The Demon Tree

Or maybe I should say -

the demon lights…

Are you ready for a story

full of frustration and woe???

Meet…  the demon tree.

Looks pretty good during the day.

It’s a 7’ Frasier fir

with a luscious aroma.

So, now begins the story…

of the demon tree.

For the last 25 years or so,

I’ve been in charge of

going out and buying the real tree,

driving it home, getting my husband

and sons to unwrap it, trim it and

get it in the stand and bring

it into the living room.

Then the rest is up to me!

********************

I get out the strings of lights,

plug them in and check each bulb,

then  I start at the top and wind the

lights onto the tree, adding more

strings until I get it all done. 

Then I always turn off the lights,

plug it in and admire my work. 

And indeed, it was perfect!

For about 10 minutes.

Then suddenly as I am

hanging the ornaments,

half of the top string of

lights wink out.

WHAT IS THAT???????

So, I opened the plug and

replaced the tiny fuses and

plugged it back in…

This time the other half of the

strand that was dark is now lit,

but the part that was lit, is now dark.

So, I went to bed. 

I was SOOOOOOOO done.  :-(

***********************

The next day after work, I got out a

brand new string of lights, plugged

them in and checked every bulb-

all of them worked perfectly. 

So I took off the top defective

string and replaced them

with the new string.

And VOILA!  :-)

It was perfectly beautiful!

For about 10 minutes.

Then the exact same thing

happened… half the

new strand winked out.

I sat down and laughed for awhile.

    *****************************

Then, just for fun, I plugged

in the faulty string of lights I had

just removed from the tree.

And wouldn’t you know it-

EVERY SINGLE LIGHT WAS LIT!

     ***************************

I’m thinking next year, we might

just buy our first PRE-LIT fake tree.

I now totally understand the phrase

     B A H       H U M B U G!!!!

Hope your decorating experience

this season is perfectly sane.