Put up my first xmas tree this weekend

by TweetieBird 15 Replies latest jw friends

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  Morbidzbaby

  Put up my first one this year as well! It's sooooo pretty! BF and I put it together (got a fakey tree), put the lights on together, and he let me put on the ornaments and the star. We get a lot of compliments on how pretty it looks
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  ralorweigh

  wow, that sounds good experience.
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  jean-luc picard

  Merry Christmas everybody.
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  Think About It

  Please do have guilt free fun with it and enjoy your life.

  Think About It
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  NomadSoul

  Real trees is the way to go.
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  WTWizard

  Now, how to string lights on a Christmas tree. One way is to get pre-lit ones. However, you are stuck with the strands that come with the tree unless you want to spend a lot of time undoing them (and then you will have to string the new lights yourself anyways). Incandescent lights tend to blow after a measly 600 running hours (the ones used by professionals tend to run 3,000 hours, but you will not find those in prelit trees). If one blows, you need to replace it at once or it puts undue stress on remaining lights. And there are always other bulbs near failure. LED strands do better, but they tend to have half-sets go dark. The cheaper sets, including those used on most low-end prelit trees, are atrocious for this. Never use Everstar Merchandise strands since those are among the worst when it comes to light failures.

  Now, to do your own. If you merely wish to have a few lights, running them around the perimeter of the tree is sufficient. This is especially true if you are using C7 bulbs (never use C9, except LED, on indoor trees unless you are sure you can keep the tree watered or the lights away from things that could melt. They get very hot.) If, however, you want more lights, you need to jam them to the interior of your tree. On artificial trees, running strings from the trunk to the outer end of the branch and back will get you light everywhere in the tree and preserve access to the inner branches. Running them along each of the greens on the way back gives you even more light. Fair warning: You will use lots of lights this way. A tree that is 2 meters tall can use as many as 60 boxes (50 to a box); a 2 1/2 meter tree will use 80 boxes. This uses lots of electricity (even LEDs can use close to 240 watts like this), and you must make sure you have plenty of power in that circuit before attempting this.

  If you decide to put lights on every green, it is best if you use undersized lights. With LED, they are almost as bright as the C7 and C9 bulbs and give you that fairyland effect. Incandescent lights work best like this if you use the micro lights--bonus: about half the electricity usage. Using C7 bulbs on every green is going to physically crowd most of the branches, leaving you less space for ornaments.

  Now, the ornaments. If you are new, plan on using at least double the upper estimate of what you think you might need. A 2 1/2 meter tree will swallow a surprising number of ornaments, and placing some in the center of the tree adds a 3D effect that many feel is appealing. Place the biggest ones on a diagonal, near the outside of the tree. Smaller ones can be placed as you see fit around the bigger ones. I prefer starting with the top, and you can add appeal with sprays added near the top of the tree (works well with a star or angel topping, but not as well if you use a bow top). Put your beat-up and plain ornaments in the middle of the tree where their defects will not be noticed, and the good ones near the outside.

  And, if this is your first tree after spending your whole life in a cult where Christmas trees mean Satan, don't be ashamed if it's wimpy. Yes, I recommend doubling the number of ornaments you think you need. But, it is better to not listen and find out the hard way than to never try at all. Many people that never put up a Christmas tree are going to think buying 2 dozen ornaments is sufficient--not so on a 2 or 2 1/2 meter tree. A 2 meter tree can handle 8-10 large ornaments, 4-6 dozen medium sized ornaments, and as many as 6-10 dozen smaller ones (cherry bulbs, icicles, and the like). A 2 1/2 meter tree will handle 10-12 large ornaments and 6 dozen or more medium sized ornaments (more if you place them through the whole volume instead of the surface), and even more smaller ornaments. It is easy to think you only need a couple dozen because it's human nature to only see about 15 or 20 of them when there could be 200 or more.

  Finally, if you have animals or small children that might knock the tree down or knock ornaments off the tree, I would invest in plastic or metal ones. They are much harder to bust, and even if you do manage to bust one, it won't end up on the floor in a million pieces that you could get cut on. And, keep that cat out of the tree if you have loose tinsel because it could easily tangle up or choke your cat.