OK, this wasn't any kind of official study or anything. Just one I did on my own. And actually it didn't start out as a study. It just sort of happened.
I love Christmas. Everything about it. The music, the shopping (but not the traffic in Cool Springs or at Opry Mills), the decorations. I love decorating the house and making it look like Christmas. That is, I love it until the tree starts acting ugly.
I remember grwoing up and going with Dad every year to get a live tree. We'd go from lot to lot looking at trees. We'd see one we liked, it would cost something like $18, and Dad would offer the guy a ridiculous amount like 75 cents. (He was very good at this kind of thing.) They'd go back and forth, Dad would act like he was leaving, then they'd settle on a price. We'd get it home, saw off some of the lower branches and level it up, back and forth, until 2 hours later we'd be covered in tree sap but we'd have a tree up in the living room.
When I moved to Nashville I bought a live tree that first year. After the bride and I met, we went the artificial route with a tree that was given to us by a family member. A couple of years later we found a deal on a new tree at Target. When we moved about 6 years ago, the Target tree went to the bonus room and we bought a beautiful pre-lit tree for downstairs. The Target tree is docorated with everything the girls have ever made along with decorations that are 20+ years old. A veritable potpourri of memories. The downstairs tree is themed, and only those decorations approved by the bride may adorn this tree.
Last year, the downstairs tree had a small section of lights that didn't work so I strung a short set of lights and it worked just fine. This year the same tree had about 1/3 of its lights out. I spent a total of about 90 minutes working with them, but I couldn't make them work. I went to change the fuses, but couldn't find them. I went to 3 different stores before I found them. I spent an hour on this. Then when I did find them and changed them out, it did no good. I looked at bulbs to see if one was out or loose. Again, no good. My blood pressure was steadily rising. For a brief moment I contemplated pitching the artificial tree, going out and buying a real tree, and decorating it with candles instead of lights. But that thought was short-lived.
So the bride suggested that since the upstairs tree looked worse than Charlie Brown's we should replace it with the downstairs tree and go buy another one. I could cover up the dead-bulb areas with a few light sets and it would be fine for the bonus room. Yes, she is my voice of reason. So in less than 30 minutes we had gone to Hobby Lobby, bought a new tree and come back home. And both trees look wonderful.
There are people who actually decorate houses for Christmas for a living. Saturday afternoon, in the midst of all the tree problems, I sort of felt sorry for those people.....
I love Christmas. Everything about it. The music, the shopping (but not the traffic in Cool Springs or at Opry Mills), the decorations. I love decorating the house and making it look like Christmas. That is, I love it until the tree starts acting ugly.
I remember grwoing up and going with Dad every year to get a live tree. We'd go from lot to lot looking at trees. We'd see one we liked, it would cost something like $18, and Dad would offer the guy a ridiculous amount like 75 cents. (He was very good at this kind of thing.) They'd go back and forth, Dad would act like he was leaving, then they'd settle on a price. We'd get it home, saw off some of the lower branches and level it up, back and forth, until 2 hours later we'd be covered in tree sap but we'd have a tree up in the living room.
When I moved to Nashville I bought a live tree that first year. After the bride and I met, we went the artificial route with a tree that was given to us by a family member. A couple of years later we found a deal on a new tree at Target. When we moved about 6 years ago, the Target tree went to the bonus room and we bought a beautiful pre-lit tree for downstairs. The Target tree is docorated with everything the girls have ever made along with decorations that are 20+ years old. A veritable potpourri of memories. The downstairs tree is themed, and only those decorations approved by the bride may adorn this tree.
Last year, the downstairs tree had a small section of lights that didn't work so I strung a short set of lights and it worked just fine. This year the same tree had about 1/3 of its lights out. I spent a total of about 90 minutes working with them, but I couldn't make them work. I went to change the fuses, but couldn't find them. I went to 3 different stores before I found them. I spent an hour on this. Then when I did find them and changed them out, it did no good. I looked at bulbs to see if one was out or loose. Again, no good. My blood pressure was steadily rising. For a brief moment I contemplated pitching the artificial tree, going out and buying a real tree, and decorating it with candles instead of lights. But that thought was short-lived.
So the bride suggested that since the upstairs tree looked worse than Charlie Brown's we should replace it with the downstairs tree and go buy another one. I could cover up the dead-bulb areas with a few light sets and it would be fine for the bonus room. Yes, she is my voice of reason. So in less than 30 minutes we had gone to Hobby Lobby, bought a new tree and come back home. And both trees look wonderful.There are people who actually decorate houses for Christmas for a living. Saturday afternoon, in the midst of all the tree problems, I sort of felt sorry for those people.....
1 comment:
i threw away 5 sets of minature light strings this past weekend. do you want them? i can go dig them out...you could use them for backups.
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