A look back . . .
Yes, I really do know better. But the day after Thanksgiving sales had me pumped up and I wasn’t thinking. At least not about turning off the rotating Christmas tree stand as I normally do when leaving the house.
A rotating Christmas tree stand is a wonderful way to show off your ornaments. We’ve used the EZ Rotating Christmas Tree stand for several years with a six foot white metal tree filled with gold glass ornaments. We finished decorating the tree and it looked spectacular.
The golden glittered ornaments sparkled as the tree rotated, each piece getting the spotlight as it came into view. Satisfied, we left the house to do a little more shopping.
An hour or so later we drove up to the front of the house and noticed the tree in the window. It looked very close to the glass. Like touching it. I don’t normally panic, but I did!
When we get inside to investigate, the six foot metal tree, with over 100 Patricia Breen (very fragile and expensive) glass ornaments, is at a 45 degree angle touching the window. It’s held up ONLY by sheer curtains that are completely twisted around the top twelve inches of the tree. The sheer curtains are actually holding the tree very securely, but at the 45 degree angle.
It took us over fifteen minutes just to untangle the curtain and we could only do that by taking the curtain rod off the window and the top portion of the tree off. Remember, we still have over 100 glass ornaments dangling from the tree. Two of us are holding the tree and the third person is trying to get the curtains and tree separated from each other. The curtains were very tightly wound around the tree.
We finally untangle everything and gently set the tree upright, but the tree is very wobbly in the base. I tighten the screws, but it still tilts at least ten degrees.The next day all the ornaments are taken off and the tree is put back in the original stand that came with the tree in an effort to make the tree stand straight.
It doesn’t.
The metal trunk appears to be straight, but the whole tree tilts in the holder. The next step is to get 3/4″ dowels and white duct tape, and tape the dowels to the metal trunk very tightly. The tree is finally stable, straight and doesn’t tilt. Next I wrapped gold garland around the dowels and tree trunk to hide the dowels.
And to answer the questions I know you are thinking:
- We love the EZ Rotating Stand and will continue to use it, but not with that tree!
- The closest tree branch was at least 15″ away from the curtains when the tree was set up.
- Not one single ornament fell of the tree during the whole ordeal and none were broken.
- Ornaments were not wired on, just were hung with long decorative hooks.
- I always turned off the rotating stand when leaving the house, but apparently the sales were too big a draw that year.
- The tree was never able to be repaired and was thrown away after the holiday season.
