hey everybody my name is Melanie welcome
back to my YouTube channel and today's
video I'm going to show you how to light
your Christmas tree the easy way for
maximum twinkle light effect
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okay so when I was a kid my mom was very
particular about how she would put the
lights on the tree and I never got to
help with that part I had to wait until
she got the lights all the way done and
then I could come in and help put on the
ornaments and I'm gonna be honest I've
kind of repeated that myself I'm a
little bit finicky with how I put the
lights on my tree myself and I follow
the way that my mom taught me how to do
it and that's because I want to have
this tree lit up completely so it makes
a big difference in the overall effect
of your tree and it's really easy to do
and before I get going showing you
exactly how I'm going to put the lights
on a tree of course I want to ask if
you're not a lost and found subscriber
then please do hit that button join our
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future videos all right one more thing
is you may be wondering why don't I just
have a pre-lit tree if I love the light
so much and so two reasons one I'm kind
of cheap and this tree was handed down
to me it's a perfectly good tree so
there's no need for me to run out and
grab a pre-lit tree when I've got this
one to work with and then two the prelit
trees do this so I got talked into
buying a smaller pre-lit tree for my
kitchen
um two years ago and I'm telling you
guys that thing wasn't even in my house
for like two weeks before half the
lights went out so I'm gonna stick with
this tree I'm gonna lie to myself
because I want it done a specific way
but I promise it's not as hard as what
you think it may be okay so I want to
start first by showing you what not to
do what you don't want to do is just
string your lights here on the end of
the branches and that's because what you
wind up getting is you end up getting
all of this really dark space that goes
all the way back in your tree okay again
remember I said what we're going for is
maximum twinkle effect so you want those
little pretty lights going all the way
back into the trunk of your tree now
here's something if you ever have
followed Martha Stewart or read what
Martha Stewart does is she actually
recommends taking your lights
and in order to get that twinkle all the
way back to the trunk
she suggests that you wrap each
individual strand
each individual Branch sorry all the way
back with lights okay so I've wrapped a
couple branches here the Martha way and
yes you can see that we're getting that
twinkle all the way back in here and so
it's lighting up these dark spaces but
let me tell you guys like to get this
off
once again it's like you're wrestling
with your tree so I do not do the Martha
way because it is a massive pain it
takes a ton of time to get it on and
then it takes a ton of time also to just
get them off okay so now I'm going to
show you how I get the same effect with
brightening up these dark spaces back
here but much much easier than actually
going through and wrapping every Branch
so what you're going to do instead is
you're going to take your lights and
you're going to go all the way back on
the branch
pull it out to the front wrap it one
time at the end and then go all the way
back again staying on top of the branch
the whole time and then you'll move to
your next Branch repeating same thing
starting going all the way to the back
coming out to the end of the branch
bending it and then taking it all the
way back just working your way around
the tree layer by layer all the way
around
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thank you
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foreign
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like this we're not just stringing them
along the outside we're also not
wrapping the branches but we lay the
lights flat on top of the branches going
back and forth then we get that light
that goes all the way back to the trunk
and check this out here's the best part
is it's still super easy to take off
there we go they just pull them right
off okay so I've done a couple rows of
the tree with the way that I just showed
you and then there's a space and there's
a little bit here at the top of the more
traditional way of where you're just
going to string them along the edges and
I want you to see the difference that it
makes in the brightness of the tree how
when you're looking at up here where
it's just kind of strung on the outside
there's still so much dark back in there
that you can't see versus down here
where there's all of this twinkle you
can even see the pretty bark of the
trunk and it gives you so many more
options for hanging ornaments back there
so much of a brighter look
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thank you
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okay so that may be an obvious thing you
may already be lighting your tree some
way like that but again maybe you're not
maybe you hadn't ever thought to run
those lights all the way to the back or
you saw the Martha Stewart way and you
thought that just looks like a hot mess
and so you didn't think to try someplace
different in case you're looking for
just some way to kind of up your light
game I just wanted to pass that along to
you guys today that's how my mom taught
me how to light the tree that's how I've
always done it and yes it does wind up
using a lot of lights I probably use 10
to 12 strands of 100 string lights on
the tree I usually have to run an
extension cord up the back and can plug
half of them in on the bottom and then
have to plug the other half in on the
top or else they wind up shorting out
but hey you're kind of you know go big
or go home right it's Christmas we do it
once a year and I just love a really
really twinkly treat if you found this
video helpful please give me a like and
a thumbs up and if you want to see it
fully decorated come back in a couple
weeks I'm not finishing it today
we always wait until after Thanksgiving
to decorate our treats so check back and
I will have it fully lit and fully
decorated and we'll be happy to share
that with you guys too but would love to
hear your thoughts in the comments if
you do something similar if you've got
another great tip that you want to pass
along and share please do let us know
that in the comments so thanks for
joining me today I hope it was helpful
I'll see you soon