An ornament designed for both indoor and outdoor use incorporates a method for automatically detecting if the ornament is being used indoors or outdoors and for thereby activating the ornament at the appropriate desired time for a desired period of time. The method monitors ambient light levels throughout the day to determine if the monitored values match the characteristics expected from either indoor or outdoor operation. When used indoors, the ornament is activated at the same time each day for a predetermined number of hours. When used outdoors, the ornament is activated each day at sunset for a predetermined number of hours. In addition, when used outdoors, the method measures night lengths and adjusts its activation time to run longer when nights are long, as in winter, or shorter when nights are short, as in summer.