The date: The first pic was in the 70's. The others were in the late 80'sThe place: Sulphur, Louisiana
The mood: Nothing says "Norman Rockwell" Christmas like a silver aluminum tree with blue metallic balls on it. Seriously, my earliest Christmas memories are not of the piney smell of a fresh cut Christmas tree. They are of this tree. Each branch had its own paper sleeve and had to be put on the "trunk" (see last picture). The blue balls were made of some freakish material that shattered easily. We broke several every year by accident. We didn't have to worry about putting ornaments we made at school or church. They would mess up the blue/silver theme.
We couldn't put lights on it. Hello, fire hazard. So instead we had this lamp with a multicolored disk that shone on the tree. You can see it at the base of the tree in the first picture. When we turned the lamp on the disk would rotate and give the tree a greenish hue, a yellowish hue, a bluish hue and a reddish hue. We would spend hours with the lights off in our living room sitting in front of the tree ooohing and aaahing over our tree and trying to guess what color came next. We were high class.
We decided it would be fun for the grandkids to see if we put it up every five years or so. That's my dad, my sister and my niece and nephew in the other pics. Why yes, my sister is wearing a vintage Coca- Cola shirt in the second picture. My brother-in-law would probably say she still has it in her closet. A few years back these trees made a comeback. Some sell on ebay for $200-300. Lucky for us -- we still have that tree up in the attic at my parents house. Christmas 2010 here we come!
As I was doing research for this post (nothing but the best for the readers of Snickelfritz Lane), I ran across this website dedicated to these aluminum trees first created in 1959. http://www.aluminumchristmastrees.net/. I think my favorite part is the reprint of the pamphlet entitled "How To Decorate Your New Aluminum Christmas Tree" under the Decorating tab. Good reading.
We couldn't put lights on it. Hello, fire hazard. So instead we had this lamp with a multicolored disk that shone on the tree. You can see it at the base of the tree in the first picture. When we turned the lamp on the disk would rotate and give the tree a greenish hue, a yellowish hue, a bluish hue and a reddish hue. We would spend hours with the lights off in our living room sitting in front of the tree ooohing and aaahing over our tree and trying to guess what color came next. We were high class.
We decided it would be fun for the grandkids to see if we put it up every five years or so. That's my dad, my sister and my niece and nephew in the other pics. Why yes, my sister is wearing a vintage Coca- Cola shirt in the second picture. My brother-in-law would probably say she still has it in her closet. A few years back these trees made a comeback. Some sell on ebay for $200-300. Lucky for us -- we still have that tree up in the attic at my parents house. Christmas 2010 here we come!
As I was doing research for this post (nothing but the best for the readers of Snickelfritz Lane), I ran across this website dedicated to these aluminum trees first created in 1959. http://www.aluminumchristmastrees.net/. I think my favorite part is the reprint of the pamphlet entitled "How To Decorate Your New Aluminum Christmas Tree" under the Decorating tab. Good reading.
1 comment:
SERIOUSLY!! Couldn't you have picked the one with Thom in it?!? Cade is going to email this to all of his friends, so they can make fun of my mushroom cut hair do. jk!
I love that tree, but it will not be going up in my house in 2010.
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