Ever have an aluminum christmas tree?

[LindaR]

She is an adult......would I REALLY want to know the answer to the question?

 

[Abbie]

All the Christmas tree threads have gotten me thinking about the tree from my childhood (the 80s give or take). It was aluminum. The branches were stored into cardboard tubes, like gift wrap rolls. To assemble the tree, the branches just slid into holes in the "trunk" and were spaced about an inch apart all around. You could see clean through the tree from any angle.
AND, instead of light strands on the tree, we had a colorwheel that you put on the floor and shone on the tree to make the colors change from red to blue to green to yellow. Good Times.
I wish I had one now just for fun.

Oh my gosh, you just immediately transported me back 40 years!! It wasn't our "real" tree (that was a real one downstairs) but it sat on a small table in our living room bay window. I LOVED that tree! And I had forgotten about the rotating color wheel too, , so thanks for the reminder. I wish I knew where it went. ETA: I just saw the pic here....while beautiful, ours was the Charlie Brown version too, you were supposed to be able to see right past the branches, just spindly little sticks.

(Oh, and if you need a mate to your singing bass, well I'm pretty sure I could put my hands on ours if you gave me a day.... )

 

[Diznotyzed]

We have one just for the kitsch factor, complete with color wheel. My grandparents had one in the 60s, so when my dad found one at a garage sale several years ago he just had to have it. This one has pom pom style ends on the branches, an upgrade from my grandparent's. We have real trees in the living and family rooms, and this one goes in the entry hall, with our monorail circling underneath it.

 

[missypie]

Ooh, a monorail - DH would love that!!!

 

[Deb in IA]

Oh, what memories!!

We had one in the early 60's, that looked like this:

We had a color wheel and blue and red glass ball ornaments.

And for the REAL old-timers here, we got it with our S & H Green Stamps. Anyone remember those??

 

[TheBigBadWolf]

Missypie,
Your tree is GORGEOUS! It's the prettiest aluminum tree I've ever seen. I sent a picture of it to my DD to see. She is newly married and her MIL gave her an aluminum tree this year that had belonged to her DH's grandmother. DD had never seen one like it before, but she loves it. They put it up as a second tree in their family room. Theirs looks like the one Deb in IA posted.

I remember these trees from when I was a kid. I always loved them but my mom didn't. We always had a traditional green tree.

 

[DVC-Don]

All the Christmas tree threads have gotten me thinking about the tree from my childhood (the 80s give or take). It was aluminum. The branches were stored into cardboard tubes, like gift wrap rolls. To assemble the tree, the branches just slid into holes in the "trunk" and were spaced about an inch apart all around. You could see clean through the tree from any angle.
AND, instead of light strands on the tree, we had a colorwheel that you put on the floor and shone on the tree to make the colors change from red to blue to green to yellow. Good Times.
I wish I had one now just for fun.

My grandparents back in the 1960's had one of these.

 

[missypie]

Missypie,
Your tree is GORGEOUS! It's the prettiest aluminum tree I've ever seen. I sent a picture of it to my DD to see. She is newly married and her MIL gave her an aluminum tree this year that had belonged to her DH's grandmother. DD had never seen one like it before, but she loves it. They put it up as a second tree in their family room. Theirs looks like the one Deb in IA posted.

Thanks so much. I usually deocrate it with red and green balls, but DD is a senior this year and loves pink, so I thought I'd do it in pinks and reds for her.

My H has a Dec 26th birthday. One year I decorated it in multi-colored balls and it was the Birthday Tree.

 

[BC]

LindaR, oh my goodness! As soon as I saw this thread title, I immediately thought about how many hours I laid in our living room watching the colors go across the walls and ceiling! So funny that you were mesmorized with it too!

 

[missypie]

Our living room is two stories and as you can see in the picture, we have semi-transluscent shades on them. You can see the colors of the color wheel change from the outside...our living room windows glow red, yellow, green...

 

[coneeny4]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ALUMINUM-CHRIST...511?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51969850b7


Wish I still had the one my mother had. My friend sold one just like this last year on Ebay she bought at a yard sale for $10.00 for about the same amount as this one.

 

[Deb Quen of Colorado]

We had one when I was a little girl! I think it might have been a hand me down from someone else in the family. Wish we still had it.

 

[korzmom]

my grandmother had one of those in the 60's also and right next to it she would put up this cardboard backdrop that looked like a fireplace. oh so tacky but the memories were so happy. once i remember she putup a real treeand covered it with so much tinsel that it looked like the aluminum tree.

 

[RadioNate]

I have one. It was my Grandparents. I haven't put it up since 2006. Like Missy's, it'll cut you if you grab the branches wrong. We've thought DD was too little not to touch it. Maybe I'll put it up this year.


