SevenSistersArts: O Christmas Tree

Our tree this year is the four-foot pre-lit artificial snow-with-berries-and-pine-cones Martha Stewart variety (we had to toss the older, taller tree because it had become too musty and moldy from living in the basement). When I say "pre-lit" I'm talking one string of about 50 white lights, to which I added two strings of multi-colored lights, one of which gently blinks on and off, and a few small ornaments (including a silver glitter star at the top and a glass pickle - more about the Christmas pickle in the next post).

Bottle-brush tree display

We're all about the trees - I have several tree ornaments hanging from our new tree, as well as a few bottle-brush trees and a metal tree with jingle bells on it, which is festooned with another very short string of multi-colored lights. Beside the new tree is a jar of white branches that I've designated as my husband's Red Sox tree for his special baseball ornaments (a short string of white lights is inside the jar and covered with white tissue paper to soften the glare); on the other side sits a lovely green-red-and-gold cardboard tree that consists of nesting sections in which there is a variety of chocolates and other holiday treats. Trees RULE (especially the real ones)!

A variety pack of aluminum Christmas trees!

I know I've already mentioned it, but... My favorite tree, kept in its original box at my mother's house, has to be my grandparents' aluminum tree that I remember from my childhood. The color wheel no longer functions, but the tree is in remarkably good shape. Here is some trivia about the space-age Christmas tree:

During the 1960s, the aluminum Christmas tree enjoyed its most popular period of usage. As the mid-1960s passed, the aluminum Christmas tree began to fall out of favor, with many thrown away or relegated to basements and attics. The airing of A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965 has been credited with ending the era of the aluminum tree, and by 1967 their time had almost completely passed.

At the height of the aluminum tree's popularity, the trees were sold in the Sears catalog. Sears' sales pitch remarked:

"Whether you decorate with blue or red balls . . . or use the tree without ornaments - this exquisite tree is sure to be the talk of your neighborhood. High luster aluminum gives a dazzling brilliance. Shimmering silvery branches are swirled and tapered to a handsome realistic fullness. It's really durable . . needles are glued and mechanically locked on. Fireproof . . you can use it year after year." - Sears, 1963 Christmas Book

Aluminum Christmas trees have been variously described as futuristic or as cast in a style which evoked the glitter of the space age. A Money magazine article published on the CNN website in 2004 called the design of aluminum Christmas trees "clever". The same article asserted that once the trees overcame their cultural baggage, as icons of bad-taste, that aluminum Christmas trees were actually beautiful decor. The Space Age-feel of the trees made them especially suited to the streamlined home decor of the time period.

By 1989, it was not uncommon to find aluminum Christmas trees for sale in yard sales or at estate sales being sold for as little as 25 cents In recent years, however, the aluminum Christmas tree has seen a re-emergence in popularity. Collectors began buying and selling the trees, especially on online auction web sites. A rare 7-foot-tall pink aluminum Christmas tree sold on Internet for $3,600 in 2005.

(Thanks, Wikipedia!)

Here's one more Christmas tree...

Dale Wayne: Florida artist uses plastic soda bottles in her art & jewelry