Lighting your Christmas Tree so you never need to again!

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Professionally decorating a Christmas tree is easy if you know some of the secrets. As with most things, you need to do the prep work first. When you bake a cake, you can't put the frosting on until the cake is baked and layered or shaped first. It's the same with a Christmas tree. 

The first thing you do is light the Christmas tree. You could light it as most people do and just lay the light strings on the branches starting at the top and working you way down... Or you can light it professionally. When you do it this way, you only have to do it once. After that leave those lights on the tree till they burn out. With maintenance that shouldn't be for a long time.

To be able to do this, you need a tree that comes in sections (usually three). The secret is to light one section at a time, then put your tree together. The procedure remains the same for each section, but the number of lights used will change depending on the size of your tree. The instructions below are for lighting a 7 foot Slender American fir.

Place the largest section (the bottom) of the tree into the stand. Pull the branches down (if it's an umbrella tree, let them fall into place). Plug in the power strip and place it at the outer edge of the tree when the branches are pulled down. Plug you light string in (I don't use strings with any more than 50 lights per string /easier maintenance) and run the string into the trunk and wrap around the trunk moving upwards to the top of the section. Another reason I only use strings of 50 lights is because with the 100 light strings sometime 1/2 the string goes out but the other half still works. It's harder to remove a string with 100 lights.

Once you're at the top of the section, start wrapping the light string around one of the main branches (opening the tips as you go). When you get to the outer tips you should wrap the lights out about half way then go back (continuing to wrap). Each branch on this section should hold about fifteen lights. Wrap the lights going back around the center branch to the inside, and then move to the next branch. You should be able to do about three branches per light string. At the end of the string, (make sure you end the string more to the inside of the branch) tie the light to the tree using a colored bag tie (NOT GREEN) preferably white or red. This is so that if your light string needs to be removed or repaired you know where the end is. Continue this until you have lit the complete section.

Remove this section from the stand, place the next (middle part) into the stand. Make sure you have measured off at least four feet of light string before wrapping it up the middle to start lighting at the top. Plug in and repeat the method for lighting. These are smaller branches so they will require fewer lights. You should use approximately ten lights per branch. When you're finished, remove this section.

The last section is the top of the tree. Measure off at least six feet of light string to this section before winding around the base to top of the section. (Or you can plan on using an extension cord to this section that way if you are using a lighted tree topper it can be plugged into this cord also.) This section typically has very small branches at the base and then only tips at the top. You light it the same as the other parts but you will need to use the tree trunk as the main branch when lighting the upper tips. Light this section completely then remove from stand.

Place the bottom of the tree in stand and secure it so it is firmly held and straight. Next, put in the middle section, and finally the top section. Plug all sections in. Fluff the branches and tips of your tree to make it look full.

At the end of the season, after you have undecorated your tree, check for burned out bulbs. Replace them. Take your tree apart in sections. Gently squish the branches to the base of the tree, place back in the box, and pack away till next year. When you take your tree out next year, just put the sections together, plug in, check for burnt out bulbs (you can never do this to often), fluff the tree and Your ready to decorate.

If you should end up having a string of lights not work, just locate the end of the string by finding the white/red bag tie and take off just this one string. Replace the string. The rest of the tree should still be lit and beautiful.

I learned how to do this the hard way. My experience with fixing light strings came from having to un-light entire trees. Some of the wires where so tangled up around the bottom of the tree, it was impossible. I had to cut the strings off. (I knew enough to make sure the tree wasn't lit at the time). This is what gave me the idea of the bag ties. You do this with 30 trees a year and see if you don't learn a trick or two. Now you can go out and buy a pre-lit tree. However, if you do it yourself, you can probably save a lot of money.