Christmas tree lights. Mating rituals ?????

Sounds like the fight I had yesterday with some corkscrew type tinsely stuff. When it was put away after last Christmas I carefully coiled it all up neatly, when I took it out it had tangled itself up and took an age to untangle. I persevered because it looks pretty on the tree.

Close up of tinsely stuff.

I thought that was a very small person's elbow and arm sticking out there, hilda until I enlarged the photo!

Is it a turkey leg?

Tinsel and fairy lights ALWAYS tangle themselves up in the box, they have a life of their own.

Wrap them round a stout piece of cardboard and peg the end.

(DH used to get fed up with tangles and decided that throwing them out each year in frustration was not the answer!)

ps but there are always several lights that worked before you put them away but don't work 11 months later.
Why?

I wrap the lights round the middle cylinder of a kitchen roll. I'm hoping that when I root them out of wherever I've hidden them, they will be easy to unwind.

It's a little wooden lute or mandolin, sorry, you can't see the strings. Why would I have a turkey leg on my tree?

We used to have this problem and DH used to get into such a temper! He now rolls up newspapers (thick rolls) and winds the lights around them. We haven't had problems since

I wrapped ours round a rolled-up newspaper many many years ago - we always enjoy reading that paper every year when we unroll the lights - a great trip down memory lane.

Can you turn it round please hildajenni

Pre lit tree keeps DH blood pressure down.