My earliest recollection of putting up a Christmas tree was trekking through the woods with my dad to chop down a pine tree. We were so poor we couldn’t pay attention, so we had to harvest a tree since we couldn’t afford to buy a commercial one. We’d go to my Aunt Katy’s farm which is now Gessner north of I-10. I often wondered if the Old Katy Highway was named after her, and maybe even the town of Katy, since she was always having a bar-b-q to get a local politician elected.
Pine trees were always kind of scrawny with a bare spot on the north side of the tree. I remember my dad binding two trees together one year to get a really full tree. We always put up the tree on the second weekend of December because any earlier and it would dry out too soon from the hot bulb lights. Traditionally Christmas trees were not brought in and decorated until Christmas Eve and not removed until after the Epiphany, the visit of the Magi, on January 6. To have a tree up before or after these dates was even considered bad luck. It is believed that the early trees were biblically symbolic of the Paradise Tree in the Garden of Eden.
Legend has it that in the 7th century, St. Boniface used a triangular Fir tree to describe the Holy Trinity, thus St. Boniface is credited with starting the tradition of the Christmas tree which has since been used as a symbol of Christianity. By the 12th century it was being hung upside-down from ceilings, possibly as a space-saving idea. I’ve only spotted one tree hung upside down this holiday season, the one at the Spring Antique Mall, I assume to allow for more counter space. I think hanging the tree upside down is a good idea because you can get more presents under the tree.
The first record of a decorated tree was at Riga in Latvia, in 1510. The legend says that the first Riga tree was decorated with paper flowers and burnt on the bonfire after the ceremony. This was what we usually did with our dried-out pine after we took it down. We’d put it in the burn barrel out back, and incinerate it with the Christmas trash. The trend now is to recycle them. They’re mulched for flowerbeds, or sunk in lakes to create fishing ‘honey holes.’
The Christmas Tree first appeared in England with the Georgian Kings who came from Germany (where St. Boniface had been preaching), but the tradition was slow to catch on as the British public was not fond of the German Monarchy. In 1846, Queen Victoria and her German Prince, Albert, were pictured in the Illustrated London News standing with their children around a Christmas Tree. Unlike the previous Royal family, Victoria was very popular with her subjects, and what was done at Court immediately became fashionable - not only in Britain, but with the fashion-conscious East Coast American Society. Thus the Christmas Tree tradition was born in both Britain and America. In America, Christmas Trees were introduced by several different groups…the German Hessian Soldiers, Texas Cattle Barons from Britain, and the East Coast Society copying the English Court tree customs, all about the mid 1800s. Although Pennsylvanian German settlements are reported to have had community trees as early as 1747.
The first record of artificial trees were the Goose Feather Tree invented in the 1880s in Germany to combat the deforestation damage of the Fir tree as a result of this holiday tradition. They ranged in size from just a few inches to as tall as 8 feet. So if you were unable to obtain a tree, any old feather duster would do. Unfortunately, feather trees and feathers being used extensively in the millinery business, began to take its toll on the bird population thus resulting in the formation of the Audubon Society for their protection.
In 1930, the first American artificial tree was made by the Addis Brush Company using the same materials they used for their toilet brushes. These brush trees had an advantage over the feather tree in that they would take heavier decorations, but this is probably when the tradition went down the drain. In one of America’s best examples of one-upmanship, artificial trees went from the ridiculous to the sublime. The modern movement in the 1950’s, coupled with the advent of the space age, saw the invention of the silver pine or aluminum tree. It was typically displayed with a minimum of ornaments of all the same color, and illuminated by the use of a color wheel. I remember the first time we saw one of these trees. We had just moved into our new house across town and when we finished our decorating, we took our traditional drive to look at the other neighbor’s decorations.(My dad was always looking for inexpensive ways to entertain the troops…drive around and look at decorations during the holidays, watch the planes take off and land at Hobby Airport Sunday afternoons, etc.) Anyway, when we cruised in front of a house that had an aluminum tree in the large, front window with its revolving color wheel, my Dad literally hit the brakes. He actually parked the car and we just stared at it for a while, watching the colors change as the color wheel went round and round. We had never seen such a thing!
