Everything Old Is New Again

Back in the late 60s, a trend surfaced for colored trees (other than green) and for aluminum pom-pom trees. It was cool to have an artificial tree. It was cooler if your artificial tree was obviously artificial by virtue of its color. We had the aluminum pom-pom version, with a color wheel that cast a rotating sheen of colored light bouncing off the silver strands. First green, followed by red, then yellow and finally blue. Each limb came in its own paper sleeve. There were more than 100 limbs to remove from protective sleeves and then pushed into holes in the central pole.

I was fond of that tree and it was usually my job to remove the limbs and hand them to Mother to fit into the pole. I was sorry to see it stay behind when we moved from Smiley. My parents decided to donate it for the church's use rather than move the bulky box to our new home.

The original tree, in the living room in Smiley

A couple of years back, I got to wishing I had one of those aluminum trees. I initially thought I would buy one from EBAY. That's before I learned that I wasn't the only one having nostalgic feelings for the things. Every time a vintage tree was posted that looked like the tree I remembered, the price would quickly escalate out of range.

Then last year I spotted a small aluminum tree at Hobby Lobby. Not a pom-pom tree, but it was silver and shiny and I wanted one. By the time I had made up my mind to get it, they were sold out.

So this year, when I saw them reappear, I grabbed one. It may not have the fluffy pom-poms and it may not be 6-1/2 feet tall, but it looks pretty good to me. I even found a color wheel light. So this year we are taking a trip back in time and having a silver Christmas.

The new tree

The tree and a few of the choice nativity sets from my collection are on display and, while I'm still having a hard time getting with the Christmas program, I'm enjoying sitting back and watching the fruits of today's labor. The two babies are completely mystified, but willing to sit and keep me company, wondering all the time what I'm up to.

LSW