tomato tower christmas tree

Okay, so I love the lighted Christmas trees that you see in all the yards this time of year.  I have some of them myself, just haven't figured out where in my yard they are going to go this year.  Thanks to my hubs and the landscaper, my tree hill is now covered with purple and white lantana...yes two colors :(  the lantana situation reeeeeaaaaaally annoys me, mostly because they should both be 1 color, not 1 of each color.  Ugh!!!
ANYWAY!!!!!  I wanted to put a lit tree on my cabinets, as part of my holiday decor.  I couldn't find any that i liked though, actually all of the ones I found had lights going up the tree in a circular motion, and all came in packs of 3 trees.  Hey holiday people, I only need ONE tree.  (totally random, but gabby spilled something on my keyboard and the shift key is sticking......not cool gabs, not cool)  OK, so the rugrats and I were at Home Depot the other day looking for inspiration...well I was looking for inspiration, they were looking for the box of donut holes I brought along to keep them quiet.  Out in the garden section, between the cacti and bougainvillas...there it was, the base for my light tree.  A tomato tower thingie.  I don't know it's real name.  I don't think it's a stake because, well, it's not a stake.  Maybe it's a cage.  I don't like things being caged though, so we're calling it a tower.  I put three of them in my cart, and was on my merry little way.

the tomato towers (this is 2 of them stacked)

I then went to Lowe's to get lights, because they were on sale for $1.98 for a 100 pack of clear lights (4.98 at HD).  2 packs for the price of 1, way to go Lowe's!  I already had bag ties at home, so I was good to go!
I used 3 packs of lights on my tree, starting at the bottom and tying the lights on in a circle around the bottom of the frame.  at the top, i pulled the 3 posts together teepee style and wrapped a tie around them.  then, i tied the lights up the length of the tower, tying them at each point they came in contact with the tower (at each circle level and the bottom)  up and down, up and down, up and down....you get the picture....till it went all the way around the tree.

2/3 of the way there...wanted you to see how it's coming together 

tied on with bag ties

after all that, I took the topper from last year's christmas tree (don't worry, i think a cowboy hat might go on top this year...cowboy tree?? i don't know yet)  then, i climbed up on the cabinet and moved some things around, climbed some greenery onto it after i placed it, and that's all!!  

turned on, for nighttime prettiness

lights off, still cool

too bad the star is crooked....i'm going to have to fix that.  i would show you the whole set up, but i've got to get some poinsettias.