Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Christmas Decorations

I decided that I was going to get the tree done today. I dig out all my Christmas boxes and proceeded to pick a color. I chose a Peppermint Christmas, that is what I have the most of.

I get the lights out and for some reason they are all tangled up. I didn't put them away properly 2 years ago. (We didn't do tree and decorating last year.) I usually put them back in the box that they came in, but instead I put them on plastic rollers. I guess in the move the rollers got broken and the string of lights were all tangled up.

I manage to get them untangled and was ABOUT to put them on the tree. I told myself..You better at least check that they are all working. Sure enough, at least half or more of the lights weren't working.

I check through all the boxes, before I realized I didn't have any replacements. I gave those to the Freecycle Girl!

So I hop in my truck and head to my local stores. After going to DG and FD and not finding any, I had to break down and buy new ones. Man, this little town sure does need a Wal-Mart or Home Depot, something other than these China stores. Not the point, sorry for putting a little rant in there!

Anyway, I did pick up other things..it's inevitable, I can't seem to just go in a store and buy ONLY what I went there for. Garland and greenery for the gate and garland for the porch railings. I put those up as soon as I got home. Nothing fancy, just enough to show I do have some Christmas spirit.

The large plastic candy canes, that I used to have lining the walkway. Have some how lost their spikes to go into the frozen ground. So...I hung them in the leafless peach tree..Ha Ha!!

I then went on to do hubbies job. His job every year is to fluff the tree and string the lights. I managed to get the lights on but it looked nothing like when hubby does it. I was secretly hoping that once he saw my attempt, he would shake his head and fix it. NO, he takes one look at it and declares I did a good job. Lazy ass! jk, sorta!

Out of all this...there is one thing that baffles me each year. I can carefully put away the Christmas lights and every year there are always some that don't work. Why is that? Is it tempature related or what?

Well I'm halfway there.

How's your decorating going? Any tangled lights? LOL

15 comments:

Spot said... [Reply to comment]

Christmas lights are the bane of tree decorating. I don't know how it happens either. I always tell myself that I should go out after xmas and buy new lights when they are heavily discounted so that I have them for next year...but I never do. So we struggle with them every year as well. I haven't started decorating yet. That is on Sean & I's agenda for tomorrow. With two more young kitties in the house, I'm afraid there will be a lot of tree mishaps this year!

♥Spot

Maureen@IslandRoar said... [Reply to comment]

My Ex puts up our lights every year (hey, it's the least he can do; it protects him from having to actually do any parenting), and he always ends up getting new ones for that very reason.
Sounds like you ended up doing a nice job. I gotta get to the indoor decorating...

Joanie said... [Reply to comment]

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

I have had the same problems with tree lights nearly every year. I haven't even thought about the tree or other decorations. Guess I'll have to get moving. This is the first year my youngest isn't here to get me moving.

Elliott said... [Reply to comment]

The tree will go up this week, we have houseguests coming next week so I need to make room in the storage room/office for another air mattress, since the guest room is spoken for. Damn this not having a basement.

We replaced all the lights last year, since half the tree wouldn't light after two years (we also skipped a year due to a move) and two moves. However, I leave the lights on when we bag the artificial tree so we don't have to reinvent every year.

mindy@thesuburbanlife said... [Reply to comment]

Oh, my decorating is going easy-peasy in that I haven't even started yet. I finally managed to get all of the Harvest/Thanksgiving stuff taken down after reasoning with my 3 year old (who refuses to acknoweldge that Halloween is over) for 2 1/2 hours. On to Christmas decs this week. Hopefully. Yep, that's definitely my plan. Maybe. =)
Mindy
www.thesuburbanlife.com

JennyMac said... [Reply to comment]

No tangled lights...I put them away each year with military precision. LOL.

We have everything up/out except we are having an "ornament party" with our little man tonight to put all the ornaments on. He is only 2 so totally into it.

Sprite's Keeper said... [Reply to comment]

Oh, the tangled lights we weave when we first cut corners...
:-)
I have a pre-lit tree so all we have to do is haul it out of the garage and take the cover off and plug in!
It's just up to John to get it out of the garage.
(Good luck to him for I will be nagging him incessantly.)

Heather said... [Reply to comment]

Spot...LOL, I'm already having to yell at the cats to leave it alone.

Maureen...Nice way to get something out of him. New lights every year! Wow!

Joanie...I will gladly sub for your girl..Mom, don't you think it's time to get out the decorations? LOL

Elliott...weird how moving causes them to go out, maybe it is in protest!

Mindy...LOL, I think your going to have to get some cut out of the ghosts from the Christmas Carol.

Jenny Mac...I'll be calling, when it's time to put them away. LOL!
That sounds neat, your going to have to post about that.

Sprite's Keeper...Lucky you! IWe have talked about it. but no decision yet.
John needs to quit dreaming of that BBQ pit, just long enough to get the tree out.

Joshua said... [Reply to comment]

I'm probably a little too Ebenezer than I should be for 29. I just hate the holiday that has become Commercialized Christmas. Not as bad as Dad, though he has an excuse; his grandparents were killed in a car accident on Christmas Eve, 1982.

-Joshua

Heather said... [Reply to comment]

Joshua...At my age, I still love Christmas! Most of all I love the lights, I could care less about gift giving. Hubby and I haven't really gave gifts to each other in years. Okay, I got a dryer last year and he got a tv this year, things we needed.

So sorry about your great grand parents.

Angelia said... [Reply to comment]

Hopefully this weekend I can dig mine out. And hopefully no broken bones to hinder the process, like last year!

I bet your place is starting to glow. Yay!

Tinkerschnitzel said... [Reply to comment]

I got the tree up and decorated Sunday and all the other little goodies out. The wreath and stockings are still sitting on the couch, though. I'm just being lazy. Fortunately, I should have at least a week without the cats destroying my tree, since they just got fixed on Monday. Oh happy days!

Heather said... [Reply to comment]

Angelia...Good luck with NOT getting broken bones. Ouch, be careful!

Not yet, but I'm working on it!

Tinkerschnitzel...Yahoo! I finally wrote your name without looking!! Your almost there, just inch your way over to the couch and touch the wreath.
My biggest aggervation and joy, yelling at the cats to leave the tree alone! It just wouldn't be Christmas without them!

Kendra said... [Reply to comment]

We had skipped the last few years of putting a tree up because ours broke and we didn't want to spend the money to get a new one but we did this year and it is up and beautiful! I'm sure yours looks great!

Heather said... [Reply to comment]

Kendra...Oh, last year was hard going through Christmas without decorations, I don't think I could have gone more than one year.