CHRISTMAS TREE INSPIRATION WINDOWS

Every time I see it I remember the special times my mom and I had decorating our old tree.

Once again, I am proud to be living in the only house in the neighborhood with an aluminum Christmas tree sparkling in the front window. I also found some orange spot lights online. In following Pam’s safety recommendations, I had the wiring checked out before I plugged them in. I also was able to obtain two vintage Penetray adjustable spotlight holders with bulbs for less than $30. Gotta have one! Gotta get it! Thank you Kate! After checking local sources (craigslist and online classifieds), I started trolling ebay and actually won a 6 ft Taper Tree at a reasonable price (before the post-Thanksgiving bidding wars). ZAP! The bolt from the blue hit and suddenly I was a woman on a mission. Until I read Kate’s posting on November 16: 9 Places to Find Aluminum Christmas Trees- Vintage and Reproduction. I had been toying with the idea of purchasing an aluminum tree for several years now, but either the ones I found were “too expensive” or I would rationalize “I really don’t need another tree”…. The first year we put up the tree and lit it, one evening my mom was opening the living room drapes and there was a small crowd of neighbors standing outside at the curb admiring the tree.įast forward 35 years.

CHRISTMAS TREE INSPIRATION WINDOWS

When we moved to a new city in 1964, the ranch house my parents built had two huge picture windows in the front. The tree was lit in orange/gold light that sparkled like it was bathed in fairy dust. My dad built a wooden base for two spot lights and placed an orange glass cover over each one and that is what we used to light the tree. We did not use a rotating color wheel to light the tree. This tradition continued with the same glorious tree from the time I was in kindergarten until I was in college. When I became school aged, my mother would assemble the tree, and wait for me to get home from school so we could decorate it together. This was a task I took very seriously and as I remember, there were only a few casualties throughout the years. My mother would assemble the tree and when I was small (I started helping when I was four), my job would be to carefully remove each glass ornament from the Shiny Bright box and hand it to her without breaking it. That was fine by her because she did not share our enthusiasm for Christmas traditions. My dad’s responsibility was to bring the box and the ornaments up from the basement the night before the decorating was to be done and my sister’s responsibility was to stay out of the way and leave us alone. One of the special traditions that my mom and I had was that we were the only two members of the family who would decorate it. (Back then, we got everything from Sears). My parents purchased a 7 and a half foot sparkling Taper Tree from Sears in 1959. It was the prettiest Christmas tree on the block (and the only aluminum one, too). One of these traditions was decorating our Christmas tree.

She writes:Įver since I was very young, my mother and I shared a special love for Christmas and all of the traditions that it brings. Today, a story from reader Jana – we looked at her cheery kitchen remodel a ways back.

Christmas tree inspiration