[nfbmi-talk] more christmas tree light questions

Tue Dec 1 21:14:10 UTC 2009

Hi,

I just talked to Larry, and it is hilarious that he said to start at the
top.  I guess it is what you are used to.  I plug them in and start at the
bottom, as I mentioned.  Regarding getting them to stay, this is no problem.
They do not need to be at the very ends of the branches.  I just lay the
wire across the branches on the first tier that I have arbitrarily decided
to start on. On an artificial tree, the branches are pretty uniformly lined
up from left to right.  It is like a shelf and the wire lays on there and
the needles provide enough resistance to prevent them from sliding off,
unless you have a cat who gets rambunctious.

Regarding working bulbs, this is a visual thing, unless you have a light
detector.  Our newest color identifier has a light detector on it.  It has
come in handy several times, though I would not have purposely purchased
one.Another way may be to plug them a while and touch them to see if they
are warm.  These little lights may not be as easy to test that way, I am not
sure.Here in Lansing, the electric company is exchanging 2 strings of lights
for free for  2 strings of LED lights.  I have no experience with LED
lights, but I assume they are much more reliable than incondesscent lights.

As Larry and I said, everyone critiques their own tree and thinks how they
would improve it.  It need not meet some unwritten standard of excellence.
Trial and error is a really good teacher.  By the time you are my age it
will be eligible for the House Beautiful Tree of the Year competition.
(smile)  Christmas is a family togetherness activity.  Creating traditions
and collecting ornaments each year that remind us of people and events is
what makes a tree a joy.  

One year, we had a 2 foot tall tree that I bought a few days before
Christmas.  I brought it home when we lived in Ypsilanti and put it on top
of a table.  We had 1 string of lights and maybe a dozen or less ornements.
The next morning all the needles had fallen off.  It was just a bare
skeleton of a tree.  We loved that tree and all our friends had fun looking
at it and talking about it.  Here I am 32 years later retelling the story.
That is what Christmas is all about.

I love Christmas.  I make it a point to tell everyone Merry Christmas.  I am
not offended if they tell me happy some other holiday that is meaningful to
them.  Sharing our traditions is a good thing that we all may benefit from.
This may give me an opportunity to share my faith in Jesus with them, or
not, depending on their openness.

All that to talk about having fun putting up a tree.  Don't worry.  Have fun
and enjoy your time with Nick and anyone else who happens to be around
during the decorating process.

Warmest Regards,

Fred

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of trising
Sent: Tuesday, December 01, 2009 1:06 PM
To: NFB of Michigan List
Subject: [nfbmi-talk] more christmas tree light questions

Thanks Larry and Fred for the ideas. I am still not exactly sure how to do 
this. Sorry for being dense. The thing is, everyone has always urged me to 
stay away while they were stringing lights, so I would not inadvertently 
step on them or tangle them. I have three boxes of lights, so we can fill 
the whole tree, but I do not really understand how they actually go on. 
Ornaments have hooks or loops that go over the tree. The lights do not have 
anything like that. I wish I could do this once with someone who knows what 
they are doing but would not mind showing me. How do you get them to stay on

with no fasteners? How do you know the strand is working with no vision. Do 
you start at a plug or at another end. Sorry I am being dense. I have never 
tried to do them before. Nick can reach much better than I, and he is going 
to try and help Grandma with them. She helps us a lot, and means well, but 
she is not at all good at explaining in words. 

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