this little light of mine 126/366
My memory tree, the Christmas tree my friend Marsha gave me the year Bill died because there was no way I could use the new tree he'd bought the year before,
became my memory tree two years ago when I realized there are things I want to be mindful of, things I want to celebrate, all year. It has had white lights on it for 6 years.
It has a place of honor in the corner of the library, formerly known as Bill's office.
In January I noticed some lights had gone out. Little by little, the others burned out until there was only about half a string left working. So I unplugged them. The effect wasn't as bright and beautiful as I liked, but I still had the ornaments to cheer my days.
Week before last brought the beginning of Spring 2020 deep cleaning. Late last week found me in the library. I couldn't leave the tree as is and feel good about it. So I went up into the attic to see what extra light sets I had. Cha ching! I found two brand new strands of white lights, 150 count. I wasn't sure how many were on the tree, but surely 300 would be enough.
I have learned some things over the years. One of the most important is this: Before putting lights on the tree, plug them in to make sure they are all working. Even new sets. I am so glad I remembered. The first set lit up beautifully. The second set, not so much. Only one of the four bunches of lights on the sting worked.
I have also learned that it isn't worth my time and frustration to go through a set, light by light, to figure it out. Mostly because my experience is, if there is a problem before they go on the tree you can be sure there will be a problem after they are on the tree. And I do not have the patience, like Bill did, to handle that. So I did something unheard of. I threw away a brand new set of lights. And didn't feel a bit of guilt. I knew 150 lights would definitely not be enough, so back to the attic I went.
The only other lights I had were colored. Phooey. Not what I wanted. But, there were 6 new boxes, they were paid for and ready to be used so I brought them all down. Just in case there was a repeat of the white light fiasco. My luck turned. All 6 sets worked perfectly. This would be great.
I began taking the burned out light strings off the tree. 5 sets of 100 lights. 300 lights would not have been enough after all. I dodged a bullet I didn't even know was coming!
I began the process of restringing the tree. Not my favorite job, but if it was going to get done I was going to have to do it. Soon I was done. Well, I thought I was. I ignored the idea that entered my head when I started, to check how many sets could be connected. Until I was done. Three. The limit of end to end was 3.
No big deal. I went to the laundry room and got an extension cord so I could plug three sets in part of the plug and three on the other side of the plug. When I tried my easy fix I realized it wasn't going to work because they were on the tree end to end. Half of the lights had to come off. I was working on removing the third set when I glanced in the tote and saw an unused set. That meant there were only 5 sets on the tree, I didn't have to take off three sets. So I re-restrung half of the third set. I got the fourth string of lights and plugged it into the extension cord to make sure I was working the string the right way. I also quit skimping on the placement at the bottom of the tree because I had an "extra" set to work with.
That is how this small pencil tree came to have 900 colored lights on it. Almost twice as many as the white lights before. Bill would be so excited, once he got used to a "Christmas tree" taking up a corner of his office all year. The more lights there were on a tree, the better he liked it. I am glad the white lights didn't work out after all.
The lights are on a timer, so every morning when I go in the library to have my time alone with Jesus, the tree is lit. And every night when I head up to bed, the lights are still on. It makes my face and my heart smile.
I bought some fillable ornaments and put seashells from our trips to the beach in them. Heart shaped ornaments are reserved for shells from Bill and memories made with him. The red plastic sugar cookie cutters the kids and I used at Christmas are ornaments now. Jess made family picture ornaments that I keep on this tree. Some ornaments are ones the kids made when they were young and others the grandkids made. It's so fun and wonderful to sit and reminisce.
color
light
good memories
these are some of the things I want to make and share with others
from my small corner of this big, beautiful world
"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:16
became my memory tree two years ago when I realized there are things I want to be mindful of, things I want to celebrate, all year. It has had white lights on it for 6 years.
It has a place of honor in the corner of the library, formerly known as Bill's office.
In January I noticed some lights had gone out. Little by little, the others burned out until there was only about half a string left working. So I unplugged them. The effect wasn't as bright and beautiful as I liked, but I still had the ornaments to cheer my days.
Week before last brought the beginning of Spring 2020 deep cleaning. Late last week found me in the library. I couldn't leave the tree as is and feel good about it. So I went up into the attic to see what extra light sets I had. Cha ching! I found two brand new strands of white lights, 150 count. I wasn't sure how many were on the tree, but surely 300 would be enough.
I have learned some things over the years. One of the most important is this: Before putting lights on the tree, plug them in to make sure they are all working. Even new sets. I am so glad I remembered. The first set lit up beautifully. The second set, not so much. Only one of the four bunches of lights on the sting worked.
I have also learned that it isn't worth my time and frustration to go through a set, light by light, to figure it out. Mostly because my experience is, if there is a problem before they go on the tree you can be sure there will be a problem after they are on the tree. And I do not have the patience, like Bill did, to handle that. So I did something unheard of. I threw away a brand new set of lights. And didn't feel a bit of guilt. I knew 150 lights would definitely not be enough, so back to the attic I went.
The only other lights I had were colored. Phooey. Not what I wanted. But, there were 6 new boxes, they were paid for and ready to be used so I brought them all down. Just in case there was a repeat of the white light fiasco. My luck turned. All 6 sets worked perfectly. This would be great.
I began taking the burned out light strings off the tree. 5 sets of 100 lights. 300 lights would not have been enough after all. I dodged a bullet I didn't even know was coming!
I began the process of restringing the tree. Not my favorite job, but if it was going to get done I was going to have to do it. Soon I was done. Well, I thought I was. I ignored the idea that entered my head when I started, to check how many sets could be connected. Until I was done. Three. The limit of end to end was 3.
No big deal. I went to the laundry room and got an extension cord so I could plug three sets in part of the plug and three on the other side of the plug. When I tried my easy fix I realized it wasn't going to work because they were on the tree end to end. Half of the lights had to come off. I was working on removing the third set when I glanced in the tote and saw an unused set. That meant there were only 5 sets on the tree, I didn't have to take off three sets. So I re-restrung half of the third set. I got the fourth string of lights and plugged it into the extension cord to make sure I was working the string the right way. I also quit skimping on the placement at the bottom of the tree because I had an "extra" set to work with.
color
light
good memories
these are some of the things I want to make and share with others
from my small corner of this big, beautiful world
"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:16
This little light of mine....
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