About 5 years ago, we invested in an artificial tree. Never thought I'd want an artificial tree, but changes in circumstances and philosophies convinced me it was the right thing to do. I couldn't justify cutting down a living tree any more. Mind you, I love the smell of a fresh cut pine tree. I always will. But I just couldn't support it any more, cutting down a living thing to put in me living room for 2 weeks. Next came potted trees. I would find either a Leland Cyprus, or a Red Cedar, potted and really live, which we would donate to the park behind the house each year. We know where several of our former Christmas trees are planted and visit them regularly. Allergies put an end to that practice.
In 2004, we bought an artificial tree. We'd waited until the week before Christmas. I really wanted a tree and that was the only option. After visiting several stores I settled on one at Lowes. As luck would have it, Lowes had already posted their clearance discounts. Everything was 75% off. I walked out of the store with a 6.5 foot pre-lit tree and a nice tree skirt for $35.00. We've used them ever since.
This year when we set it up, the top string of lights were not working. That's the disadvantage to a pre-lit tree. You can't take the lights off, spread the string out on the floor and figure out what's wrong. We worked on the string for about 90 minutes, poking through the branches, re-seating all the bulbs, and looking for bad wires and fuses. Nothing, everything looked OK. We couldn't find the problem. Finally we gave up and got out the old string of lights from the days of the potted trees. I plugged in the old string, stood up to start putting them on the tree, and (go figure) the pre-lit lights were on. ??? I still don't know why they were out. Fine. Be that way. We put the old string back in it's box and finished the rest of the decorating.
The string at the top of the tree didn't give us any more trouble, but other strings did. A few days after the tree was up we noticed that the bottom looked a little dark. There was a string out on the bottom of the tree. This had happened a few years ago when Mara had chewed a bulb out of it's socket. Replacing that bulb brought the lights back on. This year, it wasn't a missing bulb. Then a few nights later, Edward and I were sitting watching TV and we both saw some lights under the tree get really bright, then flash out with a "ppffsstt" sound. We both thought it was just one bulb. Nope. When we took the tree apart, we found that a second string was out. Not only were they out, but the bulbs all look really burned out, with black rings around them. That's not good.
We decided that the best course of action was to de-string the tree. In the future, we could inspect the strings and look for a missing bulb, frayed wire or other trouble without the lights being on the tree. Edward's mother had an artificial tree that lasted decades. I had hoped this one would last longer and it will probably last many more years, just without the lights that came with it. The structure of the tree is fine. It took me three hours to deconstruct the tree. It was easy to see how the lights were attached. I'm guessing that the person whose job it was to string those lights could probably string a tree in less then an hour. There was a distinct pattern to the work and that made taking it apart easier.
In the end I salvaged 3 of the 5 sets of lights from the tree. Of the bad sets, each was made up of two strings, one that burned out, and one that didn't. I scavenged the bulbs from the working half and tossed everything else. I also replaced all the other single burned out bulbs on the strings I saved. With the bulbs I salvaged, I should have enough replacements to last a few years. Next year we'll get out the old strings we used on the potted trees to make up for the bad sets. We'll just have to string the lights ourselves.... And maybe, it won't take as long to put up next year... or take down.
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