It turns out, a white Christmas does have its draw backs.
1-it was about 15F when Julie put the lights up.
2-we tried to take the lights down about 2 weeks ago; a few inches of the strings had draped into the rain gutter. Slightly challenging to remove the lights when they are partially encased by a 20ft long chunk of ice.
3-the ground decorations cannot be removed because they have fused with the earth to create a giant frozen mass.

This has nothing to do with the cold, but...Julie spent about 2 hours trying to get the tree from the living room to the car (I was at work). The tree was too tall, the floor too scratchable, the base too full of water, and also...fused to the tree. A neighbor came to assist, after a few minutes of tug-of-war and Julie falling to her butt-at last they were 2. Then she stuffed it into the car and took it to the tree recycling center-closed. She called the # for the backup location to figure out where it was. Upon arrival they told her they were too full...a little 'no you din't' and he changed his mind. At last, the tree is no more...until next year.

My first photography quote called back to say that she really wanted to use me but her fiance's controlling (and paying) mother wanted to use a family friend. She didn't like his stuff, but there's no arguing with the in-laws.
I finally have business cards printed. Julie is now going to peruse the town trying to pimp me. We ended up going with style #1.