Our tree lights have been sneaking away.

[avanutria]

I guess the tree lights have decided to take Christmas off.

We put up our tree on Dec. 12th, with two strands of lights on, spliced to go into the same outlet/mains plug. Both strands were working, although one had to be checked for loose bulbs as it seemed a bit flickery when jostled.

The lights were working fine for about a week, and then when they were turned on on Dec. 20th, one strand wasn't lighting up. It was the flickery one from before, and we've been searching for the culprit light all week, to no avail.

This morning, I came downstairs, and the other one isn't working anymore! Plugging the lights in has no effect whatsoever now. Poking them, wiggling them, and pleading with them have not yet been successful. It's a bit of a letdown, but rather funny in a way too.

Well, at least I've got an excuse to hit the post-Christmas sales and get some new lights for next year.

Once we take the tree down, of course, they'll work perfectly.

[dubhlinn]

Well now....
Strange and mysterious are the ways of the English..especially to the ways of us from foreign parts...
When all is said and done...there are worse things in life than being away from home at christmas...

Slan,
D.

[pearl grey]

Try shaking them. Maybe it will jostle them back on.

I don't have a tree but I do have lights on my mantle so I voted for white lights.

[Charlene]

And isn't it strange how the lights that worked perfectly well when you put them away last year burn out over the summer?

Merry (insert holiday here)!

[emmline]

We've been bucking the oh-so-classy all white trend for quite a few years, until a major strand gave out when I was ready to put them on the tree this year. Quick run to the hardware store. The guys(spouse and bro-in-law) were down to just whites...so I've had to back down on my tacky stance for now.
I like colors, but I do not like blinkers!

[JessieD]

I like bubblers. Grandmother had them and now I have inherited the strings for my trees.
multicoloured and wonderful.

[Redwolf]

We use "Merry-go-lights" in a rainbow of colors. My husband usually does the lights, but this year he had a pinched nerve in his neck, so I did it, and threw on every set we had...I swear, you can read by the light of that tree!

I like bubblers too, but I haven't seen them in ages! I remember being fascinated by them as a kid.

Redwolf

[Will O'B]

Yeah, the bubble lights have always been my favorite, also, since I was a boy. We no longer have a real tree, but one of my fondest sensory memories is that of the bubble lights and the aroma of the evergreen tree wafting through the house as the lights heat up.

Merry Chiffmas,

Will O'Ban

Note to Redwolf: We still use bubble lights. We found some in a seasonal store a few years back. They're not the big ones that I had as a child, but even though they're considerably smaller I still love them.

[Charlene]

I have an old old old string of bubble lights from the early 1960s that still work but since they're the kind where if one light goes out they all go out, we don't use them. We do have a newer set that's on the tree now. When I was out at WalMart with my blind friend we bought some bubble lights for his tree. He remembers when he was little and could still see some light they used to have bubble lights. He also bought the musical bells that play carols and flash in time to the music.

[Wombat]

No tree this year but when we do we have colours. Flickering is OK if it's an outdoor tree but definitely not indoors.

[avanutria]

Strange and mysterious are the ways of the English..especially to the ways of us from foreign parts...
When all is said and done...there are worse things in life than being away from home at christmas...

Strange and mysterious the English may be, but I am right where I want to be for Christmas...my friend Christina was pressured to go back to the states for it, poor girl. But she'll be back here for New Year's Eve.

What are bubbler lights? I don't think I've ever seen them.

[Lambchop]

Courtesy of www.vermontcountrystore.com:





Vermont Country Store is a fascinating emporium. They have everything weird to wonderful, from northeastern food items to long johns. In recent years, they have begun supplying bizarre, out-of-circulation items like original orange Lifebuoy soap (with that oh-so-pleasant "carbolic" fragrance), Tangee lipstick, paste-on wrinkle preventers, chenille bedspreads, archaic undergarments, and creams to cure itches in, uh, personal places.

They are never without floral muu-muus, corduroy tent dresses, frumpy stockings, and acetate undergarments--all specially selected for their non-binding, non-chafing qualities.

VCS is the quintessential supplier of the practical and the nerdy . . . just think of "hat with ear flaps."

In fact, the sale section of this catalog even includes a ladies hat with ear flaps. Really. It's a black Buster-Brown style hat with a brim that curves up, what looks to be grosgrain ribbons, and . . . ear flaps.

This year has been the first time I've seen the Christmas decorations. Remember these?



And these?



Their service is excellent, by the way.

[missy]

we have to have an artificial tree (kids and allergies!!), and we got tired of the yearly "unravel the string of lights and hope they work" routine. So a couple of years ago we bought a fiber optic tree. It's pretty subdued, and doesn't blink - it just kinda changes where the glow is.
But we still have the darn strands outside!!! One entire side of the house went dark in a windstorm week before last - we had to twist every darn bulb to figure out which one wasn't working.

Missy

[Will O'B]

What are bubbler lights? I don't think I've ever seen them.

Courtesy of www.vermontcountrystore.com:

There is a light bulb in the ball at the bottom. Each bubble light has a different colored ball, and that's the color of the light when it's on. After the bulb heats up, the liquid in the clear pointed tube at the top begins to boil, with the bubbles rising from the bottom of the tube to the top. The bubble lights are attached in a long string like most Christmas lights, and when they are all bubbling on the tree with their different colored bases lit up, it's really pretty. The only problem is that some bubblers don't want to bubble, and you have to flick the tube with your finger to get it started. Anyway, I love them.

Merry Christmas,

Will O'Ban

[Nanohedron]

Not enough room for a tree, so I haven't had one for some years. One year I plugged a bunch of multicolored lights together and left them piled up glowing in a corner; another time -my favorite- I made a punk Xmas treeoid: a four-sided elongated pyramid of cardboard wrapped haphazardly in black duct tape. I punched holes all over it, took white coffee straws, doubled them in half (not too perfectly; it would spoil the effect) and stuck them in the holes so that it all looked sort of like a space cactus, and stuck one of those generic ball-shaped red tree ornaments on the top. It was about 2.5 feet tall, and sat on the coffee table. The apartment caretaker thought it was da bomb.

In the past, what I'd sometimes do is go out and find stands of staghorn sumac to harvest the berry clusters, which I'd hang from the tree branches with little bows on, or wire them to the branches so that they looked like they were growing on the tree itself.

If ever I set up a tree again, I'll probably go for the white, unblinking tiny lights. They look like stars, and I like the tranquil effect they give.