Managed to get the lights on the Christmas tree before my back objected. I must say, is it wrong just to want the lovely, clear, white lights, and not all the tchotchke ornaments that I've delighted in collecting all these years? Do I really need the three-section faded construction paper links that I made in 2nd grade? The hand-made ornaments memorializing some of my daughters' least appealing boy friends? The several German pickles that totally enthralled me for about five Christmases? The tiny copper teakettle? The Italian Chianti bottle? Actually, why go to the trouble of putting them on the tree - they are all totally alive to me anyway!