The Agony of the Tree Lights
We’ve been getting the house cleaned up and ready for the Christmas party here this weekend. I gave Noah the job of trying to fix the lights on the Christmas tree that we have on the front porch. Half of the lights are out and I thought it would be a good job for him. I bought him a pack of replacement bulbs and showed him what to do. The poor guy went through every bulb on that tree. A couple of hours later he came to me, “Mom, didn’t you pay like $2 for the lights you bought for the mantle? Can’t we just buy a couple of new strings of lights and forget these?”
What?! And waste TWO DOLLARS when he could spend the next 4 hours trying to fix the ones we have?!
What is wrong with kids these days?
When I was a kid it was pretty easy to fix the tree lights because the bulbs were just small lightbulbs and they screwed into the string like normal lights. One would go out and you’d just have to unscrew it and pop another one in. I love to tell my kids about my childhood, “You know, when I was a little girl the bulbs were this big,” demonstrating the enormous size of vintage bulbs. The kids oooh and ahhh and pretend to be interested.
“And my grandparents didn’t even have lights on their tree. There was a revolving light that sat on the floor next to the tree. It changed from green to red to blue to yellow that cast its glow upon an aluminum tree that was incredibly shabby looking.”
But I loved that tree. It was the 70s and aluminum was in, man. We’d watch John Denver and the Muppets do their Christmas special while eating Jiffy Pop popcorn, drinking Fresca and playing with Stretch Armtrong.
In the 80’s I took those big lightbulbs and made myself a rockin’ Christmas necklace. I wore it with my quilted jumper. Oh yes, I looked good.
There’s a house down the street from us with new lights in their yard. They are white…like really blue-white. Like you-can-see-them-from-outer-space-white. Is this the next trend? What will we do with all of the little yellow-white lights we have now? Save them for a few years then string them into some kind of vintage Christmas jewelry?
I’m sure Noah would love to come up with ways to use the broken ones on our front porch tree. That way he wouldn’t have to spend half of today trying to fix them again. OK, OK. I’ll blow $5 and get some new ones. No need to torture the boy anymore.
Maybe I’ll buy the new whiter-than-white lights just for fun.
Lisa, Funny! After several trips to target to buy more lights for all ALREADY decorated tree last year I gave up! The tree and any remaining working lights went to GW. A smaller pre-lit tree has taken it’s place.
Happy holidays to you and your family.
xo,
Sherry
You are so funny! I was hoping to see that quilted jumper and Christmas light necklace!
How thoughtless of Noah to want to buy new ones when there is a perfectly good half string of lights!
(Dee Ann’s daughter): Kids these days! I think the blinding lights that can be seen from orbiting satellites would make a nice necklace!
I don’t like those white-blue lights…too cool. The yellowish ones are warm and cozy…
Glad you decided to spring for some new lights…I hate trying to fix light strings…
I must have had the same childhood as you! My grandparents had an aluminum tree with the light wheel too!
Mem….ries! Light the corners of my mind! Well, what’s left of it anyway! ha!
Have a fun weekend!
Deanna
We went a bit crazy with new lights last year, I even bought some solar lights that wouldn’t work, then one day they were magically on the kids had moved some switch and they worked, so we moved them to the pool cabana and haven’t been able to get the jolly things to work since!
Oh my goodness, my grandma had one of those aluminum trees with the spinning light too….lol So funny I love it. My grandkids are feeling sorry for me this year, because I put up “Charlie Brown” Christmas tree. But my grandson said there was much more room to put the presents around a small tree! 🙂
I really want to see the picture of you in the quilted jumper with the christmas lights necklace!! 😀 lol! We haven’t even put our lights up yet…. well we actually need to go and buy some new ones (since ours don’t work anymore 🙁 ) Several of our neighbors have theirs up and dad teased that we are just going to put a sign up that pointed in their direction that said “DITTO!” lol!
I as well don’t really care for those “whiter then white” lights…. to bright and not very warm. I really like the more traditional looking whitish yellowish looking lights….. way prettier! lol 😀
Oh my goodness… my grandparents had a color wheel too. But no aluminum tree, it was always a real tree for them! I miss the “ole'” Christmas lights and icicles!! The trees back then just looked so cool!! Do you remember bubbler lights? Liquid filled, tall skinny light bulbs that bubbled when they warmed up?? Those were my favorite!! Oh to be a kid again, back in the 70’s! 🙂
I subscribed to your blog by email, and I really enjoy reading it. You make me smile! 🙂
My dad used to use those vintage lights on the tree he would put on top of our silo every year.
Anyway, we saw some of those ultra bright whitish (LED – cool white) lights in icicle shapes that look like they are randombly dripping. I fussed over them (sarcastically) and guess what my husband got me for Christmas? He didn’t get the sarcasm. Oh, but he is soooo sweet! You just need sunglasses to look at my house now.