Heather: December 2007 Archives

It could have been worse!  It could have been SO MUCH worse!  That's how I'm choosing to think of it!  My beautiful snowflake tree (seen below in its former glory days) is toast!

I may be overstating a little, but the end result is that the tree is no longer usable in its current state.  Let me start at the beginning.  (Katey reminds us that this is a very good place to start.)

I got the tree just before Christmas of 2005 from Sam's at a very good price!  It's an awesome tree; 7.5 feet, pre-lit with 1500 white lights.  I love Christmas & was filled with so much Christmas spirit that I put my tree up the weekend BEFORE Thanksgiving!  It turns out to have been a good thing as it didn't make it to Christmas day.  For the past several days, it's been acting odd.  It would flicker slightly as I plugged it in.  I didn't pay much attention to that.  I thought I was just jiggling it to much.  A few times, the lights would go out for no apparent reason.  No one was jumping up and down near the tree or causing any other problems that would cause the lights to unexpectedly go out.  These were clues I should have paid attention to, but alas, did not.  Tonight I was sitting on the couch & Brian in the recliner when the lights went out again.  He happened to be talking on the phone to his dad at the time.  I got up to unplug the tree & plug it in again (this had worked before, why not now?).  I didn't look very closely at the plug as I reached for it, but immediately knew something was wrong when the plug burned my hand as I touched it.  Upon closer inspection, this is what I saw.

And to the left is what's left of the wall outlet.

Since it's a pre-lit tree, it's probably safe to say that this tree is kaput.  My mom was very distraught when she heard the news.  (Mainly because my dad very bluntly tells her, "Heather called.  Her tree burnt up."  He's not very good at giving news.)  Once she learned that we were all safe, including the snowflake ornaments, she turned her animosity toward Sam's.  She's vowed to take the 2 year old tree back to the store & demand a refund!  I'm not so sure about that, but my mom is the queen of returning things, so I don't doubt she can accomplish this!  Brian's dad says that a new plug can be purchased & the cord can be fixed by cutting the old plug off & rewiring it (I'm sure he explained it better.  I was semi-summing up.)  I'm not sure if that could actually work, but Brian's not that skilled an electrician anyway.

So, it appears I will be out with all the crazys at 6AM the day after Christmas to try to get a fabulous tree at a super discount.  Wish me luck & pay close attention to your Christmas trees!  I'm very fortunate that we caught it when we did & that it wasn't much worse!  I am truly blessed!

Have a safe & happy holiday everyone!