Check out our Burgundy and Gold Christmas Tree Ideas
Getting set up for Christmas is usually so much fun for me, but this time, things went a little nuts, starting with our beloved Christmas Tree. Five years ago, I bought this tree during a massive sale that was too good to pass up, not knowing what a staple it would become.
This tree is very special in my opinion, I love it and so does everyone else who visits our home this time of year…
But this tree has also been through the wringer and never gave me any issues….. That is until this year, our beloved tree decided this was a great time for it to give up the ghost…
When I plugged it in most of the lights on the bottom section were completely out so I ran to Home Depot and grabbed this little miracle worker.
Meet the Light Keeper Pro. The light keeper pro is a device that will pulse This thing is amazing and would have worked perfectly, but we ended up having a cascading outage.
The most common reason that half of a string goes out is due to a failed shunt. The shunt is that small winding of silvery wire below the filament in each bulb, and its purpose is to complete the circuit when the bulb has burned out so that the rest of the string will stay lit. Except sometimes they don’t work correctly. The Lightkeeper sends high-voltage pulses through the circuit which “encourages” the shunts in burnt-out bulbs to close properly and complete the circuit.
Here’s a list of what the Light Keeper Pro does.
- Ideal for testing lights before decorating
- Works with mini incandescent lights.
- The attached LED headlight enhances visibility
- Three-way bulb puller lets you replace bulbs quickly
- Includes one light tester, bulb puller, and headlight.
They also carry this yellow one that works on LED lights.
We went through the process of replacing the burnt-out bulbs and plugging the tree back in and the moment we plugged it in the tree would get super bright in that area and then the entire line would blow…
We tried to fix it for way too long, sitting there for hours before but unfortunately, we couldn’t fix it without chasing down the issue which would have taken us who knows how long to find so we just bypassed the bad string and that crisis was averted.
Since I always use 3 huge strands of these twinkle lights, I probably could have gotten away with just using the twinkle lights alone but I’ve always loved using both the incandescent lights with the LED twinkles so I just slapped a few strands of the clear minis on first then twinkles and called it a day.
A few years ago, right after Christmas, I purchased the viral Home Depot Starry Light 9ft Christmas tree before it went viral because I thought I just had to have it, but when Christmas rolled around and I had to choose which tree I was going to put up I couldn’t bring myself to ditch the old tree.
Top Secret tip: Home Depot usually restocks their Starry Light Christmas Tree at some point during the season and for the last 2-3 years they go on super sell right after Christmas.
There is just something about it that has my heart, I love the way it looks so perfectly imperfect like it was just plucked from a snow-covered forest.
Before next Christmas, I’ll have to start looking into purchasing a new one because this old girl is beaten up and busted.
On the other hand, the viral Home Depot tree is a beauty, and although it’s every bit as gorgeous, and the lights are far superior, I’ve come to the conclusion I’m not a fan of the shape.
After thinking about it and trying to force myself into it, the thought of decorating the entire thing only to take it down if I hated it made my head hurt.
It always takes me a about a week to get our Christmas Tree just right and I didn’t feel like spending my time getting everything perfect only to realize I wanted the old tree back, so I just put the old one up and decided to push off the dilemma till next Christmas.
For the past few years, I’ve been trying to keep my Christmas decor purchases to a minimum only buying a few things each year to add to my Christmas collection. A few years back I fell in love with burgundy and gold on the Christmas Tree so I’ve just been adding pieces each year.
This year, I am super excited about a few pieces, the main one being this giant star that I found at Hobby Lobby. This piece was part of a standing decor piece, and the moment I saw it, I knew it was just what I’d spent years looking for to use as a GIANT tree topper!!!
However, this is one of thing I do that drives my husband completely insane, likely because he always gets stuck helping me reinvent the wheel to make a thing work as something it was never meant to be.
Luckily, he secured the star to the tree with zip ties, and it turned out perfect.
When you can’t find exactly what you want you have to think outside the box.
You can see how HUGE this new makeshift tree topper is compared to the old one. It’s such a gorgeous statement piece and I’m so glad I found it.
Also, this flocked $15 unlit 9 ft garland has been working fine for several years, and I don’t plan to upgrade anytime soon.
The second new thing I snagged was these oversized bells for our mantle. Bells like these have always been overpriced in my opinion so I passed on them for years waiting for the the price to go down and it FINALLY happened, I was so excited when I found this affordable option!
These bells are HUGE and look amazing on our mantle. If you end up grabbing a set, be sure to add a pack of these cord bundlers to secure the bells and garland to your mantle.
FYI these cord bundlers sell out every year and I haven’t been able to find them in-store, and they can take a while to arrive, so make sure you order them ahead of time.
Overall I love how everything turned out this year and it feels like the more I add the better this collection gets so I’m going to stick with this color combo for a while, who knows maybe next year I’ll decide to have two trees instead of just one.
I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! If youre looking for more Christmas inspiration check out this warm and cozy Christmas here.
P.S. Please don’t forget to pin below.
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