How to Put Lights on a Christmas Tree

It’s true.  I have a system when it comes to putting lights on our Christmas tree.  But just hear me out.

Growing up, we would throw the tree up and wrap the lights around it.  I would stand on one side and my mom would stand on the other, and we would loop the lights around the tree, encasing it in lights.  Not until I was older did I grow to not really like that look.  It just looks too messy to me.  And the tree doesn’t glow like I think a Christmas tree should.

Enter Martha Stewart.  I was watching her show a few years back when she demonstrated how to put lights on a Christmas tree.  Martha said that you should wrap each branch with lights.  Eureka!  Now, Martha demonstrated on a real tree, which would be more difficult to execute than the type of artificial tree we have.

Now, without further ado, how to put lights on a Christmas tree:

First, I put on the bottom layer of branches.  I wrap each branch– going up and down the branch with the lights.

Then, I put on the next layer of branches and add the lights using the same technique I used on the first layer of branches.

I keep doing this all the way up to the top.

Of course, my last strand of lights were dead, and I didn’t feel like running to the store at 8:00 PM.  Needless to say, I’ll be finishing the tree tomorrow.

But that, my friends, is how I put lights on my Christmas tree.  No more light-lassoed Christmas trees.  The whole tree glows and the strands of lights aren’t barely as noticeable as with the lasso method.

But let’s say you have a real tree or an artificial tree that isn’t assembled quite like mine.  If it were me, I’d try my best to go up and down each branch.  This may take a little more time, but trust me, you’ll love the results.  Also, you may want to wear gloves to protect your hands.

Here’s the final look of our 2011 Christmas tree (see more photos here).

And here’s the final look of our 2012 Christmas tree (see more photos here).
(There’s not much difference from the 2011 tree because I don’t have the budget to change the look of our tree every year.  But then again, who does have the budget and storage space to constantly change the look of something they bust out for 1-2 months every year?)