Well, I finally got the Christmas tree finished. I drug it out of the closet a few days ago and assembled it. It was a bit easier than the past few years when I had squashed all the limbs back together and stored it in the original box. Last year I bought a Christmas tree bag (probably at the Container Store) and when it came time to take the tree down I separated it into the three sections and put it in the HUGE bag. It was a chore to carry it the 20 feet or so and push it to the back of the closet under the stairs, but it was certainly easier to put it back together this year. Thumbs up on the tree bag.
It's a pre-lit tree and as I was correcting the branches I noticed that a section's lights were out. Luckily, I found the missing light socket right away. Unluckily, I didn't know whether or not extra lights had come with the tree, or where they were if they had been included. So, I just took a bulb from another section that wasn't so visible and put it in the empty socket. As I got to the bottom of the tree, rearranging the branches, voila!, there was a packet of extra lights taped to a lower branch. The company was pretty skimpy with the lights on the top section...my only complaint...well, not quite the only complaint. The other complaint is that the top section's branches are "weaker" and don't hold much more than a very small ornament. But, it's a pretty nice tree for one that cost about $70 or $80.
I don't usually have the television on during the day. I am too easily distracted and will end up sitting down and watching TV rather than tending to whatever chore I should be doing. But, for decorating the tree, I thought I should at least be listening to music. I found a channel of 50's and 60's music and danced up a storm as I decorated. My bad... I must have been the one person who paid no attention to who sang the songs back in those days. So, today, I would dance and decorate for a couple of minutes and then have to walk to the TV to see what the name of the song was and who the artist was. Slowed my decorating down quite a bit.
But, the tree looks great! If I do say so myself. I'm always happy with it when I'm done. It's a very eclectic tree...all sorts of ornaments, many of them gifts from friends and family, a lot of them made by me (I was a whiz at baker's clay ornaments.) I have some that look like little Tyrolean people that are really nice. I started making them in about 1975...but only did it for about 3 years. Then there are also purchased ornaments. One of the items I added in the last couple of years was pretty clever (and cheap!) and adds a lot to the tree. I bought a pack of Christmas colored glittery pipe cleaners. They were all different colors...silver, red, fuschia, blue, green, and gold. I wound some of them around a wooden spoon handle so they made little spirals. Some I left about 3 inches long, others I pulled out a little longer. I just place them wherever it looks a little dull, in the crook of a branch, for instance. Some of them I left straight and just hook them onto the tree, maybe toward the inside of the tree, just to add sparkle. Even very young children could help you make these easy decorations. I don't think you can do much to mess them up.
Enough of this...I need to go shop for food. I invited all the kids over for tacos tomorrow and don't have any of the ingredients here.
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