Decorating for Christmas

Since Thanksgiving is the kick-off for the Christmas season, we've been decorating early the past few years, particularly since we don't have family around to enjoy the decorations during the time between the two holidays.  And it's much easier to put up the outdoor lights at 45 degrees than at 20 degrees.

My how things have changed since the 50s, when we put up a tree at our house a week or so before Christmas, and maybe an electric candle in a window here or there, and that was it.  Nor do I recall many other decorations around town, except for perhaps lights on the big evergreens at the courthouse, and I'm not so sure about that either.

The set-up has lost some lustre over the years, particularly with a back that complains of all the twisting and bending necessary to get the job done, and in an effort to make it easier and simpler, we invested in a pre-lit tree about 4 years ago.  The Frazier Firs we enjoyed the most were up at the $75 level, and sooner or later economy of scale predicts the pre-lit artificial tree will be reduced in price to something less than the inflation-driven Fraziers, due to the repeated use and one-time original payment.

What I should have done before buying it, however, was to ask "Exactly how much does this thing weigh?"  Even though it's in sections, it's a load to carry it from the basement up the stairs, with my aging back objecting the entire trip.  And I might also have asked about the life expectancy of the 900 bulbs or so that are on it, because once it is set up each year, there are oodles of lights that no longer burn.  So far this year I have replaced 45 lights, and I expect there will be more to be found.

Just thinking . . . one small tree with 3 cords of lights probably wasn't a bad idea.