Merry and Bright.....Or Just Plain Hideous?

Sadly, or maybe thankfully, this picture does not capture the true...shall we say 'splendor' of this tree. If you have seen it up close and in person, I know you're grateful.
We switched to the new highly energy efficient blah blah blah lights this year. Gone are the thousands of little mini lights, which for me, were the prettiest of all the lights I've seen over my life time. And how I miss them.
I don't know who thought up LED lights...perhaps someone who felt the only thing missing at Christmas...is a little more Gaudy. And really...Chirstmas is nothing if not Gaudy.
I never quite understood how we got from a baby in a manger to a fake tree with LED lights...and yet here we are...us and millions more.
I gave up doing the Christmas tree years ago. I leave that for someone else to do and by that token alone, I feel it my duty to just shut my mouth and let it happen. It was so hard this year. I could tell early on that things were going to hell in a hand basket fast. There must be a secret to LED lights and no one in this house knows it yet. We are notorious here for having alot of lights on our trees, but with mini lights...you can never really have to many...they just seem to work. I am thinking less is better with LED...way less. There are about 1800 lights on this tree, perhaps 1600 too many.
I was summoned to the tree, once all the lights had been applied. I was always very particular (okay anal) about lights when I did the tree, they are aware of that and try their best most years to do it to my liking. Walking around the corner and seeing it for the first time with the new LED lights on it ...was breath taking.
But not in a good way.
My first thought was a few strings of red peppers and some mexican sombreros would complete this nasty picture completely. These LED strings have way too many yellow, orange and red lights...and too few blue and green. I also discovered that if you walked by it too quickly...or turned your head to fast...you got light trails...the kind heroin addicts are suppose to see during their best high ever. And that's a Christmasy feeling isn't it. I could not even find words to accurately describe my horror, nor was there any chance in hell I could fake delight in it. They had worked for hours to do this...they had done it right...it was not their fault the LED lights looked soooooo hideous. But they knew it too. And there the tree sat for four days. No one wanted to start over ....no one wanted to leave it looking like it was. What to do what to do.
I had heard that squirrels love to eat the orange LED's. I am not sure why...if it reminds them of something yummy or it is those that anger them the most ( I am thinkin' it's the latter!). As some of you know, we have had several squirrel break-ins here this fall, and I found myself wishing for another...a major squirrel attack...where were those little bastards when you really needed them...sure break in an sit your little butts on my kitchen table while happily munching on MY FOOD...but when I really need them...where the hell are they?
Divine intervention wasn't going to fix this tree so the next best thing...put on enough ornaments and other assorted Christmas trimmings to 'hide' the lights.
And it worked...alittle, but I seriously doubt there are enough ornaments in the world to counteract the lights.
But we all knew we were beaten, we all knew we had better learn to love it for this year at least...and some of us learned we should not have thrown away all the mini lights so quickly cuz it's gonna cost alot to replace them for next year.
We haven't turned it on yet. We are waiting for the caution signs to be printed and the special eye protectors to come in...then we'll be ready...and safe
The joy of the season just gets better and better don't it?