I may have gone too far....

Well, I have officially went "Clark Griswold" this year, with a hint of smoke. As some of you know, I'm a bit of a connoisseur of Xmas lights, especially the big C-9 bulbs. My fascination goes back to my childhood and will be permanently fixed in my holiday brain. But I digress. This year, after several calculations and diagrams, I thought I had found a few more amps available on a circuit to plug in a few more strands of lights. See diagrams below.

Well, I think I finally went too far. Last night, I couldn't figure out why a few strands weren't coming on. I checked and double checked all the connections and extension cord runs, only to find all was well. Then I went to the outdoor timer (I mean, who leaves lights on all night). The settings were good, the plug was good and the GFI seemed okay, operative word "seemed". I finally decided to just leave one cord unplugged for the night and try to fix the issue on Sunday. About a half hour later, I see the kitchen lights flicker ever so slightly, then a soft, barley audible "pop". With a hint of mystery, I went outside, turned on the lights and saw something I didn't want to see. The GFI outlet was slightly blackened. I went to unplug one of the extension cords and couldn't get it to go initially. You see, it had began to melt to the outlet. A little panic set in at that point. I immediately went to the circuit box to find two breakers had tripped. I killed the power and went back outside to assess the situation. With screwdriver in hand, I was getting the effervescent aroma of burning electrical components. Once I removed the outside cover on the GFI, I proceeded to remove the receptacle. It was then that I saw the potential disaster I had averted. Here's what the GFI receptacle looked like after I took it out:

So, my first call Monday morning will be to a qualified electrician to fix my GFI. I'd do it myself, but some of the wires feeding the receptacle were a little crispy. Maybe this is my opportunity to switch to the new LED lights that are all the rage. Or I could have the electrician just install a couple of 30amp circuits. Yeah, that should do the trick! No comments needed. I'm sure I'll be the butt of all jokes down at the electrician's shop after he sees what I did.

Merry Christmas to all,

Your friend "Clark"