Stringing up the Lights

Even though today is Monday, I've decided it is Thursday because it's time for another Tasteful Thursday topic, Christmas tree lights. Yesterday I went and got my first Christmas tree. The tree is a live dwarf Aspen. It is Charlie Brown little, but it made transporting easier since there's only one of me, and it's in its own pot which means I can keep it outside on the balcony during the rest of the year. I thought about going fake but they were expensive, already lit, and stupid. I hate it when cat ladies buy fake plants and flowers thinking it makes their house looks better. They don't, and instead of making the place look better they just make it look dirty because they collect dust. "Oh but I can't afford live flowers." Well that doesn't mean you go fake. Stop being a poser buying knockoffs. Either get the real thing or do without.

Now having said that, we come back to Christmas trees. People my age buying fake trees are feeble. Let's put it in words "Hey, I'm a bachelor in my mid-twenties with a fake tree and LED lighting. I'm being energy efficient, saving money in the long run, and guaranteeing that one less tree has to be cut down." "You're also a feeble nancy boy." That would be an at worst response. The most appropriate response would be physical actions.

I got the tree at Lowes, but I couldn't find any lights. Obviously it's not a one stop shop. So I headed over to Meijer. Meijer had these new LED ones. I was interested in them because I know that in addition to the power savings, LEDs last much longer than regular lights. I wanted white lights, because there is nothing classier than a Christmas tree done up right in white lights. Whenever you see one of the truly remarkable trees, they don't have any blinking lights, icicles, or every color of the rainbow twinkling from the branches. I picked up two boxes and went home.

After getting everything in place I plugged in the lights and was disgusted. Looking at the lights was like looking into the sun. It was physically painful. They were too bright, and had that cool bluish tint rather than the warm yellowish one. Essentially my tree was decorated in stupid hillbilly redneck halogen car lights, that do nothing except cause pain and distract. Back to the store I went. I returned them and then headed over to Menards.

Menards had their outdoors looking right. The trees they had lit up were all done properly. White lights with the yellowish tint. So I was hopeful I would be able to find a box in the store. Like Meijer they had a huge selection of LED bulbs. Even more so. But finally at much looking I found a box of old traditionals. I plugged them in at the store, saw they were right and flew home to string them up. The results are below.