It wasn’t long before plastic trees were all the rage. My father saw the plastic tree as an answer to his prayers. No longer would he have to contend with the prickly pine needles, or the messy clean up when they dried and fell off the tree. Because my mother loved a tall, flocked tree(a grand mess giving the tree the illusion of having snow on the branches), he surprised her with a 6 foot, white plastic version. She hated it. She hated the artificial look, she hated the lack of nostalgia, and she hated the plastic smell. But Dad stood his ground and we used it for several years until the hooks from the ornaments began to rust on the branches, giving the tree a weird polka-dot look.
In 1930, the first American artificial tree was made by the Addis Brush Company using the same materials they used for their toilet brushes. These brush trees had an advantage over the feather tree in that they would take heavier decorations, but this is probably when the tradition went down the drain. In one of America’s best examples of one-upmanship, artificial trees went from the ridiculous to the sublime. The modern movement in the 1950’s, coupled with the advent of the space age, saw the invention of the silver pine or aluminum tree. It was typically displayed with a minimum of ornaments of all the same color, and illuminated by the use of a color wheel. I remember the first time we saw one of these trees. We had just moved into our new house across town and when we finished our decorating, we took our traditional drive to look at the other neighbor’s decorations.(My dad was always looking for inexpensive ways to entertain the troops…drive around and look at decorations during the holidays, watch the planes take off and land at Hobby Airport Sunday afternoons, etc.) Anyway, when we cruised in front of a house that had an aluminum tree in the large, front window with its revolving color wheel, my Dad literally hit the brakes. He actually parked the car and we just stared at it for a while, watching the colors change as the color wheel went round and round. We had never seen such a thing!
It wasn’t long before plastic trees were all the rage. My father saw the plastic tree as an answer to his prayers. No longer would he have to contend with the prickly pine needles, or the messy clean up when they dried and fell off the tree. Because my mother loved a tall, flocked tree(a grand mess giving the tree the illusion of having snow on the branches), he surprised her with a 6 foot, white plastic version. She hated it. She hated the artificial look, she hated the lack of nostalgia, and she hated the plastic smell. But Dad stood his ground and we used it for several years until the hooks from the ornaments began to rust on the branches, giving the tree a weird polka-dot look.
The natural versus artificial argument ensued. Commercial tree growers argue that artificial trees are environmentally harmful, and contend that a natural tree is entirely biodegradable and recyclable, often reused by tree farms or local governments as woodchips or mulch. Those who favor artificial trees argue that cutting down natural trees is harmful to the environment, and that artificial trees are made from 100% recycled plastics of used packaging materials. Other types of artificial trees have have provided alternatives. The 19th century feather trees saw a renaissance in the mid-2000s, and fiber-optics, "holographic mylar," glass, and cardboard, have become increasingly popular.
The ceramic tabletop tree decoration has resurfaced; popularized in the craft movement of the late 1960's and early 1970's when decoupage, sweatshirt painting, and ceramic-making were all the rage, although I never could understand why. With the exception of the ceramic tree, you never see any of this stuff in antique malls even though it would be considered vintage at this point.
The ceramic tabletop tree decoration has resurfaced; popularized in the craft movement of the late 1960's and early 1970's when decoupage, sweatshirt painting, and ceramic-making were all the rage, although I never could understand why. With the exception of the ceramic tree, you never see any of this stuff in antique malls even though it would be considered vintage at this point.
In my opinion, the best Christmas trees are the ones that nature and technology collaborated on to produce picture-perfect trees like the ones I spotted at Kroger in Sterling Ridge. When the best minds with agriculture degrees go to work, they produce something as perfect as a mass-production artificial tree. I looked around for the most beautifully decorated, natural tree, but was unable to locate on. I did however, find the most beautifully decorated tree...the magnificent tree in Market Street in The Woodlands, TX, shown here decorated with my beautiful daughter.
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