Something that should have been both easy and fun, has ended up being a total pain.
The sweetie tree.
In September I wrote a post about how I'd been utterly inspired by a picture I'd found on Pinterest, and how I wanted to try and recreate it. [post about a sweetie tree]. I bought lots of lollipops and candy canes, baked gingerbread people for it, and restrung candy necklaces into garlands. Last week I bought a silver tinsel tree to use. It's only small, a 3ft tree to sit on the table in the corner of the living room.
And therein lies the problem.
Much as I love the tinsel tree, it isn't strong enough to support very much other than fairy lights. I should have made one myself using [the way I describe in this post] to make it good and strong. It was my original plan to make a tree to use for the sweetie tree, but it all comes down to time, and it seemed like a good idea to buy one.
This morning I've had a fight on my hands. The tree swayed and went wonky, it fell over, it drove me mad. I almost went insane until I thought to get a bamboo garden cane and tie it all the way down the spine of the tree to give the centre some much needed extra support. You can't see it to look at unless you look at the tree from behind. Which no one should do as that would be strange! At last the tree was stable and stopped swaying. Finally I was able to complete decorating.
It isn't as full as I wanted it to be, nowhere near as full as I wanted it to be, but in all honesty this has been a much harder project than I ever expected. The sweeties were tricky to attach, but I finally managed it. I've not bothered adding any baubles, this will have to do. I admit defeat and if I do it next year, it will be with a homemade tree (there, I've set myself the challenge, and I accept it!).
I have loads of lollipops and candy necklaces left over, so I think I'll bag them up in cellophane and donate them to the school to sell at their upcoming Christmas Fayre. 
I think I should take a leaf out of Dudley's book. Ignore Christmas decorating and find a sunny spot to snooze in instead! 