing on the radio, aside from the firecracker explosions in the entire neighborhood. It’s the lights that you need to deliberately set up.

It is a lonely home that does not have sparkling lights, especially at night, during the Christmas season. But, as you probably know, there’s a bleak flipside to Christmas lights. Many Christmases had been ruined by fires caused by lighting decorations.

You must, therefore, be very careful in setting up your Christmas lights. The following safety tips will help a lot in letting your Christmas shine - safely:

1. Choose lighting decorations that have authentic “PS” marks on them. Check and re-check the items carefully, and test them for functionality, before heading for the checkout counter.

2. Check your light sets again before installing them. Electrical wires with cracked insulation or damaged sockets are especially common with old light sets. These must be fixed or replaced, as they could cause short circuits that could, in turn, spark a fire.

3. If you use staples instead of tapes to fasten down lights, be sure that they are “insulated” staples, to avoid electrical hazard. Even the most innocuous-looking electrical gadget can have enough electricity going in it to endanger lives and property.

4. For outdoor lights, cover each plug and connector with plastic wrap to protect it from rain or mist; seal it securely with electrical tape. Moisture is a very good electrical conductor, and very treacherous since even a slight dampness can allow a full electrical surge to go through.

5. Careful not to overload your string lights. Check the instructions on the package to find out how many light sets can be connected to each other. Likewise, avoid overloading your home electrical circuit. Most home circuits can take 15 amps, or 1,800 watts. Overloading can bust your circuit, and render your Christmas dim instead of bright.

Make sure that your lighting decorations, or any decorations for that matter, pose no danger to you and your loved ones. Keep electrical outlets and cable connections safe for kids and pets; cover them properly. And don’t leave cords dangling or strung loosely on the floor or stairs.

Be extra careful in lighting candles. Make sure there are no flammable substances close by, or any materials that may catch the flame. Also see to it that lighted candles are kept away from the reach of little children, who might be tempted to play with it.

The purpose of Christmas lights is to brighten up our home, not to set the house aflame. We must always remember this and, thus, do all we can to make our Christmas safe and merry.