DIY Holiday Decor, i.e. I apparently have too much time on my hands

Halloween has passed. The colder weather is officially here. In doing the outdoor winter preparations I took the tomato wires out of my garden. Upon stacking them upside-down they looked a lot like a Christmas tree to me. So instead of shrugging it off and continuing on with the winter prepping, I decided to try my luck at converting the wire into a lighted spiral tree. This was totally silly and totally a diversion from being actually productive, but hey, it was fun. Here's the route I took:

• Flip over tomato wire (t-wire) and tape the legs together. 

I used blue painter's tape out of convenience. I may pay for that later.

My tree frame in my kitchen. Please ignore the mess. Life is messy and so am I...to a point.

• Get rigid steel wire and spiral it around the tomato wire. 

I used roughly one turn between each rung on the t-wire. I used zip ties to hold the skeleton together. Tape would also work, but the ties allowed me to adjust the wire to get the right shape. I hooked the wire around the top and coiled it down the t-wire, bending a hook again at the bottom. The length is about 10 feet. 

If I was feeling more stylish at this point I would paint the thing with some Krylon spray paint with a metal primer. However, I decided I was already spending too much time on this thing that I can surely find for $10 at Target so I just aimed for functional.

• Attach light strand with tape. 

I used a 10 foot strand of LED lights. Starting with the non-(male) plugin end of the lights at the top of the tree, I used electrical tape about every six to ten inches to make sure the light strand followed the coiled wire. I also taped over the zip-tied parts to make sure the coil held in place. 

At this point Charlie Brown would be relieved that he didn't have the lamest tree on the block. That's okay, I think Martha Stewart may still use the concept if she hasn't already. It seems like the kind of thing you'd make in prison to brighten your cell.

• Light the tree and be mesmerized and festive and all that

I do have to say that at night, from the street a few of these little guys wouldn't look half bad. Just don't get too close.

So if you have some extra time, or a kid or grandparent who needs something to do and you have the materials, you too can enjoy the wonders of an inverted tomato wire Christmas/Holiday light tree thing. This may even be neat to turn upright and modify as garden lighting whilst growing a host of plump bushelboy 'maters.