So yeah, I moved the blog again, so if you managed to find it WELCOME! I think it is finally in it’s permanent home so feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

I thought a Holiday post would be a good start and I learned a little about pre-lit trees this year that saved me lots of time and lots of money so I thought I would share. Ever since we moved into this house with it’s crazy tall ceilings in the entryway, I knew I wanted a BIG tree. Guess what? They cost BIG bucks. So when I found a 12′ tree for $75 on Craigslist this summer I jumped on it. The seller said she thought it had one strand of lights out the previous year but it wasn’t noticeable. Well, if that was true than it didn’t enjoy being moved around when I brought it home because there were several strands out when I put it up. This was always one of my fears. What do you do? Do you go through EVERY bulb trying to find any bad ones and hoping the whole strand will then light? And what if that doesn’t work? Cut them all off and end up buying strings of lights anyway? NO!

First of all, did you know that if you need extra replacement bulbs for your tree you don’t have to go out and find the exact kind your tree has so that they fit? I’m actually guessing most people do know this, but I didn’t so maybe there are a few others out there. You just buy the glass bulb and then replace it into the green housing after removing the bad glass bulb.

Next you go out and buy this: It’s called the Lightkeeper-Pro and you can get it at Ace hardware or Home Depot (and I would imagine Lowes). IT. IS. AMAZING. It removes bulbs without breaking all of your fingernails. It tests bulbs and fuses. And my favorite part…it REPAIRS strands that are completely out! You just remove any random bulb from the section that isn’t working, plug the empty bulb socket into the Lightkeeper and click the trigger a few times until the section lights up! Then replace the bulb and any burnt out bulbs. I fixed the entire tree in just a short amount of time! Here is the end result although I can’t seem to get a photo that does it justice. It’s sooo pretty.

Another great indoor lighting tip: get a remote with multiple outlets. We got one remote that came with 3 outlets and have our lighted garland (that is on a ledge that can’t be reached) plugged into one and our trees plugged into the other two. It’s so much fun to use the remote to turn everything on and off that I fight the kids over whos turn it is. 😉

Also, If anyone is in the market for a 6.5′ pre-lit tree, we purchased this one not realizing we would be moving to a house with really tall ceilings 6 months later so now we need to replace it with a bigger one. We will most likely be selling it after this Christmas. All lights work (and if they don’t, now you know how to repair them). 🙂