We purchased this cherished piece in October and it seemed to complete my Christmas fantasies. The packaging promised 'Never Out lighting' which should have been the first signal of trouble. I finally removed the ornaments on our tree about two weeks ago, but I procrastinated disassembling the tree because one section of the pre-lit lights was out and I wanted to fix it before putting it away for the year. I justified the procrastination because businesses in NYC hadn't taken down their holiday décor so I figured it was alright that I hadn't either. But alas, I noticed last Wednesday that everyone was embracing the New Year and Christmas in the city was finally stored away. So I figured, with a little Google search, the instruction manual and my natural intelligence it was time to simply fix the tree and store it away for the year.
After an hour of fiddling with it, with my arms scratched and my fingertips cut, I gave up. Taking down the Tannenbaum was killing the Christmas spirit that was supposed to sustain me for the rest of the year. So I did what anyone else would do. I returned the tree to Kmart for full price. It was still within the 90 day return policy and although I feel a like we took advantage of the system, it didn't work and I'm not willing to invest in something that will bring tears to my eyes next Christmas season.
On a positive note, since we are down one tree in our apartment, I have regained the hallway closet which had become home to many things because the tree box took up so much space under the bed. Many families have a tradition of going to a tree lot and selecting their prized tree for the year and we seem to have started that tradition also. Our tree lot of choice is Kmart. We went to Kmart, picked out our fake tree, used it for a month and then got rid of it just like most Americans.
Lessons I have learned from this experience - next year purchase a non pre-lit tree and multiple strings of lights.
