It's getting to be that time of year, when we pull out the knotted strands of holiday lights and get them prepped to twinkle--unless you were organized last year with this option or this option. Should you find them not in working order, consider buying LED ones, which have finally reached the point of development that allows them to work optimally and look great.

Personally, we're partial to white lights, but colors and multi-colored strands are also available. When we were researching options for this post, we found that most of them don't appear to be in stock for on-line ordering, so if you find them in store or on-line, please let us know in the comments.

The best, most available option are the Philips LED Sphere Strong Lights, which we've pictured above the jump. Target is selling them for $10/60 light strand. And considering the life span of LEDs, this is a reasonable investment in a greener, longer-lasting option.

At first, being sort of purists about the lights that go on our Christmas tree, we didn't like the textured nature of the lights.

However, some reading on the internet proved that this is a good thing, because it diffuses the light all around, allowing for brightness to remain the same or similar depending on the angle of view. If it didn't have that, it would be brightest when viewing directly ahead and would dim pretty significantly when not viewing it straight on.

PS Save your paper towel tubes and this year you can be organized for next year when you're putting away your strands of lights!