Filed under: St Paul
It snowed up a storm yesterday. It looks like Christmas. I’ve been posting holiday music videos, so it sounds like Christmas. But Christmas is definitely different this year. It’s 2020. The world has shut down due to COVID, which means Lily and Kate will not be coming home for Christmas. It’s heartbreaking but I know they’re safe in Winnipeg, I know they’re together and there are 100 ways we can connect through broadband.
Aine and I decided we’d do something different with the tree. OK, I decided and Aine went along with the idea. I found a picture of what I wanted – a ghost tree! It did make for a fun night watching sitcoms and working on the tree last night. So that alone was worth it.
I started the project two days ago and I track the progress in video because I knew it was going to be a masterpiece. Masterpiece may be an overreach but I have to say I’m pretty happy with how it turned out – especially since I decided that the several variations of instructions I found online, were not for me. One big priority was that I didn’t want anything so heavy it might take down part of the ceiling.
Here’s a little step by step:
- I got the Christmas balls and string from Target.
- I had a fun birthday call with a friend while I worked on the first step. I drew a spiral on cardboard and plotted where to poke holes to hang the balls.
- I went shopping for washers and dowels because I thought they would help. The washers did.
- Aine and I worked together to measure string and tie up the balls. Each strong being a little longer than the next to create the tree effect.
- We hung the balls. This became very tangled because one of us was tired. (And perhaps less dedicated.)
- One of us untangled the balls. But that inspired the rest of the team.
- We decided that if we hung the tree from the arch in the room that we wouldn’t need a super tall person.
- We tried many tricks to find a way to keep the carboard level (since had been a box). Eventually we decided to thread the hangers through the cardboard.
- We found picture hangers to hang on the crown molding, which was a stroke of serious luck
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