National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. image source: http://www.clarkgriswoldcollection.com

(NOTE: I just want to mention that I do NOT recommend anyone decorating their outdoor tree this way. It’s not the best way to do it so please keep your feet on the ground, or on a secure ladder, and be safe as you deck the halls…or trees.)

The weekend before Thanksgiving we took advantage of the beautiful, sunny weather and decorated our incredibly tall pine tree with Christmas lights.

We didn’t have a tall enough ladder and, since I was considerably smaller than my husband, I ended up climbing the rest of the way as high as I could to hang up the lights (if I had to guess, I’d say our tree is between 25-30 feet tall.) I could barely see, and not only because of the thickness of the branches, but because my hair got messed up and kept on covering my eyes. Swearing up a storm and sweating like it was 90 degrees rather than 50, I did the best I could to hang them up, and my husband did the best he could to try and wrap it around the tree from the ground, but apparently our best wasn’t good enough. When we lit it up, there were huge gaps and it was unevenly distributed. (another profanity inserted here.)

11-17-12: Look up..up…higher…there I am!

The next day we went back to Sam’s Club and bought more lights (a 21-foot strand of these LED color C3 lights is $14). I went back up the tree, being sure to tie my hair back this time, and redid the topmost strand of lights. My right bicep was sore from the death-lock I had on the tree yesterday, thinking all the while of the scene in First Blood where Rambo falls crashing through the pine trees. It was still difficult as I was trying to hold onto the tree with the crook of my right arm and string the lights with my leather-gloved left hand, plus my husband was struggling with a 20-foot homemade PVC pole to try and hook the lights around the tree. After a while we got it loosely spiraling around the tree, making four tiers of light strands.

Our lighted Christmas tree at 6:45 a.m.

Though I wore a heavy jacket and leather gloves, I still got poked, cut, and bruised from this unassuming tree. So as I mentioned before, stay safe when decorating your outdoor tree and use a sturdy pole, it’ll save time and keep you less wounded. :)

During Thanksgiving weekend the weather got much colder and we started getting snow flurries (SO glad we did our huge tree the weekend before!) We headed over to Molyneaux Tree Farm to get a 7-foot tree for indoors. With the icy winds and snow flurries, I think it was just as difficult to get that tree as it was me climbing ours:

Incredibly windy at the top of the hill. My husband used one of the incredibly dull saws provided at the farm.

We decorated our tree the next day, but I wanted to show you a photo of our cat condo:

The cat condo is all decked out with dollar store decor!

So who else is having fun decorating for their pets? :)