Rudolph the Blue-Nosed Reindeer

Pre-Christmas 2009.

Every Christmas, my father puts up festive lights. But this last Christmas, he wanted to scale back so it wouldn't be such a hassle to take everything down again. He opted for an all-white pre-lit lawn tree and a small white reindeer.

He later decided he wanted to add a larger white reindeer to the mix. So, he went to Home Depot. Turns out, they were out of the larger white reindeers, except for the floor model. He convinced the manager to sell it to him for $10.

He took the reindeer home and plugged it in. Only half of it lit up. No problem: He's Mr. Fixit. He proceeded to try different methods to light the bulbs that weren't working to no avail.

A week of attempts later, he decided to go out and purchase a string of lights to compensate for the strand that wouldn't light up. Lights in place, all ready to go, he lights the thing up -- and it's blue. All told, the budget reindeer ended up costing around $30.

And that's how a hybrid blue-and-white reindeer ushered in a Merry Christmas 2009.