I'll Tell You a Tale of Two Bubble Lights

Bubble lights are highly under-rated. Not only do they twinkle, as all good Christmas lights should, but they also bubble. They bubble. Now, I may have been living under a rock for the past 29 years, but I didn't realize that these little globes of Christmas splendor actually heat up and boil the colored liquid inside. I suppose I thought that bubble lights were more of a magic trick or something. Maybe they were filled with soap bubbles? Bubble gum? I don't know. In any case, I was way wrong. And when I began dating JH, I was introduced to the true meaning of holiday lighting. Boy was I amazed. Converted, even. My world was changed over night.

Naturally we at the Herold household have bubble lights on our tree. Well, we have two bubble lights. We didn't want to get too out of hand.

Alright, alright, I know what you're thinking. Anyone who has spoken with me in the last few days knows that the last paragraph was written completely sarcastically. Because, when it comes to Christmas tree decorating, Mr. Herold does get a little silly. I mean, the man told me that he thought the 5 strands of lights on the (one) tree weren't enough. "Maybe I should go out and get another strand," he told me on Thanksgiving evening (we had already been to Meijer once that night buying lights. I was NOT going out there again). "Doesn't the top look empty?" Now, let me put it to you this way. If it were up to me, our tree would have three strands of clear lights, a bow on the top, and perhaps a few nice orb-shaped ornaments. That's it. This tree has strands of rainbow lights, big ones, small ones, and of course...bubble lights. I'm not even going to get into the amount of ornaments it has, because to be frank, most of them are not mine. Anyway, my delicate response was, "You must be crazy," and I went upstairs to decorate the banister with garland and poinsettia lights (ok, ok, maybe the hubby isn't the only one with a light obsession).

In all fairness, he was right. The top was a little bare. And the more I looked at that tree, the more I noticed it. Could we stretch the lights out? Maybe throw a snazzy strand of metallic garland on it and be done? Nope. So yesterday, we went out to buy a tree topper (maybe this would avert the eyes from our tree's bald spot?) We went to several great stores, but couldn't find anything that suited both of us. At one point the hubby picked out one that seriously reminded me of my grandma's Christmas decorations, which was a nice sentimental moment, but not what we were going for. Finally, at our last stop, we found something we both liked. A tin star, with ten tiny lights twinkling through (are you surprised?) We were both happy, and that was what was most important. We got home, put together our new purchase, and "OOooed" and "AAaahed" at how beautiful the tree looked, especially with that sweet new topper (that was the farthest thing from Polish that we could find, may I remind you). We smiled and went on our merry way. That is, until I heard, "Ah geez, we have a problem Jenny!" from the basement. Turns out our beautiful little star lasted all of twenty minutes before it blew it's fuse and busted. Guess what? The stinkin' star was Polish after all!

So here we are, our Polish Christmas tree with bubbling lights, a bald spot, and more ornaments than you'd want to imagine. And you know what? I absolutely love it.