Have Yourself a Merry Tinny Christmas

Remember aluminum Christmas trees? They were all the rage when I was growing up. The silvery branches were illuminated with a spinning color wheel. I used to love lying under ours and watching swirls of blue, yellow, green and red dancing across the ceiling. 

An aluminum Christmas tree in action

We were living in "the Space Age,"...the era of the Apollo missions, "Star Trek," "Lost in Space" and "The Jetsons." With its futuristic look,  the aluminum  Christmas tree certainly fit the times.


My mother was no sci-fi  fan. The appeal for her was ease of set-up. Attach the branches to a steel pole, hang some ornaments,  plug in the color wheel and voila! No messy pine needles to sweep up, no pesky watering can, no lights to untangle and drape (fire hazard, ya know). We kids thought we were hip, so everyone was happy.

Until...

Remember the scene in "A Charlie Brown Christmas" when he thought he killed the little neglected wooden tree by hanging an ornament on it? Well, he definitely brought about the demise of its infamous aluminum counterpart.

How He Did It

Our aluminum tree was soon packed away for good... to be replaced by a realistic green plastic pine. 

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