Sukkah How-To

Amazingly, my sukkah just got built in under 1.5 hours! It's still upside-down, awaiting any kind soul who will help me flip it over, but it's built. I'll buy batteries for my camera today!!
Here are some pointers:

• If shalom bayis is important to you, don't build a your own sukkah.
• Build your sukkah either alone or with someone you dislike, because you are likely to harm them, probably intentionally.
• For added challenge and frustration, build a sukkah according to its (many!) talmudic laws.
• Get twice as many brackets as you think you'll need, because let me tell you, you figured WRONG in your calculations.
• Buy wood reinforcements for the top, unless you want the added excitement of palm fronds and lumber falling on you.

Sukkah Reflections:
I no longer feel bad for Jewish kids who don't have Christmas trees. Like putting up a Christmas tree, building a sukkah has all the memory-building capacity and potential for family blow-ups that Christians enjoy just a couple months later! Funny enough, both involve branches and trees, and often include twinkly lights and decorations.
There is, however, one big difference: having a Christmas tree started as a pagan practice and was later incorporated into Christianity, whereas building a Sukkah is commanded by God.