Yikes!! That is very frustrating! About as frustrating as moving into your very first house that you own, which is brand new, and you have a 2 week old baby. You buy a huge tree because you have vaulted ceilings. The lights are on, the tree is decorated...and...the stand leaks. There is water all over the brand new carpet in your brand new house!!

I feel for you. I'm having enough trouble just staying motivated enough to do any decorating. The least little hiccough this year would probably stop me in my tracks.

BinSD, Have you considered stuffing a few strands of battery-operated lights into the dark spaces without worrying about them being wound around the branches? At least then you wouldn't have to take the decorations off. I know it wouldn't look perfect, but sometimes a reasonable compromise works for one year. It will still look wonderful to the twins!

There is nothing more frustrating--- nothing! I feel your pain!

My stupid post light ! I have to get a ladder to reach it and I always worry that it could be the sensor then I have to call the electrian to fix it! I just changed the bulbs 2 months ago and they are out AGAIN. Luckily, the weather is mild this week-end and I can hope that its' only the bulbs

Jeannie01, have you tried one of the compact fluorescent bulbs that are formulated for damp, outside areas? I switched all of my outside lights to them three years ago and haven't had to change a bulb since. I do have to tighten one by the garage door ever so often because the vibration of the door opening and closing will loosen it in the socket. As a bonus, you save on your power bill.

Spend the $20 and get yourself a "light fixer" it looks like a gun and will pin point where the problem is and has fixed mine many times. I'm really fussy about what lights I like and they are getting much harder to find. Great for icicle lights, etc. Worth the money (and I am VERY cheap).

I should add that I don't have freezing temperatures where I live so I don't know how that would affect the bulb's life.

i hate wrestling with lights with a passion!!! i have had many years when 1/2 way thru the season(or sooner!), 1/2 a strand would go out...

the mini lights are so cheap now that i tend to use 'fresh'(1-3 years old, max) strands for the tree and other difficult or highly visible areas. i just can't be bothered with messing with inexpensive lights anymore!!!! it's wasteful, but helps keep me sane during the holidays!

i have also swapped out alot of outdoor sets with LED sets too...have 'recycled' old or 1/2 working sets at HD.
i bought one of those light fixing guns one year and had terrible success with it---i tried to use it on our icicles and ended up returning it-don't know if the gun was faulty or if our lights were beyond repair...

We had that happen once -- just part of the tree, and we just added a strand or two -- worked them in carefully and plugged them in separately.

Don't know that it helps, but our tree isn't even out yet. We are tackling getting the living room put back together after new floors today and hope to do the tree (or at least start it) tomorrow.

I feel for you. My star isn't lighting. I know it's old, but it's a favorite. :( I do have one of those light fixing guns that I bought new last year and haven't tried yet. Time to dig it out.

Ours is a 9' prelit tree we bought new in 2005. Every year it seems to develop a new issue. We've done the little gun (that was 2010), but there are still a few strands that don't light. I bought a couple of strings of lights and just fill in the gaps. It works fine until we are ready to splurge on a different tree.

I bought the light keeper pro gun and it fixed my prelit. It did take a while to check every thing but then it finally lit. At least mine did it before it was decorated but have had it happen after fully decorated.

Same thing happened to me a few years ago. There was no way I was re-doing it. I left it and we just had an unlit tree that year. C'est la vie.

I would add a few strands of cheap lights, maybe some extra shiny balls or garland and call it a year. Enjoy the little ones' Christmas magic!!!

Not to thread jack - but thanks for the suggestion for my post lite. This fixture use candle type bulbs, not sure if they come in the compact size. But, I will look at Lowes !