Tis’ the season to be jolly as the old yule tide goes, but it’s also a season for frustration with home holiday decorations. As I made my 20th trek to the basement this weekend to bring up even more Christmas decorations, I found myself getting annoyed with the whole process. I can’t be the only one who feels this way so this week I set out on an impromptu survey through Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to find out what is the one thing people dislike most about decorating their home for the holidays.
What I found is not everyone is a Clark W. Griswold when it comes to decorating their home. Some said untangling lights was their least favorite aspect while others pontificated about having to deal with needles, sap and the labors of getting a real tree. But the number one response by quite a large margin was taking down the decorations. People found putting the decorations up to be enjoyable and even a holiday “event.” Taking them down, however, was a task that people dreaded the most.
Maybe there’s an underlying feeling that taking down holiday decorations means the return of the holidays are so far away and that brings a little sadness into the home? Yeah, but it’s probably just that people are annoyed with all the work that has to be done repackage and organize the decorations for storing.
For me, putting decorations away isn’t enjoyable, but there’s something much worse. Have you ever had to replace lights that went out on a pre-lit Christmas tree that are basically welded to the wires in the branches? In a word, brutal. And it seems like I have to replace those lights every single year. This task always reminds me of a quote from American author & poet Maya Angelou who once said, “I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.”
Never were truer words spoken.
So before December comes and we engulf ourselves in merriment and joy, feel free to insert a little Festivus’ airing of grievances into this final day of November and share what’s you dislike most about home holiday decorating in the comments.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user Son of Groucho
So true – tangled tree lights can reveal any person’s weakness. Love it.
It’s a lot of work, but I love having my home decorated. One item that has absolutely saved my holiday is a product called “LightkeeperPro”. They also sell similar products in hardware & other stores. If your strand of lights (especially on a pre-lit tree) is out, this will restart it! It is amazing. My pre-lit tree is years old & I have no idea what happens to it as it sits quietly in it bag all year, but half of the lights that were working when I put it away don’t work now. Works on lights that have already been hung – you don’t have to take it all down & find the one bad bulg. Just use this thing & voila! No more cussin at those #%@& lights!!
Wow. This sounds like a magical device I must have! Thanks for the tip Elizabeth!
Good job. I like it. Thanks.
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this post so nice and interesting one to read.
Re-stringing the tree(s) or the lights we have around the house because a section goes dead has to be at the top of mine (and my husband’s) most disliked Christmas list.
fort walton beach condo rentalsI would like to decorate my home with animated light displays. A combination of system components, software,
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synchronization to your light displays, music, animations, and other
electronic components will make my home look awesome.