Ah yes. The sun is leaving us earlier and earlier, the chill in the air is starting to appear, and there is the faint sound of sleigh bells somewhere in the distance. The Christmas CDs are being dusted off in malls everywhere. From Stouffville to Victoria, all over the country, people are preparing for the Christmas season.
And why shouldn’t they? With it fast approaching, the earlier people get started with their Christmas preparations (buying presents, setting up decorations, etc) the less they have to do when the weather gets cold and the climate gets dreary.
We’ve covered a lot of things in the last couple of weeks having to do with Christmas lights. We learned how to put Christmas lights on a home, and the what to do’s when it comes to Christmas lighting. We also covered the best places to put them as well as the history of Christmas lights. However, there is one area that we have not covered- putting up decorations on everything else in the yard that isn’t the house!
Mostly, we’ll be talking about various different kinds of trees here, but there are also a couple of places a homeowner can put their Christmas lights that may surprise the average person!
First off- why put up Christmas lights on anything but the house?
This is a question that is asked a lot, and the real answer is- there’s no real reason as to why one may want to put Christmas lights on something that isn’t their house. Some may do it so that their lighting display is all the more brilliant, and others still may do it to “keep up with the joneses”. In other words, to make sure that their Christmas display is as beautiful as all the others in the neighborhood.
The real question here, in our opinion, should be: why not? The tree is just sitting there in the yard sucking up carbon dioxide and expelling oxygen, giving people who come beneath its shade and shelter, giving a home to creatures that decide to live within its trunk or on its branches. It’s only doing all those things! May as well add Christmas decorations to the list as well.
So… how does one put Christmas lights on a tree?
This is yet another complex question, mostly because there are a lot of different answers. It mostly depends on the kind of tree one has in their front yard- is it a tall tree, is it a pine tree, is it wide or thin, does the foliage stay on during the winter or does it fall with the rest of the leaves?
For the sake of this article, we are going to use a tree that is commonly found in Stouffville front yards- a pine tree. For all other trees, we recommend that one goes about it in a freestyle type of way. Except of course for tall trees, we would recommend getting a Christmas lighting company for that, as it can be fairly dangerous.
So when it comes to putting Christmas lights on a pine tree there are two schools of thought- whether to put up Christmas lights horizontally or vertically, as well as whether to start from the top or the bottom. We are going to analyze each of these schools and homeowners can then decide which is the best method for them.
Horizontally
This is the traditional way to put up Christmas lights and has been used for many years. It’s essentially when the Christmas lights are wrapped around the tree. And the steps to doing it are as simple as that:
1. Plug-in lights to make sure they are working.
2. Wrap the lights around the tree, placing the lights on the branches so they don’t fall off. They can be as close or as far from the trunk as one wants, however, they should be securely placed.
Vertically
This is a newer way to put up Christmas lights, however, it’s just as valid as the horizontal way. In fact, it may give the average homeowner a more unique lighting display, and bonus- it’s easier to take down at the end of the season! It goes like this:
1. Plug in the lights to once again make sure they are working.
2. Wrap the lights up and down on the tree– kind of like a wave. Make sure to hang them tightly around the upper branches so that they don’t fall down during the inclimate weather of the Christmas season.
Bottom to top or Top to bottom?
This is a tricky question to answer and the size of the tree is the determiner. Also, the weather plays a big part. Is it safe to go up a tall tree? If so, start from the top and go to the bottom. Starting from the bottom tends to be easier, but it also delays the inevitable for tall trees. At some point, a homeowner is going to have to go up into a tall tree.
What are other things someone can put Christmas lights on?
This is yet another question that has multiple answers, and it really depends on what someone has in their yard. Rocks can be adorned with Christmas lights to make a beautiful shining display in the middle of an otherwise lifeless garden. If say a homeowner has a bench in their front yard they can opt to cover that with Christmas lights as well. Really, anything can be covered with Christmas lights using the methods described above with the right amount of time, patience, and of course- creativity!
And so, this article about how to put up Christmas lights on things that aren’t one’s home has come to an end. We explored why one would put up Christmas lights, we explored what kinds of trees should be covered in Christmas lights, we covered the methods one may use to put up those lights, and finally, we talked about all the other things in a yard that can be adorned with Christmas lights. All that’s left is to start!
