Xmas Decorations 2010

In a previous post, i showed a disturbing picture of a tree in its full arborial glory.  This time i decided to show pictures of the tree fully clothed in 140 glass ball decoration things, maybe even one of the tree after dark (though my windowless Bumble cave is usually dark).  Last year i had 10+ strings of lights in my room, this year i have a paltry 11 (that is with 2 trees, though i probably have another 3-4 on the stairs leading up from my cave).

Now for a picture of my real tree after dark

It is not silicone, but it is my fake tree (which i didn't take down last year)

Now, since you've had about all the tree you can hanlde (and more)
Here is some hardcore Xmas pop culture

Have you ever seen complete sets of the small CVS Rudolph Stuffins from 1998 and 1999.  You have now

A set of Frosty the Snowman CVS Stuffins set agains the tragic background of my CD shelf and my two stockings (i have had the dog with the furry ears one for a looong time). 

Now to wrap things up, some Santa Claus is Coming to Town action figures and Stuffins set against the chilling backdrop of one of my TV on DVD shelves.  They actually did a pretty good job on the action figures.

My First Xmas Tree

So this year i decided to pick up my first real Xmas tree. 

i know i didn't chose the best available tree, but i did have a price limit of about $30 with taxes.  One of the reasons i got this particular tree was convenience, it was the only one there bundled up with twine (for easier transporting).  The tree is a 5'6" tall Douglas Fir (psuedotsuga - my original Xbox 360 gamertag) that i bought at Rite-Aid.  This is my first real Xmas tree in a really long time (the last one was before 1995), but i guess that is what you get when you live in apartments.  So, i guess i don't have to break out the oozers or the spritzers this year (though i never took my fake tree down last year).  Hopefully this tree can last the 2-3 weeks it needs to.   

Having a real tree is a little more work than i remembered.  As a smaller, younger version of myself, i didn't recognize how much work there was.  First you have to transport the tree.  Then you have to prune some of the lower extraneous branches so that it will fit in the Xmas tree stand.  Luckily for me, the stand didn't give me any problems (i remember in the past that might have been an issue with those old metal stands).  After that you have to go through the delicate process of making sure the tree is straight (or close enough).  If you do things right, there should be a ton of needles on the ground (not a real ton, but not far from it). You will get sap on your hands.  Then comes the hard work of putting the lights on the tree (which i will try to outsource to alleged relatives).  This year i decided to go with LED lights, they don't produce as much heat, are brighter and tend to last longer (or they have so far).  Next after the lights is the dreaded string the popcorn on the tree (so it won't showcase how few ornmanets i have left).  This is really time consuming, my alleged mother helped me with it (meaning did most of the work) last year.     

Segue into the wavy lines flashback.  When i was growing up, we would always have a real tree in the house.  Nothing beats the aromatic bouquet of a real Xmas tree at Xmas time.  So many muffled and partially obscured memories. We would usually go to this place called Mitchell's tree farm and cut down a tree and then fasten it to the Subaru (or whatever car my alleged dad had) with bungie cords and drive it home to set it up in the living room.  We mostly got noble and grand firs (i don't remember having a Douglas fir, though they were all over the place outside).