Nothing says Christmas like an aluminum tree

[LearnedCoward]

Oh, right, Bethlehem PA. I totally missed that

[KarlS]

@boingboing

Because it was not safe to put electric lights on the metal, the companies distributing the trees would sell a rotating lamp that would shine different-colored lights on the tree to bathe it in magenta or purple.

Why not real candles? That would be playing to the tree’s strengths.

[Franko]

i have my aluminum tree AND my color wheel up right now, haha. all hail holiday nostalgia.

[coop]

In the early days (when I was young, and dinosaurs roamed the earth) tinsel wasn’t aluminium - it was thin strands of polished lead. Gorgeous…

[nungesser]

@boingboing

The aluminum strips that were used to make the trees were originally designed for something called chaff, which was sprinkled over enemy territories to scramble radar because the little pieces of metal would diffuse the signal.

Good lord, I never knew that before! My parents had an aluminum tree when I was quite small… I didn’t know that’s where it originated.

[KarlS]

If you use tin over a lead core, then you get tinsel that is properly shiny and hangs nicely.

[Church]

There’s something unearthly about purely aluminum trees. They’re like the platonic ideal of christmas trees.

Also, those tabletop ceramic trees, with the lightbrite-style lights.

[Melizmatic]

There are worse things than aluminum Xmas trees.

[Wanderfound]

@nungesser

@boingboing

The aluminum strips that were used to make the trees were originally designed for something called chaff, which was sprinkled over enemy territories to scramble radar because the little pieces of metal would diffuse the signal.

Good lord, I never knew that before! My parents had an aluminum tree when I was quite small… I didn’t know that’s where it originated.

Cool story, but I doubt it’s true. The chaff strips used for Window were about an inch wide and a foot long.

Chaff (countermeasure)

[simonize]

My parents have mentioned how much better the old, lead tinsel draped.

[TheGreatParis]

I don’t think they mean it’s exactly the same stuff as chaff, but the aluminum tinsel used the same manufacturing process.

[BZMacLachlan]

@Franko

i have my aluminum tree AND my color wheel up right now, haha. all hail holiday nostalgia.

We have the whole shebang up in the early '60s modern building where I work. I recognized that the tree was a great style match, but, 'till now, I hadn’t understood why the color wheel was a thing.

[knoxblox]

We had one. This is my mom, who died when I was a baby. I may or may not be in this photo, because she also wore this shift dress during her pregnancy.

Edit: I really can’t tell if she’s pleased or displeased with the tree.

[pjcamp]

Goes perfectly with this Pat Boone/ Lawrence Welk Christmas album, don’t you think?

Happy Naked Christmas everybody!

[ficuswhisperer]

[LearnedCoward]

So many questions

[Franko]

i love the perceived tension going on here: the pressure to be joyous during the holidays, the gorgeous simplicity of the black dress, and her quiet expression.

[Enkita]

@LearnedCoward

I like Christmas trees, but if I think about it, it’s a really crazy idea. Cut down a tree, drag it inside, hang actual flaming candles off of it… yeah that idea definitely came from a sober person.

It’s the indoor bit that was crazy, wasn’t the original idea that the trees stayed outside and then, after the solstice, they were set on fire to assist the returning sun to get properly started?

Things went wrong in Christianity when the timescale went haywire, so the dying-and-rising solstice festival got moved close to the equinox while the dark-and-light festival stayed in its proper place. If only myths were properly organised and curated by professionals instead of leaving it up to market forces.

[edit - more typos than usual as I have a cold]

[generalcommrade]

I have one, and spent an hour setting it up. After installing the final glistening aluminum branch, my cat descended upon the industrial Christmas apparatus in such frenzy I decided it had no chance of survival. Back to the attic.

[nimelennar]

Came here for the Charlie Brown reference. Was not disappointed.