Thursday, December 20, 2007

Oh, Christmas Tree


I keep thinking about Christmas trees and how they have changed over the years.

When I was little, the lightbulbs were huge and always multi-colored. Ornaments were made of glass, and they were usually multi-colored. Tinsel adorned most trees, and if you had garland, it was shiny and thick, almost like little boas of tinsel. The tree toppers were usually stars or angels, and they always had a white bulb in them. And, of course, we all had mangers.

The metallic silver trees became popular, and people put silver bulbs on them. On the floor sat a light with a rotating "color wheel" on it. When turned on, the wheel would rotate, and the color of the tree would change.

At some point, the mini lights became popular, and people started using white lights instead of the multi-color lights. The ornaments went from being glass balls to being shapes and vignettes and snowflakes and more. Ribbons replaced tinsel and garland. Tree toppers were everything from stars to Santas to bows to bouquets.

Monochromatic trees became popular. You can find trees with all red or green (even lime green!) or blue or or silver or gold or purple or even BROWN bulbs, embellishments and lights (or white lights, of course!).

What kind of tree do you like?
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8 comments:

quintarantino said...

Chris, as you know at home I have twins... so, on Christmas decoration they rule... this year we have two all green trees, white and colored lights, small and medium, and lot's of little balls and angels... I liked you're photo...

Kate said...

Give me a green "old-fashioned" tree to delight the eye. I have ornaments that my craft-minded sister made. As long as it's green and smells like a tree, I'm happy!.

Anonymous said...

I think we had all of those at least once. The aluminum trees with the rotating disk are popular again. And we gave our tree like that away.

Nice post.

Jim Klenke said...

I like a real tree, so does my cat. I do remember my aunt had one of those color wheels and a silver tree. I used to think it was so neat.

Isadora said...

Simple, fragrant pine with the traditional Hungarian candy for the tree and icicles :)

Wayne said...

You got a new profile pic... nice! I like the old fashioned tree, like you first described, for the most part. But I do like the mini lights. I still like multi-colored, but prefer the smaller bulbs to the older large ones. But make no mistake, I still have a soft spot in my heart for those big, older bulbs! :D

Wayne said...

Oh heck... I forgot to say...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Halcyon said...

I also like the traditional tree with all the homemade ornaments and things that have been collected over the years. Even though it may not look "chic" like the monocromatic trees, I think it holds more memories.

I love colored lights, but my husband doesn't agree, so I settled for all white this year. I also prefer a real tree, but I feel bad to think of all those living things being cut down just for a few weeks enjoyment, so now I just have a fake one. I burn a pine scented candle to make it smell more real. :)