Saturday, December 10, 2011

Blinded by the light…A Christmas story


Hand drawn Christmas cards



What is your favorite Christmas decorating chore?  I’d be willing to bet that stringing up the lights didn’t make the list!

Whether you simply put lights on a Christmas tree or decorate your home and yard ala Clark Griswald, this presumably simple chore will make any good person say words unbefitting of the holiday.

When we were kids the lights were big, giant multi colored bulbs.  They would break right along with all the super shiny ornaments that hit the floor with regularity—but they were easy to locate.

 Then came the mini bulbs on strings of a hundred or more, and when one bulb went out...they all went out.  Wouldn’t you just love to find the joker whose idea that was?  I doubt that he made it on Santa’s good boy list!

So you, like hundreds of others all over the country go on that futile search for the proverbial bulb in the haystack we are calling a Christmas tree.  The strings tangle, and as you spread them out, you plug in a new bulb in each slot hoping that the errant bulb will show it’s face. As you reach bulb number 99 you are hopeful…but you are out of luck.  Maybe the bulb you are using, as a tester is bad, or just maybe it’s the whole darned string. 

You walk to the trashcan and toss it out as you head to the store to buy yet another string of lights.  But wait, while you are there you decide to go the pre-lighted route.  It’s a new innovation for sure and one that will save the hairs on your head.  You buy it and go home and without profanity, you set up your Christmas tree. 

All goes well for a few years and then, without warning, as you plug in that tree you thought was your salvation from the condition known as tree light anxiety, you find that the whole center of the tree remains in the dark.  Something is wrong.  Now you have to check each light inside an already strung tree.  Impossible you say?  You are correct, so it’s off to the store to purchase some mini lights, and you my dear, are back where you started.

You wonder…should you go the LED route?  They are supposed to last a long, long, time.  There’s a rumor going around, however, that the designer is the same one who thought it was a good idea to share an on ramp with an exit ramp on superhighways.  You shrug it off and plunk down the cash.  HO, HO, HO


11 comments:

Valerie-Jael said...

I like to use candles - old fashioned, but somehow less complicated! Valerie
Congrats to Heather!

Carol said...

Ahhh...the lighting drama is about to start here too. I've been working on the cards for a while now and lovin that...but that darn tree lighting is not something to look forward too. Must get it done as I'm having a Holiday party next weekend so I must get to decorating :0)

beauty said...

This post was not only helpful but very useful too. Thank you for sharing this piece of your expertise with all of us. Cheers!

Anonymous said...

theres a lot of truth in what you say,we have all been there, so much work putting the tree up, congrats to lovely Heather!

Judy Adamson said...

Crystal, I hope you (or anyone else!) won't think I'm peddling my wares but just had to share this card I made a couple of years ago - the first of a series of 'Christmas Traditions'!

http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/christmas-tree-lights-687429?pid=687429&gcu=43752923941

The drawing leaves something to be desired but you can see the idea was there!

Anonymous said...

An excellent post, providing something good to read,it's just good to came across the post on hand sets and its features.

maddyrose said...

I've been down that road you wrote about and did the whole routine from beginning to end. I have a new LED lit tree that has just one little problem. The lights on the very bottom branches have decided to remain dark. Gurrrr!!!! It's not the whole bottome section mind you, just the bottom row. Do you think anyone will notice they aren't lit up? Oh, I nearly forgot to say Congrats to Heather.

Maggie said...

LOL, I love reading your posts, Crystal. Been there, done that. I just bought two new sets of lights this week. FINALLY got my tree decorated yesterday. And, before I forget, congratulations to Heather!

Magic Love Crow said...

Yeh Heather ;o)
Crystal, you make me laugh all the time! Your posts are so truthful! I think that's what makes them so funny! I have to tell you the truth, we didn't put lights up this year! Mom put all her little houses up and we get the lights from them ;o) Have a great one ;o)

Craftymoose Crafts said...

Uh oh....We just bought one of those pre-lit trees to replace our tree that was damaged in the flood over the summer. Hope we get more than a few lighted years out it.

Very entertaining post, as usual!

Heather said...

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope you got my email! xo
I am sooo excited!

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