IMG_2374.JPG by alisonkl, on Flickr

 

[KiminChicago]

We had one in the 60's that looked like the one Deb in IA posted. But....we had two color wheels, and they turned at different rates (I'm not sure why, they were made by the same company) so our tree would be one color on one half and a different color on the other half. Until the color wheels happened to end up on the same color. And ours always had green glass balls. My dad had a system for hanging the ornaments so that all the glass balls were evenly spaced. Heaven help the person who messed with his system! I miss that tree.

 

[indimom]

Oh my gosh, you just immediately transported me back 40 years!! It wasn't our "real" tree (that was a real one downstairs) but it sat on a small table in our living room bay window. I LOVED that tree! And I had forgotten about the rotating color wheel too, , so thanks for the reminder. I wish I knew where it went. ETA: I just saw the pic here....while beautiful, ours was the Charlie Brown version too, you were supposed to be able to see right past the branches, just spindly little sticks.
Happy to oblige. I was really feeling the old Christmas memories today, not sure why.
(Oh, and if you need a mate to your singing bass, well I'm pretty sure I could put my hands on ours if you gave me a day.... )

Ooh, the decorating possibilities with TWO singing fish!!!

We have one just for the kitsch factor, complete with color wheel. My grandparents had one in the 60s, so when my dad found one at a garage sale several years ago he just had to have it. This one has pom pom style ends on the branches, an upgrade from my grandparent's. We have real trees in the living and family rooms, and this one goes in the entry hall, with our monorail circling underneath it.

I would really love to have a small for the family room or dining room just for the memories. That darn spinning color wheel was so mesmerizing on those silver branches.

Oh, what memories!!

We had one in the early 60's, that looked like this:

That's very similar to the one we had.
We had a color wheel and blue and red glass ball ornaments.

And for the REAL old-timers here, we got it with our S & H Green Stamps. Anyone remember those??

Maybe that's why so many people had these trees?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ALUMINUM-CHRIST...511?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51969850b7


Wish I still had the one my mother had. My friend sold one just like this last year on Ebay she bought at a yard sale for $10.00 for about the same amount as this one.

Okay, now I want one just so I can sell it!!! Holy Crow!

my grandmother had one of those in the 60's also and right next to it she would put up this cardboard backdrop that looked like a fireplace. oh so tacky but the memories were so happy. once i remember she putup a real treeand covered it with so much tinsel that it looked like the aluminum tree.

That's hilarious, but I know what you mean. When the good times were that good, it doesn't really matter what the decor looked like.

I have one. It was my Grandparents. I haven't put it up since 2006. Like Missy's, it'll cut you if you grab the branches wrong. We've thought DD was too little not to touch it. Maybe I'll put it up this year.


IMG_2374.JPG by alisonkl, on Flickr

That's a beautiful one too! Yeah, it probably wouldn't create good memories for your little one if she ends up with stitches thanks to the Christmas Tree!

We had one in the 60's that looked like the one Deb in IA posted. But....we had two color wheels, and they turned at different rates (I'm not sure why, they were made by the same company) so our tree would be one color on one half and a different color on the other half. Until the color wheels happened to end up on the same color. And ours always had green glass balls. My dad had a system for hanging the ornaments so that all the glass balls were evenly spaced. Heaven help the person who messed with his system! I miss that tree.

Our ornaments were red balls, but they were covered in some sort of yarn that went from the top of the ball to the bottom, covering the entire thing. I'm not sure if they were glass under the yarn or what?? My dad didn't have a system and didn't really help put any ornaments on the tree, but he would sit on the couch and tell us where we had gaps!
Our live tree in the basement family room was where we put all the homemade and school project ornaments and all of the fabric ornaments my mother sewed (sort of like little pillows in the shapes of trees, reindeer, stars, nativities, etc.). Both trees were pretty special really.

 

[CruiserMom]

We had one of those too! Yes, I'm a child of the 60's and 70's. We had the color wheel too! I want one again, but checked them out on ebay last year and they are so expensive!

 

[sparkyboy]

yes, I too am a child of the 60s and remember the color wheel. Dad added the wheel the second year-the first year he tacked the lights up to the wall which mother did not think was in keeping with the holiday spirit. LOL

 

[indimom]

yes, I too am a child of the 60s and remember the color wheel. Dad added the wheel the second year-the first year he tacked the lights up to the wall which mother did not think was in keeping with the holiday spirit. LOL

Oh yeah, I bet momma LOVED that!

 

[lovesmurfs]

THANK YOU for this thread! I always wondered what Lucy meant when she asked Charlie Brown for a "bright, shiny, aluminum Christmas tree!" (And I'm 43!)