FINAL SCORE Samantha: 3 Christmas Lights: 2

No, you're not reading that score wrong. I almost got my butt kicked by some Christmas lights this year. I've been putting up the Christmas lights at my parents house since I was like 13. (I like to think of myself as the "handy" child.) And this year was no exception. I've never really had too much of a problem, but this year the lights gave me a freaking run for my money.

So... I decided to put the lights up on a cold and windy day. (Mistake #1: never attempt an outside job in the cold, when you hate being cold). I dragged all the lights out of their storage boxes, checked to make sure they all worked, and headed up on the tin roof... in the wind... to perch on the edge of the house and hang the lights. (Mistake #2: never try to perch on the slippery tin edge of anything tall in the wind.)

Well, about 3 hours later, (Mistake #3: Why is it that every year, I think, "Oh yeah, Christmas lights. That job shouldn't take me more than an hour tops," when I have NEVER been done in less than 3?), anyways...I shimmied down the rather shakey latter to plug in my glowing, florescent masterpiece. Everything lit up beautifully and I silently congratulated myself on how much of a bad-ass I was. I unplugged everything, and couldn't wait to see my parents faces when they saw what their oh-so-handy daughter had done.

Well about four hours later is where things got a little sticky. When I went out to plug everything in again, NOTHING WOULD COME ON!!! NOTHING!!! I checked the outlets to make sure we still had power running to them, and checked the box to make sure I hadn't flipped a breaker along the way, but to no avail. It turns out I had to check every connection to find out where the blown fuse was. I found the sucker, and got it fixed, but then I had some re-extention-cording to do.

Anyways, the lights are all working now, (Well... except for that one dumb-ass section that never fails to faithfully glow to life when the lights on on the ground, yet fails to even make an effort when hung up on the roof!!!), the snow globe is glowing, and the "Rockin' H" has reclaimed it's station up on top of the roof after it's 2 year vacation. So, although it was a battle, I'd have to say that I came out the victor of the Chirstmas light battle once again!