Sunday, December 19, 2010

The ups and downs of Christmas



It takes a lot of thought and energy just to start the decorating and get into the feeling of the season...especially putting the lights on the tree and getting that little chore started and things seem to take off from there. Then you need to tackle the outdoor lights and decorating in this cold weather but once it is done it is an accomplishment and usually looks great.

Well I completed all that...up they went, looked good, finished the tree...then yesterday when I was in the "tree" room, as it has come to be known, I heard a little "phuttt"...wasn't sure where it came from and couldn't see any lamps that had gone out but something wasn't right with the world, I could tell. I carried on with what I was doing which was mindless stuff anyway. When I came back to the room there was what seemed like a dark cloud...so I had a serious look around and came to focus on the tree and after a wee while noticed that maybe 50 lights were out...at the very top of this 8.5ft tree. The reason I say 50 is that when I read the ticket that comes with the lights (which I never do but keep it in the box in any event) it reads that there are 100 lights on a string but made up in sets of 50 so if you are adding a flasher (which I would never do) you need two, one for each set of 50.

What to do...

Gayle suggested buying another 100 and stringing them on top, Jim thought that was a good idea, I am appalled that anyone would think that was okay....I know they are trying to help and get the quickest result but that would mean one dud set hanging there all throughout Christmas...it would be all that I could see. Anyway, the top of tree (at least where the first 100 lights are located) must be striped. The finishing twirling ribbon on top, the strings of beads that look like pearls, diamonds etc., and the ornaments that are specifically placed in a certain location to each other… must all come off.

Now I decorate top to bottom so this means to take this shortcut I will be re decorating bottom to top....how will that work.

Off we went at 6.30.p.m last night , Saturday, to the store that sells the lights we have...they close at 7.p.m. so it was a bit of a dash...entered the store at 6.45 to shelves that looked like there had been a fire sale. No white lights, no clear lights, no coloured lights, no indoor lights, yes there were no lights period. Went to a couple of other stores and there were lights, lots of them, on sale for half price but they were coloured or multicoloured. They had indoor and outdoor, mini and pine cone, but all coloured or multicoloured.

Went to the pub!

Drove home and approaching the house the outdoor lights were on in the front of the house. The reindeer was still standing and the warm white lights looked good. It was a chore getting them organized on the extension cords this year as I we had landscaped the front of the house over the last few years, added a court yard surrounded by iron fence and double gates. We planted a six feet holly tree which I had planned to add berries and lights to at Christmas. In the old house we had two 20 ft cedars (made up of five trees each side) all perfectly shaped with beautiful warm white lights. The neighbours loved them as much as we did and looked for them to be turned on in December each year...they say they miss the lights since we moved. So the point of the holly tree was firstly fitting the landscaping but it had also been considered as the one that "took" the lights at Christmas (I plan these things), of course you know that the holly tree also keeps evil spirits away, I digress. This year I added new white pine cone lights in soft white to match all other lights out there...you can imagine my "shock and dismay" when driving in and spotting a "blue” cold white or I believe they call them "clear" white on this tree at the bottom. It has 75 pine cone lights on it and 25 of them are "blue white"...yikes.

I just started laughing, in fact I laughed for the rest of the night...I didn't turn them off (so no-one would see them) I just laughed. I must have picked up the wrong box....well they do get shuffled around on the shelves and mixed up. When I looked at the boxes this morning they were identical except one held 50 and one held 25 lights...in small print on the back it did tell you what colour they were...but in with all the other details. Who does that? This is not supposed to be a complicated task.

When I was looking for the indoor lights I did look at the outdoor pine cone ones thinking I would pick up another package at half price for next year to make it a little fuller and I know they only had multicoloured or coloured ones. So no point going out hunting for those, they don't have any. Is it me or can someone tell me why there are no packages of soft white indoor or outdoor pine cone lights on the shelves? Aren't these a staple...obviously a good seller as they are sold out? I know they are not getting more in as they need to sell those coloured lights first, I am guessing.

What to do...

So today I will go out to the holly tree that keeps evil away from the door (it may be surprised when it sees me) and I will mix the lights up as best as I can making it look like it was intentional, I will add some red ribbons and apples to distract. I am still not sure if this will work or at least not work very well but it appears I have a day of "ups and downs" ahead of me after I have a coffee, or maybe two coffees or a coffee and a muffin...we will see.

Wish me luck or a small miracle...I believe in Christmas miracles!!

It's a beautiful life...I think!

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