the cost of Christmas lights in Illinois

A study takes a look at the costs for running Christmas lights between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, at an average of 7 hours per day.

As a kid I asked why my dad turned the lights off at 9pm, and he said something that came right out of the typical Midwestern dad phrasebook: "What? Am I made of money? Do you know what it costs to run these lights? Do You?"