This past January, I talked about my then-new Christmas tree, and I also talked about the lights I got for the tree, something that I wasn’t very happy with. This year I decided to do something very different, and that meant I had to solve a problem.
I was browsing on the App for The Warehouse, looking for things like a tree skirt and ornament hooks (neither of which were at my local shop), and I also saw LED lights that were mains powered, meaning each string didn’t need its own USB adapter.
I wanted one string to do the entire tree, not the least because it would mean I’d only need one extension lead to plug it in, not a powerboard like last year (there aren't enough power points in the living area). I don’t remember what length I was looking for, but it wasn’t available in store, so I bought the longest they had: 41.5 metres, which is about as excessively long as that sounds, if not more so (in fairness, in my experience, trees always need more lights than we think they will). I also bought them because the wires were dark green, meaning they'd blend in better than last year's white wires.
This past week, I finally opened the box to put the lights on the tree (which had been up for days), and they immediately became tangled, partly through my carelessness, partly though poor packaging. I’d also bought a plastic reel to wrap the lights on for storage, so I started trying to wrap the lights around the reel (from the plug-in end, because I always start at the top of the tree), and things quickly became hopelessly knotted. Worse, I became convinced the string was too long for the reel I'd bought. A time or two I considered throwing the chain in the rubbish out of frustration, but being both stubborn and cheap stopped me.
And then my brainstorm arrived.
Back in January 2021, I talked about buying and setting up a new garden hose reel, and I mentioned my oldest hose reel, and said, “I also have to clean the oldest reel and wind my long heavy duty power lead onto it—once I find THAT!” I found the power lead easily enough, but I never wound it round that oldest hose reel. Of course.
I realised it would be big enough, it unwinds easily, and, most importantly, I already had it. So, I went outside (where it’s been living since that 2021 post) and brushed off all the cobwebs and dust. Then I vacuumed it and cleaned it with household spray cleaner. At the end, it was clean—not pretty, still sun-bleached and worn, but very usable.
I put the power adapter end of the lights into the void at the centre of the reel (where a hose normally connects), and started winding the string of lights onto the reel. This took forever due to the tangling, but I finally got the whole thing onto the reel (photo up top).
It took another couple days before I had the energy to put the lights on the tree, and in the end I ran lights around and then vertically up and down the tree. I learned that, yes, 41.5 metres really is about as excessively long as it sounds, if not more so. On the other hand, the non-light part of the cord that led to the AC adapter was long enough that I didn’t need an extension lead, so that was a bonus.
I over-bought lights, sure, but I found a way around that problem using something I already had on hand and wasn’t using. Taking the lights off the tree on or around January 6 could be difficult (stay tuned—I already dread taking them off), but I now know that using that old hose reel works perfectly. Crisis averted, and new cleverness achievement level unlocked. Why, it’s practically a Christmas miracle!
Tonight I finished decorating my Christmas tree (though I’ll check it under daylight in the morning to be sure—I don’t use all my ornaments, so I always have more if needed). I’ll have more to say about this year’s tree later on, but for now, on Christmas Eve, my tree is actually ready for Christmas, unlike last year.
I always take wins where I find them, including on holidays. This was definitely a Christmas win.
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