Ups and downs Part II - better pics

The tree in the evening and the fairy with it's tartan
sheath awaits it's debut at the top of the tree.
The fairy is over 40 years old and was purchased the
 first year we came to Canada.  I have tried to replace her with
bigger, better, brighter but have been voted down by the rest
of the tribe so here she stays.

This wreath resides in the hall

We are so time poor at this time of year...when giving think if you can give the gift of time to a young mum or take time for a cuppa with the elderly and chat a while.  What a precious gift to give.

Life is beautiful in lights yet again!

Ups and downs Part II

Will try to get a better picture in the evening

Well I can't say it has been a bad day ...a little frustrating now and again but definitely not bad.

I took the defective lights off the top of the tree after hunting around in the basement for some back up mini lights and I did find them...3 sets of 100.  Two were only working half of the set of 100 lights...so same position I was in.  50 of the 100 did not work so they went in the bin.  One string of 100 worked but had a light out so we replaced that from the ones that were being binned and "hey presto" we have a working set of 100  indoor mini lights.  Striped the tree at the top of all decorations and started again.  Plugged them into the connecting set and tried them out...not working. How can this be?

 DH worked with the connecting plugs and the finally got them to work...we looked at one another and off we went in harmony (doesn't happen often) and got the defective set and tried them and they worked....all 100 of them.   Although I cannot explain why only 50 of them worked if in fact the plug was defective.  I can see that happening when connecting two sets that are not exactly the same.  Now I wish I had turned them on before we took them off the tree...what were our chances.  I have boxed these up for next year with a note that said they were finicky and needed some TLC to work properly.  A re test is in order before making any commitments to this set making the tree 2011.

I struggled with getting the ribbon and trim back on. The ornaments which go on with a science are not properly located.  It is like when you take something out of a box you cannot get it back in even though it lived there for quite sometime in the folds that you have repeated.

I went outside and added red ribbons and apples to the decor out there to distract the eye from the "odd" 25 light set of "clear " lights that made their way to our home.

It is a beautiful life with a Christmas tree that is lit up and decorated for the season.