In a town known for some spectacular holiday lights, displays, and festive decorations, one presentation remains a resident favorite: the floating Christmas tree on Lake Quonnipaug. Joanne and Ted McSherry have been faithfully erecting their floating lighted tree for close to two decades, and it takes a surprising amount of work to ensure the tree not only gets put up, but stays up.

The couple has lived on Lake Quonnipaug for close to 20 years and their display has been a tradition almost as long. According to Ted and Joanne, the effort takes weeks of planning and days of actual work, however Ted said, the joy created by a few lights is worth their effort every year.

“We got married on our dock out on the Lake and it is a special place for us. So, it just seemed putting a tree on the dock made sense for people passing by on Route 77 on their way home from work and maybe the kids would like it,” Ted said. “I honestly kind of did it for me, because I’m the biggest kid I know, but we just thought it would look great. And since then it’s become kind of a tradition. Every Thanksgiving I start getting the calls, ‘Hey Ted, the kids want to know when the tree is going up!’ So, I guess I’m stuck with it for the rest of my life now.”

Even the most patient of us can find the task of keeping a holiday tree straight a maddening endeavor. So, imagine attempting that on a unstable floating dock, on a ladder.

According to Ted, his experience as a telecommunications employee provided crucial skills that help with the task of trying to make a wobbly, unwieldy object sit straight, and perfect, and to ensure it remains that way through snow, rain, and winds.

“I use guy-wires in four directions and anchor it with a couple of heavy stones on the bottom. When we get these nor’easters coming through, it tends to get pretty wild out there on the lake,” Ted said. “I used to work for the telephone company so I know how to guy poles. One year we had serious ice movement that practically tore the dock up the dock and knocked the tree over. And it has fallen in high winds as well.”

According to Joanne, it takes some careful engineering to pull the project off every year.

“It takes about two days to get it up. We always try and find the biggest tree we can, this year’s tree is about 15 feet,” Joanne said. “So, cutting it down, drag it up to the truck, tie it down, and then drive it home to the lake, then Ted and I get the wheelbarrow and bring it down to the water, so, it’s quite a process. It takes Ted at least a full day to get all the lights on it because he has to do it in a couple of stages. He stands on a very tall ladder to do it all.”

And yes, Ted has fallen into the lake amidst his tree preparation duties.

“We’ve had years when it’s been so windy that Ted’s almost fallen in, and one year he did fall in. It was a very cold December night, just sitting on our picnic table watching him put up the lights because there’s very little room on the dock when the tree goes up because it’s so big. So, Ted was putting up lights and he tripped on one of the guys and went flying right into the water in front of me. It was pretty hysterical, Ted didn’t think it was that funny. It was quite cold,” Joanne recalled with a laugh. “It really is a feat of engineering to get this tree up and have it stay and be stable. He’s gotten better and better at it over the years.”

The McSherrys said that bringing a moment of joy to their neighbors and passersby is worth all the work of erecting the tree. According to the McSherrys, people will beep car horns to express their satisfaction with the tree and the comments from friends and neighbors fills them with the holiday spirit.

“When people see the tree, a lot of people will honk. We both feel that it is a feel-good thing. It brings a lot of people smile just for a moment of Christmas spirit. It feels good to do that,” Joanne said. “We love Guilford and we love Lake Quonnipaug. We feel very blessed and very lucky to live where we do.”

Ted added, “People will tell us that after a long day of work, they will be coming home down Route 77 and catch sight of the tree from the north end of the lake and it kind of relaxes them and puts them in a good mood. The feedback we get is excellent for us. To have people come and tell us how much they enjoy the tree makes it worth it.”