Oh Christmas Tree, Oh!

So, it turns out that the Christmas tree (as I've mentioned) has an attitude, as random portions of it's pre-litness have decided not to light.  I figured that was to be expected eventually, since we bought the tree for cheap. What did we do to remedy the situation, you ask?  Well, we made do.  We added some extra strands of lights, and hope that with our excellent tree-decorating skills, the untrained eye won't be able to tell the difference.  (As for you trained eyes out there... well, just don't look so closely this year!)  Here's the thing: just yesterday, I was chatting with some friends at church who told me that the exact same thing happened to them this year with their tree.  Only, they have a pricey-expensive-supposed-to-be-nice kind of tree.  They are even less happy about the whole situation than I am, needless to say.  The lesson?  You don't have to pay top dollar in order to have your pre-lit lights give out in just a few year's time.

My friends also mentioned that just when they thought a section of lights was done-for, it would pop back on. So... I'm holding on.  I have great hopes for our mischievous tree!

I love these ornaments of our family of four... as babies!  My hubby and I are at the top, and the ornaments at bottom are our kids around the time of their very first Christmas.  They are the first ornaments to go on the tree... always at the top, and front.  My mom made the ornaments of my hubby and I using Christmas cards to frame or mat.  The kids' ornaments are just mini picture frames from Michael's.

Years ago, when our kids were tots, I removed all of those old metal hooks from each and every ornament, and replaced them with thin red ribbon.  Fast-forward thirteen years or so.  Don't judge my time-line.  My motto is "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"  Now, I'm ready to part with the red ribbon, because I've found these:

Aren't they pretty?  They're swirly, delicate ornament hooks -- in gold.  I found mine at JoAnn's, but then also found them at a dollar store.  I first became aware of these last year when I received THIS SPECIAL GIFT.  But I looked everywhere, with no luck.  This year, success!  I love them because they take up less visual space on our skinny Christmas tree.  They sort of disappear in the tree, really making the ornaments shine... and at the same time, reflect the lights (whatever lights are actually lit!) of the tree.

Obviously, you know our Christmas tree is the same every year, since we've had red ribbons for thirteen years, right?  *wink*  Is your tree the same every year, or do you have a theme?  Do you have any secret tips for decorating the tree?  Any "rules of thumb" that you stick to each year?  Tell me your secrets.