Happy Holidays!

December 17, 2022: Hi all. I'm still here, just been very busy (who of us is not?) I'm working on updating Maison Newton bit by bit, it's been awhile since I changed things up. Happy Holidays to all, soon the Winter Solstice will arrive and then the days will start to get longer once again, hooray!

Sunday, December 5, 2021

Final Round of Christmas Tree Decorating (With Fingers Crossed Behind My Back) - And the Tree's Revenge

Hola! 

Yes, I confess, I've been fussing with the Christmas tree.  I added still more ornaments, but the tree still looks pretty naked to me. I know this may sound a little cray cray (okay, maybe a lot cray cray) but maybe the tree is eating some of the ornaments at night...

I swear, if I lived in a warm climate I'd strip the tree down, haul it outside and spray paint it with a light layer of white paint.  Maybe that would make the rose gold/pink ornaments show up more.  As it is, there are not enough of them to show up on the tree.  I though about but fought off the urge of ordering yet MORE ornaments and decided I am not going to order more rose gold or blush pink ornaments until Christmas clearance sales are on (after Christmas).  Thus, the tree has way more gold and clear glass ornaments on it from my prior years' stash and it's not anything like the rose gold inspiration trees I published photos of earlier.  

Beyond frustrated and extremely disappointed.  The 2021 tree is an okay looking tree, but it's not what I wanted, it's not what I'd envisioned.  Nobody likes a "fail," but this year, my tree is a fail.

This is the FINAL tree -- so I say, but don't believe me.  This is actually Attempt 3 or maybe it's Attempt 13, which yes, I admit, doesn't look much different than Attempt 2 or Attempt 1 (except for the too large and gaudy gold pointsettias that were removed), but it is different.  OY!!!

It's Final (Round 13???)

After sitting here a few nights looking at the aftermath of Attempt 2, I decided that part of the problem was with the bottom row of branches that I was not able to adequately fill in the gaps with the materials/decorations I had on hand.  So, I got down on my hands and knees on Friday morning (12/3/21) and got a good workout bending the ends of the very strong branches upwards between one and two inches (some were much harder to force upwards than others).  I also pulled the tips on each of that bottom row of branches more upward.  Some of the gaps between the branches and between the bottom row of branches and the next row of branches above it were filled or somewhat filled more by this process.  Not so noticeable during the day when the lights aren't on, but very noticeable when the lights are on - the lowest level of the tree has been "tightened up."  

You probably can't tell from the photo either but I did some "rearranging" of the ribbons to fill in some of the gaps/holes I kept (and still keep) seeing.  And yes, I added even more ornaments.  I find it hard to believe, but there are only a couple boxes of ornaments left in basement storage, and I SWORE that they are not going on this tree this year.  I'm DONE.  Every time I think about putzing with the tree further, I think about the Band Perry song and that stops me, LOL!   

In the photo above I can see the white "frosted" effect that I found so pretty and led to me ordering this particular tree in the first place.  That "frosted" look hasn't really shown up too much in prior photos.  

This year it's been Jan versus the Christmas tree, a continual struggle over several rounds for more than a week.  I thought I had won (finally), but last night (12/4/21) the tree got a TKO when, right after I'd plugged in the extension cord that has the lights plugged into it for the top half of the tree, I stood up only to see a light that appeared to be sputtering and then blinked a few times and out it went.  And with it, about half of the top third of the lights on the tree.  A PARTIAL BLACK OUT!  

WHAT THE (BLEEP)!  This is only the second and third season for ALL of those lights.  They're LED lights, they aren't supposed to "burn" out after a couple seasons of Christmas use, for pete's sake!  I don't leave my tree lit 24/7.  So now - how on earth can I fix it?  The tree is fully decorated.  I am NOT going to un-decorate the top half of the tree, take down the ribbons and attempt to fish out the bad light string and replace it. 

Soooooo, I may end up resorting to what I did in 2019 with my 10 years-old wired pre-lit tree where more lights were burning out seemingly daily:  I inserted battery operated LED lights.  The "warm white" didn't exactly match the color of the other lights, but they added light nonetheless and I could string them where I wanted the lights to be (more or less).

ARRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!  

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