Dear Kay,
O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree! You are so very many things. Love/hate, depending on the year. Such a mirror for my mood. One year I came home from a trip (from where I can’t even recall), and Hubbo and the boys surprised me by having the tree set up. I burst into tears, because I truly had worried that I wasn’t going to muster the steam to get a tree going that year. It’s a loaded emblem, the tree.
The mood this year is deep, backward-looking nostalgia. You know, “pleasure and sadness that is caused by remembering something from the past and wishing that you could experience it again,” the dictionary tells us.
Sometimes all it takes is a glimpse of an ornament bought long ago to launch me into the spiral of memory. Or a peek at an old post written a while back.
Here’s a tale of a rush-job knitted Christmas stocking and a misbehaving tree.
Good lord, that time when the barber shop closed.
That time the elves took over our life.
A list of guaranteed joymakers, for anybody who might feel a bit of sag this time of year.
That time with the lights. There have been many times with the lights.
I bought a whole set of LED Christmas lights this year—the solution to all my troubles. But I didn’t use them. “No twinkle. Too bright,” I said. But that’s not really what was up. It has just occurred to me, after 27 years of Christmas trees, that I actually relish the annual drama of the lights. I am nostalgic about bad Christmas lights.
Love,
Ann
I will definitely click on the “joymaker” link first 🙂
I’ve decided to consciously veer away from my twanging on my own nostalgia strings this year, as I even had a bit of an unexpected nearly-weepy wibble-wobble on my birthday last weekend. As my Dad so often said, “Getting old is not for sissies.”
And now I’m missing my Dad. Oh dear. Wibble-wobble.
I’m almost sad I haven’t had so much light trouble! I just jinxed myself, didn’t I…
May one strand fail on Christmas Eve! ; )
Call it nostalgia, call it tradition, but I cannot even consider switching to LED Christmas lights. I’m still having a hard time accepting that the “regular” old Christmas lights don’t have the fancy pants plastic embellishments on them that made them even more twinkly.
I should note that those haven’t been on any tree I’ve personally owned – I think the last time I saw them was when I was a little kid in the 70s. But still.
Thanks for the funny and touching trip down memory lane. Glad I’m not alone in having tree/light issues.
This year, I decided that once and for all, I wanted my tree to look great with lights. After watching two youtube videos on how to put lights on a tree and taking them off twice, I gave up and just left them on there. But in the end, they’re on the tree and they make my heart glow when they’re all lit up.
I can’t bring myself to buy LED lights for the tree. Just not Christmas. I did, however, buy a small box of those LED string lights that look like little lights on a wire. I put those on my entertainment center in with my fake greenery and I love them.
i still have fond memories of my childhood trees with the bubble lights. I still don’t know how they made them do it.
Our family tradition always seemed to be choosing the most crooked tree on the lot. One year, my dad actually had to tie the tree to the living room curtain rod to keep it upright! I kinda miss joking about it with my dad (he died almost 3 years ago), but I’m glad our adult-life trees have been a little more stable.
Now off to check on the joymakers–absurdly warm weather has kept the Christmas spirit at bay in our house.
I thought I would simplify getting the lights on the tree by buying net lights, a big triangle shaped light set that wraps around the tree. Actually though, it just wraps almost around the tree, leaving a gap at the back. Our tree is in front of a window, and from outside, it looks like it’s wearing a one size too small dress and couldn’t get the back zipped up.
I have never felt such empathy for a Christmas tree.
We got reproductions of those strings of round lights coated with glass chunks because I loved those when I was a kid. For me, Christmas really is mostly about recreating the sights and sounds of childhood. Having said that, I sort of like those color changing LED lights. Seven year old me would approve.
We used to have those glass-chunk lights and we also had a set of tumblers with the same chunky coating (it was plastic). Yes I am hideously old.
Kristal/Glo Ball Lights!!! I have strings and strings and boxes of vintage ones of these. My antique/thrifting/estate sale loving brother and SIL pick them up for me whenever if they find them – always a few more in my stocking. They are getting mighty scarce in Western Canada. Some odd colours too – magenta, turquoise, lime green. The white ones are especially nice. Every few years I do an entire tree with these, I think that might be the plan for this year…as I still haven’t got the tree up.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-50s-Noma-Kristal-Ice-Working-Sparkling-Christmas-Lights-Snowball-in-Box-/381492993079?hash=item58d2c11c37:g:mVgAAOSwYaFWcF4O
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Snowball-Lighted-Ice-Round-Christmas-Tree-Lights-10-Bulb-14-Ft-GE-String-/121841387696?hash=item1c5e5008b0:g:mEsAAOSwYaFWcIKs
Cheers,
Trevor
sigh, two cats and a wee apartment have meant no christmas tree for many years which doesnt stop me from collecting ornaments – gorgeous glass and old fashioned… one year i will have an old fashioned tree somewhere…
so i sigh and look at the wonderful photos …
and now for NUTCRACKER while i work today.. (always cry at the tree music).
My father would use piano wire at the top of the tree,
tying it from door frame to window frame. Helped
tree stay upright with little ones and dogs around.
We too have the saga of the lights every year. Ours happens because the light-puter-oner, usually me, gets tired of getting poked by the needles to get the lights just-so, and gives up and basically tosses them on the tree. Right now we have not one Christmas decoration in or on the house, except for the bagpipe playing Santa that got missed during the take down last year. It’s hard to get into the Christmas spirit this year in Ohio since they are predicting 60 degrees on Christmas day.
Love all your Christmas tree drama. Here’s my latest: I’m the wire, pre-lit tree, putter upper at our house and last Sunday when I put it up and plugged it in about half of the lights didn’t. I took the time to make sure each and every unlit bulb was well-seated in its socket, nothing happened, before gritting my teeth and googling how to fix it. No satisfactory answers popped up but I did find a place to order a new tree so I did that. But it wouldn’t arrive until Thursday and that seemed too chancy so I went to Home Depot for a LightKeeper Pro which is a magical tool that tells you where the current ends so that’s where you put in the new bulb and half of the lights turn back on. Then another part of the tool lets you find the loose wire, your brilliant husband helps figure out how to fix that, and the rest of the lights light up. So what if you, well, I’m decorating the tree from 9:30 to 11:00 p.m.? Success! Check it out:http://crazynovelpeople1.blogspot.com/2015/12/still-rebel.html
Whoa! What’s the story with that red thingy that appears to be levitating from no. 6? A Christmas tree aura? I hope I’m not the only one seeing this…
Last year (or maybe it was the year before, can’t remember!) my mother took all of our strings of half-dead Christmas lights to Home Depot. They had some kind of deal going where you could recycle strings of old Christmas lights and get a coupon for an (apparently significant) discount on LEDs. That year our tree was done all in LEDs, and none of us liked it. LEDs are fine for outside, but they’re just too cold for inside! Christmas tree lights should be warm and inviting, and make you want to just sit back and gaze at your Christmas tree.
Now I have Christmas tree photo envy.
I hate the LED lights my husband bought. They do not twinkle and he’s also pretty skimpy with the amount of lights he puts on the tree. Grinch.
Ah, the drama of the lights! I am well acquainted. There is a non-working half-string of lights balled up and stuffed toward the trunk of our tree this year.
You are not the only one who is nostalgic about bad Christmas tree lights. 3 sets, purchased on three different years–they almost but not quite match. I thought for sure one would be dead this year, giving me an excuse to buy a full matching set, but nah, leaving them the way they are again.
So glad you are back!!