Lighting The Solstice Shrub

Day 58: When you live alone, it's tempting to dispense with decorating for the holidays. It's a lot of work, especially when you don't expect to have more than two or three drop-in guests (if that!). But traditions are an important part of the human psyche, and even though I don't celebrate "Christmas" in its religious sense, I do mark the Solstice and rejoice in the slow lengthening of daylight hours. For me, the holiday is one of Light, harking back to the first word my infant tongue pronounced: not "mama," not "dada," but "light," clearly and succinctly, and in reference to the full moon.

That said, I can no longer go at decorating full-tilt; I have to take it in stages. Today, I put up the Solstice Shrub (artificial...I refuse to support the killing of trees whether they have been raised for slaughter or not), and strung the lights. I may get a few ornaments on it before bedtime, but the bulk of them will be installed tomorrow.

Completely Unstrung

Day 56: "It seemed like a good idea at the time." Famous words, those...or infamous. If I had used my head, I would have realized that in this era of "use it once and throw it away" that a pre-lit Christmas tree wasn't a good idea, but I was looking for something to make my life a little easier. I suppose I should be happy that I got two years of good use out of it before one strand of the lights stopped working and refused to respond to any intervention on my part. I changed the fuses. I checked the bulbs. Concluding that the only other solution must be a bad wire, I took it upon myself to unstring it. What was the figure? 300? Each light was held on with either a zip-tie or something resembling a miniature bread clip. One required wire cutters to remove, the other a pair of pliers. Three and a half hours later, the tree and the Crow were both entirely unstrung. I can get new lights for the tree, but I think my personal battery has gone flat permanently.

Jewelled City

Day 97: As I was leaving a young friend's birthday celebration last night under hard rain, I was taken by the sparkle and shimmer of Eatonville's city lights as they were magnified and distorted in the droplets on my windshield. I am not often out after dark, so although this may seem commonplace to many of my readers, it was a visual treat for me, the colours glittering like so many jewels laid on velvet.

Lighting In The New Year

Day 90: The origami light string is done, and the lights are lit to bring in the new year in festive fashion. This was a fun project! The string holds 20 clear bulbs (a flasher and spares were included) and the kit supplied enough origami paper for 25 balls. Approximately 2/3 of the paper was unpatterned, and the selection of patterned pieces contained both standard origami sheets and some in heavier rice paper. I was pleased to see that the heat generated by the lights was minimal. I left the string on for several hours last night, and the paper never felt overly warm.

I'll Huff And I'll Puff...

Day 89: The origami light string project is nearing completion. Now it's time to blow them up! The ones made using standard origami paper are easiest. A quick puff of breath into the hole at the end and the sides of the balls pop out with a snap. The heavier rice paper ones are a challenge. The paper is "breatheable," like Goretex fabric. They take a bit of tugging at the corners to pull into shape.

I won't be giving the Big Bad Wolf any competition. I've huffed and I've puffed until I've gone dizzy, but I'll have the string done for New Year's!