Some Christmas tree lore
to spruce up your inbox
This little green one here seems to need a home. -Charlie Brown
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! I’m writing to you today from my home in Central Texas, where we are enjoying our usual December weather: sunny and 75. I’m not complaining. The only snow I ever want to see here is on the front of a Christmas card.
Last year at this time, I wrote about the origins of the Christmas tradition in the U.S. I also promised to expound on other Christmas topics in a future post, so here ya go.
Today I want to chat with you about why we drag dead/fake trees into our homes every December and load up these leaning towers of cat temptation with potential fire hazards and expensive breakables. Who thought this was a good idea?
Although I must take a brief break here to brag up my own cat, the BCW (Best Cat in the World), who has managed not to topple our tree and appears satisfied to just huddle underneath it and watch the lights twinkle.
I realize this is a Christmas miracle; that our cat household is in the minority. If you doubt me, search your preferred socials for Cat vs. Christmas Tree.
Even if you don’t have a cat, you probably have some entertaining Christmas tree anecdotes. Some of my personal favorites include:
A senior family member who jettisoned the annual bother of packing and unpacking her Christmas gear. She just tossed a sheet over the artificial tree, ornaments and all, and moved it into a spare bedroom until the next Christmas season rolled around.
That one time we thought we were oh-so-clever to harvest a fresh tree out of the Colorado wilderness—until the car slid off the road into a snow-filled ditch.
My personal badge of honor: that our marriage has survived the real vs. artificial tree controversy for 40+ years (I let him have his way for the first 35).
Like the Big Bang, no one has discovered/can agree on exactly what initiated the first event. But I can share with you some of the observable results.
As I mentioned in my previous post, secular celebration of the Christmas holiday wasn’t even a thing for decades after colonists settled in America. The addition of the tree came even later. As you may recall, the iconic Christmas poem T’was the Night Before Christmas, first published in 1823, tells us Santa tucked the gifts into the stockings hung ‘by the chimney’. He did not place them under a tree. Nevertheless, similar to the evolution of holiday itself, it appears stories in print spread the Christmas tree fad.
The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge was visiting Germany in the late 1700s and witnessed what he described as a very charming tradition at the home he was visiting during the holidays. They had a small tree, likely the top few feet cut from a taller tree, inside the home. It was decorated with candles. The children of the household had been working secretly for weeks making gifts. On Christmas Eve, their gifts were placed under the tree and presented to the adults in the household.
A similar tale made the rounds later in the 1800s with some small changes, observed by different writers, whose stories were widely read during the Christmas season. This time, the gifts were from the adults to the children. The tree and gifts were hidden from sight; tucked away in a seldom-used room, perhaps, until all was revealed to the delighted children.
I find it captivating how this tradition has evolved over the past couple hundred years. As a parent, I recall often hiding gifts until the Christmas morning reveal. But the entire tree? And can you seriously imagine using real candles? Perhaps even more fascinating is that this was in no way a widespread tradition when it was initially observed and reported. Just a random event in a single household. But the stories about a ‘Christmas tree’ in popular periodicals of the time generated tremendous interest. The idea really caught fire.
Sorry about that. Couldn’t resist.
To satisfy the new trend, for many years Christmas trees were harvested from the wild. It wasn’t until the turn of the 20th century that tree farms became a thing.
Around this same time, the Germans got the bright idea of making artificial trees. They used goose feathers and just painted them green. Later, the feathers got swapped for brush bristles. And yes, some were the same type of bristles used to make toilet brushes. I’ll let that visual marinate with you.
Some of you may recall the aluminum tree fad during the 1960s that occasionally makes an attempt at a comeback. Some credit its demise with the airing of the much-beloved A Charlie Brown Christmas television special in 1965. In it, Charlie’s frenemy Lucy insists they use a pink aluminum tree. Charlie famously prefers the sad little real one, the only tree left in the local tree lot. Adios, aluminum!
I’ve been out of the Christmas tree expenditure loop ever since I risked my marriage, put my foot down, and bought an artificial tree at a local thrift shop a few years ago. I had no idea what they cost nowadays until I looked it up while researching this post. As of this writing, a few days before Christmas, the prices are axed. For a real tree, that means you can get one (around here, anyway) for $20-30 for a six footer.
The artificial trees are on sale as well:
I hope someone is nearby to revive you after you read that price tag. It does include lights, after all.
Whether you prefer real or artificial, tree or no tree, snow or no snow, my wish for you is that you and yours survive enjoy the holiday season. Who knows what future holiday trends are on the horizon. Fingers crossed they won’t include toilet brushes.
My source for parts of this post: The Battle For Christmas by Stephen Nissenbaum
I will leave you with three things:
We watched an entertaining documentary on Prime recently called The Merchants of Joy about the Christmas tree vendors who work the Manhattan market. A very interesting perspective on the live Christmas tree biz.
If you’re looking for a festive accompaniment to holiday tasks, the Sirius Cool Jazz Christmas channel does not disappoint.
Do you live in Central Texas? Cedars Coppice coffee shop in nearby Bastrop, TX is charming. Food, drinks, books. And their Key Lime pie is fantastic.
My latest book, Double Fault, is available on Amazon.
When an investigation of illegal match fixing by the Russian mob brings the FBI to her tennis club in the person of hunky agent Wilson DuBois, Veronica Burk vows to help him solve the case quickly before her own very successful gambling habit falls under suspicion.
My adult historical fiction book,Ventured, is available on Amazon.
When she takes a chance on making a new life for herself, French orphan and cutpurse extraordinaire Belle must find a way to survive in the New World—or she may not live long enough to enjoy it.
And now for something completely different: The Centé Conspiracy is a YA (Young Adult) conspiracy action/thriller trilogy
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For some Texwegian fun, check out my book, The Dala Horse, available on Amazon.
10-year-old Kaya Olson lives in a small Norwegian immigrant settlement in post-Civil War Texas. When her mother is killed, Kaya feels responsible. Can she uncover the secrets her family is keeping to solve the mystery surrounding her mother’s death?
I just read your post aloud to my loved ones this morning (Merry Christmas!). Cleaning my toilet bowel will never be the same again as the mental association between brush and tree will always be there, the shape of the brush being the critical limiting dimension. Thanks for telling this story and others, which you always do so well! 💙
Now you’ve mentioned toilet brushes, I think it’s time for us to all switch to handmade Christmas trees, crafted out of recycled materials. This would be a great family activity. I am envisioning one made out of pop bottles. Merry Christmas Lissa!