Stupid Grinch

For a few years now, I've had this little table-top Christmas tree with fiber-optic light. I've seen various permutations on this idea, from plain white to shifting colors. Mine is one of the latter; there's a single light source in the base, and between it and the fiber cluster in the tree's "trunk" there's a little motorized color wheel; as the wheel turns, the different colors flow around on the tree. It's a little trippy, and I quite like it. As color-changing trees go, I think it's better than most, in part because of a very basic bit of cleverness in its construction: as the fibers break out from the central bundle, they're dispersed somewhat randomly and as a result the flow of colors is nicely broken up and there's little discernible sense of the color disc's rotation. Conveniently, there's no real decoration involved, and very little setup -- just put it on the table, plug it in, turn it on and it sits there all shimmery and festive.

Except tonight, because the lamp's burnt out. On Christmas Eve. Even if I were inclined to venture out and hunt for a replacement lamp, I'm not sure that I'd be able to find one. It's a little MR16 lamp, 20W 12v, so there's little chance of its being stocked at, say, the corner CVS. Perhaps at Home Depot.

The cruel thing is that there's a fair chance I might have a replacement for this sitting on a shelf at work. Maybe a 25W, but I can't imagine 5 watts would matter much.

More to the point, it's Christmas Eve and my Christmas Tree doesn't light.

Ho-ho-hum.