Rule 1 – NEVER EVER put more than 300 lights per connected strand. If you do, you blow fuses. (Been there and done that – trust me). If you have a three outlet extension cord, you can get 3 X 300 lights or 900 lights per extension cord. Use a switch box; it makes it easier to turn the lights on/off.
Rule 2 (For an artificial tree)– DO NOT “Fluff Tree.” Start at the back of the tree. Plug in the first strand. Pull the lights in to the place where the end of the strand nearest the extension chord rests on the bottom row of tree branches. You lay (not wrap) the lights on the top of the branch. You might want to pull up the back ‘frond’ branch to serve as a hook or a way to keep the lights in place. Then just pull the lights out to the tip of the branch.
Don’t pull the lights tightly. Make sure there are at least six or seven lights on that branch. Then wrap one end of the strand around the tip of the branch. You now pull the lights back –- keeping them on top of the branch –- to the back of the tree. Go to the next branch – always at the back of the tree. Repeat the process. For the bottom row you will only be able to decorate perhaps 4 branches using one strand of lights.
Using end-to-end lights, attach strand number two to the end of the strand that is on the tree. Repeat decorating process. After using three sets of three strands, you plug another extension chord into the switch box. Repeat the above process until the tree is ‘lit’.
If you are using a 7 foot tree you will end up using up to 2500 lights – or 15 strands of 100 lights. Right now, on my completely lit “Nana Tree,” I think I have about 2700 lights.
Rule 2 (For a natural tree) – Just shove the lights into the back of the tree and keep pushing and shoving and wrapping around the tree until you’ve lit the tree. If you want to live dangerously and are truly angry with someone around the time you are un-decorating the tree, unplug everything and take a pair of scissors and cut the cords out, which is quite stupid considering you are going to be throwing the tree out anyway. (Been there and done that).
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