Aluminum Christmas trees back in vogue?

[ghost of miles]

So I went looking for a picture of an aluminum Christmas tree to post for the Night Lights holiday show, seeing as how they evoke the 1950s/60s and all. Mentioned this to a close friend and fashion-wise savant, who subsequently informed me that such trees are "all the rage" this year. True story?

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I saw one in a window in Haverhill, MA last week and nearly drove off the road because I was laughing so hard.

When I was a kid, my aunt had one with one of those motorized color wheels. My whole family used to laugh about it every year, especially when we watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and Charlie sees a metal tree in the tree stand.

[MoGrubb]

What's so odd/funny about an aluminum Christmas tree? My tree is made of some kinda green metal, looks OK. I mean, a real tree would be nicer, of course, but I might get busted chopping one down out back on Fort Bragg, and I ain't about to pay $30+ plus for a temporary tree.

[Aggie87]

Edited December 19, 2007 by Aggie87

[Christiern]

An Alcoa Christmas? Foiled again, I guess.

Well, tacky as that is, it does save the real thing, but gimme something real.

[jazzbo]

Wish I were having this much fun!

[Matthew]

I must be a Scrooge because I haven't put up Christmas decorations where I live for six years now, and I'm very happy for it. A nice, Christmas Free Zone, to get away from the incessant stuff out there.

[Aggie87]

What's up with that tie that kid's wearing in that picture by the way? Were those actually in style at one point??

[sheldonm]

I've had one all my life....actually the one we had when I was about 5 years old. I also have a 3' versions as well. We generally decorate with a live tree but I put up the silver one in the front window.

I remember laying under the tree as a kid, watching that color wheel spin around....that may be why I am the way I am today !

m~

[Noj]

My family prefers to chop down a living tree, hang plastic doo-dads all over it, and watch it die slowly in the living room.

Edited December 19, 2007 by Noj

[Aggie87]

An Alcoa Christmas? Foiled again, I guess.

Ouch! Just caught that!

[7/4]

Henry Kaiser will be thrilled.

[Shawn]

My friend's 6 year old daughter got to pick out the fake Christmas tree this year...she chose one of the white ones. They put the all clear bulbs on it. The damn thing is so bright you almost need a welders mask to look directly at it.

[Christiern]

What's up with that tie that kid's wearing in that picture by the way? Were those actually in style at one point??

Until they reduced them and made them symbolize the fight against HIV/AIDS.

[Noj]

That tie's got nothing on Penny's, ca. 1975

[Shawn]

That tie's got nothing on Penny's, ca. 1975

You know, it's truly amazing that anyone actually BOUGHT that stuff!

[jazzbo]

Water pipes!

[Teasing the Korean]

Aluminum Christmas trees are a sign of style and taste.

[Free For All]

That tie's got nothing on Penny's, ca. 1975

Ah yes, it takes me back to high school (I graduated in '76). That stuff looked godawful back then and looks hilarious now.

Quite possibly the worst "fashion decade" of all time. Although the 80s had its moments, too........can you say "Members Only"???

Edited December 19, 2007 by Free For All

[Aggie87]

Quite possibly the worst "fashion decade" of all time. Although the 80s had its moments, too........can you say "Members Only"???

Admit it, Free...you had a "rat tail" and parachute pants in the 80's!

....like I did.

Edited December 19, 2007 by Aggie87

[Shawn]

Water pipes!

for tobacco use only....

[Noj]

I had the parachute pants, and I pop-locked in them. My windmills were legendary.

[Free For All]

I think I had one of these. Must have seemed like a good idea at the time.

[Tom Storer]

When my nephew was three he was traumatized when Christmas was all over and done with and the tree was stripped of its decorations and unsentimentally junked. He had become emotionally attached to it and wept bitter tears. The next year my brother bought a fake tree so the kid could put it safely in its box after Christmas and say goodbye to it for another year. Heart-warming, but since then they've been stuck with a fake tree.

I buy a real tree at the florist's down the street. I love having a Christmas tree up with the lights blinking. If the lights don't blink, it's not a Christmas tree as far as I'm concerned.

[Christiern]

I don't like fake trees, although some are visually acceptable--aluminum is as tacky as a bad plastic tree, IMO. I shudder when I look back to my childhood and the untreated trees to which we attached real candles--it was beautiful and it created a great holiday mood, but there wasn't a Christmas when one didn't hear of these things going up in smoke. Huge trees were decorated with live candles, too, so ballroom children's Christmas parties were perilous affairs.

In case you wonder what an avowed atheist is doing with a Christmas tree (I still have them most years), one can enjoy the holiday mood of friendly exchanges and good thoughts without attaching the occasion to a bible or religion. In Denmark, Jews nought and decorated Christmas trees at this time of year--I'm sure that it was not a substitute for their own religion, just a natural go-with-the-flow thing. Many years ago, when Victor Borge (whom we knew as Børge Rosenbaum) substituted for Carson during the holiday week, he explained how he grew up in a Jewish home that did the Christmas thing without the religious aspect. Well, my family was registered as Lutheran (Denmark's state religion, ugh!), but no one had religion forced upon them--celebrating the Christmas holidays seemed natural--sometimes, we even went to church on Christmas Eve, because the music was so beautiful and the mood felt good. I don't recall any family member actively practicing a religion, but some might have. If so, it was a private thing--"to each his own". My grandfather had a very sensible approach, which was to never try to influence or put pressure on children when it came to religion, but rather to allow them to make their own decision when they became old enough to do so sensibly.

Back on topic, much as I find aluminum trees to be a poor, tacky substitute, I prefer their return to any thought of bringing back live tree candles.