Vintage Christmas Glamour

[Dan Murphy]

it was so much easier to use as well.

Yes. And static electricity back then did a real number on the plastic tinsel.

 

[PollyannaMom]

We gave up tinsel long ago because...cats, but thanks for the cool memories!

 

[Suger Mag]

We gave up tinsel long ago because...cats, but thanks for the cool memories!

we had a pica cat... especially anything remotely string like was irresistible. She dictated our decor for sure lol and she always left a mark.... every bow on the Christmas presents would have her chew marks...

We have two new ones this year, one that loves to chew on my plants, so we were a bit worried this year when put up the tree (with only the non breakable ornaments) ... but so far (knock on wood) they have been leaving it alone

 

[BayouQueen]

yup, the heavier weight tinsel looked nicer but I guess the risk of lead poisoning justified it being pulled from the market.

I'd never heard that about the lead.

I guess overall the tinsel went out of fashion because trees with tinsel aren't allowed at the community tree collection sites. It's good the trees can be composted.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I'd never heard that about the lead.

According to Wikipedia:
Lead foil was a popular material for tinsel manufacture for several decades of the 20th century. Unlike silver, lead tinsel did not tarnish, so it retained its shine. However, use of lead tinsel was phased out after the 1960s due to concern that it exposed children to a risk of lead poisoning.

 

[fly girl]

My grandmother had one of those silver trees... I loved that thing.

I was so NOT thrilled when she finally replaced it with just a regular old green artificial tree back in the early 90's. I think she sold the aluminum one at a rummage sale or something. I really wish she had held onto it.

Not an aluminum tree, but a ceramic tree that were very prevalent in the 70's! My grandma made one and I always played with it, moving the colored bulbs. I was devastated when she gave it to St. Vincent de Paul. She thought no one wanted it, didn't even think to ask. And I loved that woman more than words can describe, but what she thought we wanted ... . I did not need her warped record collection of polka that was in the attic for 30 years. I still look on eBay occasionally in hopes I see her tree (it was very distinct in style and they always put initials on bottom.) Dreamers can dream.

My dear mother in law made a similar tree and we inherited that. With her passing, the siblings fought over her village and nativity. I married my match, dh wanted the tree. It is proudly displayed every year.

The ladies had style!

Best part is the tinsel though. That stuff looked beautiful. My mom took forever applying it -- like one strand at a time. But when they started making it out of plastic it looked weird and tinsel days were over.

My mom too!! Only she could put the tinsel on as it had to lay pristinely across the branches. We moved the tree to different spots in the living room growing up, and I remember if it was ever by the front door she would always get antsy with the wind and draft.

 

[NotUrsula]

We also had the silver tree with the color wheel; I used to lie under it and look up to watch the colors change. Now DH & I have a 36" pre-lit LED-tipped silver "travel" tree that we take with us to hotels for Xmas, but it's sure not the same as that original 8 foot construction project. Dad was meticulous about the brown paper sleeves that each branch of the tree lived in the rest of the year; he had gone through and numbered them and painted corresponding numbers on the tree "trunk" so that we kids would build it correctly each year, and so that no paper branch sleeve would be lost when the box was stored away during the season. Thanks to having preserved the paper sleeves, that thing was still in pristine condition when my mom decided to give it away after his death in the mid-1970s.

We also dressed up for the holiday until at least the early 1980's, but our generation gave it up sometime around college. Living in the Deep South it was never cold enough for actual furs; the warmest clothes we could stand to wear were velvet.

I was the one who always wanted the tinsel on real trees to look just-so; my mother would get impatient and just grab it out of my hand with a "For God's sake, it's only a bit of tin" and just pitch it at the tree like a fastball to let it explode wherever it landed. (Over the next several days I would covertly rearrange it in sections when her back was turned.)