Expanding The Parade

Just days after writing my post on the Legos I have in my Christmas display, it became outdated.

This thing came in the mail from the Chinese knockoff site Temu.

You see, I was unsatisfied with the tree that had a large open space to fill beside my Lego gingerbread house, but did little to fill that space.

It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either. So, I looked through the options on Temu, and found a tree that was just right for the space...I mean, I even got out the tape measure to make sure it would fill it well. I didn't want a new tiny tree. I wanted a big one.

Once it arrived, I got right to work building it up, and soon, I was ready to put it in place. But then...

It wouldn't fit. The star stuck way up above the shelf. Hadn't I measured this thing? Was my measurement faulty or had Temu led me astray with what they'd claimed its height was? Either way I was in a pickle. Did I want to remove the star and put the tree up like that? Or was it better to rework the base to lower the tree.  I was pretty upset, and I didn't have time to anything other than pull the star off and stuff it in there for the time being. I'd think about it and deal with it the next day.

It didn't look terrible without the star, but it definitely looked better with it. Meanwhile, the base was not something that I cared about. I wanted a big tree. I didn't need a huge base raising it up too high, so I decided that would be the thing to get the axe. I sat down at my desk, and redesigned the base of that tree to a shorter one.

Tossing aside quite a few pieces in the process. I guess I'll donate those to my son's collection.

Now, it had ought to fit.

Boom, baby! Nailed it. Of course, I wasn't done yet. No Christmas tree is complete without some lights, and I had a huge set that I'd gotten on Day-After-Christmas-Sale price the year before.

I had to drive all the way out to the store to get some batteries, because this thing was so big it ran on C-cells rather than AAs. I started wrapping it up, and now look at it.

It looks great. You can't see it in pictures, but it looks even cooler with the lights flashing. The old tree looked kind of silly over there on the side, however, so I figured I'd add it to my other house. Its tree was pretty piddly, so giving it a second could only help.

So, there we have it, the final product. I like it so much better now that it fills the space.

Don't know why I hate the empty space so much, but I do. This looks miles better. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.