Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Wistful Wednesday : Christmas Tree

Dragging the tree to it’s spot in the living room, leaving behind a trail of needles and possibly some pine pitch.  (our house)

Every cat in the house is interested, of course the dogs are smarter and act like they know that it is perfectly normal for a tree to be in the house. (our house)

After the tree has unfrozen and sucked up an undisclosed amount of sugar water it can be decorated. (our house)

The lights are first…remember patiently waiting whilst your Dad checks every bulb for the one that is bad and must be replaced before the lights work? (My parents home and Far Guy said until all the appropriate cuss words were uttered nothing worked at his parents house.)

Then it is time for the garland…sometimes gold or silver or colored strings of bead like baubles. (my parents)

The ornaments one by one are taken from their hiding spots amongst the tissue paper…remember this one?  Remember that one?  (me)

The Star was placed on top (my parents).  The Angel was placed on top (our house).

Mom placed the tinsel on the tree in exactly all the right places. (my parents house)  I tried tinsel one year…cats pooping tinsel was not a good thing…(our house).

We turned off all the lights in the house to see the lights on our tree.

At our house…the cats thought the tree was brought in especially for them.  They would tear down the hallway and run up the center of the tree.  One year I thought Shadow was going to electrocute himself because he kept chewing the light stringers.  I would catch him and put the ends back together with electrical tape.  Eventually those light stringers were used outside because they were a hazard, a few years ago I threw them away…thinking that darn cat…and smiling.

The tree this week is one from Far Guy’s parents home.  The year remains unknown.

Tree at marvin and Evelyns unknown year

Most likely from the 1950’s. A tree with a bit of sprayed on snow and some Shiny Brites…red if I recall correctly from later years.

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16 comments:

linda m said...

I have very fond memories of putting up the tree. And yes, lights had to be checked and appropriate cuss words said. Tinsel is still something I hate because we had to put it one string at a time on the tree and remove it the same way and save it for next year. Now days I have an artificial pre-lit tree. Makes life so much easier. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Oh, I want to tell you, the ornament you carved looks fabulous on my tree.

Karen said...

I don't think we ever had sprayed on snow, although we used the fake snow on the windows. Oh yeah, the tinsel, one tiny strand at a time, on and then off, yuk. We too now have a prelit fake tree. Got a fantastic deal one year after Christmas. We've spent a lot of time trying to figure out why one or two strands, they are all connected together, now refuse to light. I'm sure a few colourful words have been said. Get all the ornaments on though, and you don't really notice.

Nancy said...

This post brought back a lot of memories - all good. My brother would often drill holes in the trunk where the bare spots were too glaring to ignore. Then branches from the bottom were placed in the holes and secured. Ahhh, the memories!

Mac n' Janet said...

Your husband's childhood tree could have been mine.

thecrazysheeplady said...

Fun post :-). Does anyone use tinsel these days? We've always had cats so have never, but do remember that from my childhood.

L. D. said...

I had forgotten about waiting for the snow and ice to melt. Even when our kids were young we had to wait for the ice to melt out of a tree we bought at the tree farm. Huge puddles on the kitchen floor. We were always stuck with cedar trees when I was a kid. They grew volunteer and on a rare time they would grow in the ditch where they would have enough moisture to not be brown. As soon as I could afford it, I bought a real tree at a tree farm and it seemed like such a luxury.

Primitive Stars said...

Wonderful memories looking at that tree, thanks for sharing.Blessings Francine.

Cynthia said...

I remember it always being a struggle to get the tree in the stand, it never stood straight, snd there was always a bulb out somewhere so the lights wouldn't work. Those were my dad's jobs and he was never as excited about putting up the Christmas tree as the rest of us were!

Nancy/BLissed-Out Grandma said...

Hanging tinsel was my job for quite a few years because I was so patient and precise with it. But then they changed what it was made of, and it never hung right after that, and we stopped using it. Ah, memories.

Anonymous said...

Very sweet memories and a tree very similar to what I remember!

Jacqi Stevens said...

Didn't you know? Christmas trees are for cats.

Ours were rather restrained about it, this year. Like, "Oh. Christmas tree. Yeah, we do that every year." They still are wearing their halos. Perhaps they think Santa Cat is watching...

Red said...

Cool drapes in the last photo. Makes me think of my Mom.We are a mixture of many influences when it comes to tree decorations.

Leah said...

I really like tree photos ~ this one is very pretty! Never had cats in the house but I know the dogs have thought some ornaments are for them at different times :)

Henny Penny said...

That does look like the 1950's! There was usually an argument around the Christmas tree between my sister, brother, and me. My sister thought nobody but her knew where to hang anything on the tree. :)

Sam I Am...... said...

Ahhhh....what memories that brings back! Love the picture and those drapes! Barkcloth? It's back in demand now! Love the cuss word theory! LOL!

Rita said...

My mother went through the flocked tree phase--white with deep blue balls and five cardinals. Do you remember the light with the rotating colors? My dad didn't want to spend the higher price for the flocked tree so bought the kit, taped newspapers all up the walls, bought a huge long needled tree, and used the vacuum cleaner to blow flock himself like a mad scientist. He did an excellent job, though. Our trees looked fluffier and whiter than the ones for sale.

Us kids didn't like that tree so they bought a small green tree for us kids to decorate and put lights on in the basement (As the oldest, I was the one who made a stink until we reached that compromise.) Tinsel was such a pain to put on decently, but looked so festive reflected in the blinking lights. The coolest thing was a cousin of my mom's who had those bubble lights that looked like candles! Always wanted those, but we never had them. Ah--memories. ;)