OK...well, let me start this off by letting everyone know that I am a geek.  I'm not a natural born geek.  I've simply become one over the years of working with geeks...I guess it kind of rubbed off on me.

I've always been fascinated by LEDs.  Up until recently, you mainly saw them in computer boxes and other tech hardware.  But not anymore, my friends!  They are going mainstream.

Now, LED lighting is more than just a geeks fascination, it's also a dream come true for the environmentalist at heart.  Why is that?  Because an LED (light emitting diode) isn't a light bulb at all.  It's a semiconductor which emits incoherent narrow spectrum light.  The color of the light depends on the semiconducting material used.  LEDs are extremely durable, won't change color (since the color is not a lens, but the light itself), last for about 100,000 hours (yes, that's right- that's 11 YEARS), and cost a fraction on the price to run as incandescent bulbs (80% to 90% less). 

So, what does that have to do with Christmas?  Well, this year, we went all LED.  We decorated our outside trees, or inside tree, and our mantel.  These are the brightest, most vibrant lights I have ever had.  Outside, at night, the outside trees light up the yard.

So, here are some pictures:

This is of the inside tree (this is actually a back lit picture during the day, so you can tell how bright the lights are) :

This is a close-up of one of the bulbs, so that you can see the shape:

Now, this is my mantel.  It has blue lights on it.  The blue ones don't have a lens on them like the tree ones do.  They are actually a bit intense:

I tried to take a close up shot of the blue bulbs, but they are *really* intense.  This is what I got:

Though more expensive initially than standard bulbs, the LED will last longer, stay truer to color, and cost less to run.  My next adventure with LEDs will be in trying replacement bulbs for around the house.  I plan to start with two lights that we use the most often and see how that works out.

Can you imagine eventually having light bulbs that not only save money by using very little electricity but also last for a decade?