Two Nifty Christmas Gadgets

I am almost ashamed to be doing this, but Janene and I finally found a light tester that really works! This year we put up the set of garlands on the stairs. They came pre-lit from Costco several years ago, but this year half of the lights refused (adamantly) to light. So I guess this was now a post-lit set. Anyway, Janene worked on it for days trying to find the problem. For almost half the season, the set sat on our table. We finally put it up without lights, and then a few days before Christmas, Janene put on an additional set of lights. We took this tool over to the set, plugged it in, pulled the trigger, and Presto! Working Lights!! It cost us $10 at Home Depot. " It's worth a hundred bucks if it fixed it that fast!", Janene exclaimed. It has some other features that don't seem to work much better than the other tools that find, or are supposed to find, shorts and other problems, but this feature that allows it to send a burst of electricity through the wires and bulbs, fixes the most common problem with the bulb shunt failing. Pretty cool, we think.

The other gadget is this Nativity set from Bavaria that Heather gave us for Christmas. The bottom level is a Nativity scene with Mary, Joseph and Jesus, with wise men and animals that circle them. The next level has sheperds and their flocks. The upper level has the angels and the heavenly host.

Light the candles and the blades start to spin. It is no time at all and they are really moving fast. The whole thing started to spin with only one candle lit. We are going to enjoy this new gift. There will be more to post about this Christmas. Suffice it to say for now that a grand time was had by all until a certain grandchild had to go get staples in his head at the emergency room.