Deck the Halls Barbie

Deck the Halls Barbie

Decorating a Christmas tree correctly is a key component of a perfect Christmas.  It's okay for hotel and museum lobbies to have pink Christmas trees or trees wrapped in ribbon or even themed trees decorated with owls or cars or whatever.  But for the living room of your own home,  Barbie knows there is no messing with tradition. 

Once the tree was positioned to maximize its potential, we all watched as my father put the strings of lights in place.  When Barbie was young, lights were wired in sequence so the whole string went dark if one bulb burnt out.  Finding the defective bulb meant starting at one end of the string and screwing and unscrewing the bulbs until the string blinked on again. It was a real pain if two bulbs went out at the same time.

I have seen movies where as a final step the star or angel is ceremoniously placed on top of the tree by the youngest child.  Poppycock!  The star has to go on first, because all the electrical cords have to dangle down the back and all the plugs have to go into the power bar. You can't fool Barbie with that Hollywood pretense. This is the real world.

Next my mother was tasked with hanging the silver garland.  Its festoons were not just there to add glitter.  Draped properly the garland disguised any imperfections that weren't hidden against the wall. 

Now we kids were allowed to hang the ornaments, all those pretty glass balls and silver icicles. The most beautiful went near the top of the tree.  The plan was to protect them from the smallest fingers in the house but when the tree fell over (as it did once) those were the ornaments that broke because they had the longest trajectory.

Finally, the tinsel.  This was the part that caused the most strife.  We kids would toss handfuls of it at the tree while my mother repeated in vain, "One strand at a time, one strand at a time!" She liked talking to the wall, I guess.