If I had my way, I would
have decorated our Christmas tree the week after Thanksgiving. My mother made
the most beautiful snow flocked trees I’ve ever seen. Before starting on the
tree, she would cut aluminum foil into squares for each light bulb. My older
sister and I would sit at the kitchen table and wrap every bulb on the strands
of lights with the foil. My dad trimmed the tree’s truck and even took a couple
of the drooping bottom branches to wire in a big hole somewhere else. Mom would
string the lights all through the tree, back in the gaping holes out to the
tips. She was a pro at concealing all the wires in the needles.
The next step was to
saturate the whole tree with water. Then she had to quickly blow the white
flocking material onto the tree before the water dripped off. She worked like a
woman possessed to achieve a full even coverage.
After the tree was
flocked, my sister and I proceeded to hunt and remove every one of the bulb’s
foil caps. We would search and search, count and recount the caps, but would
always miss one. My dad would struggle getting the tree inside without breaking
any bulbs or knocking the white flocking off.
Finally the tree was
inside and ready for the angel top. Mom strung the blue and green tinsel rope
on while my sister and I hung the red ornaments. The tinsel was a match to our
living room’s décor. Finally, the tree was ready for the presents.
One year we had an
unusual cold spell and my mom had to wear her thick winter coat as she worked
on the tree. It was only a few minutes after we got the tree inside when we
heard a drip, then several more. When mom had soaked the tree the water had
frozen shortly after. She rushed downstairs to retrieve a drop cloth. For the
next hour we listened to the tree raining on the plastic cloth. To this day I’m
not sure why the flocking hadn’t fallen off the needles with the water. There
were plenty of reasons why it should, but I guess there was some compound in
the flocking to make it stay adhered to the tree.
Now that everything was
done, we would plug in the lights. We would all search along the strands trying
to find the one bulb still covered with foil. You had to have patience as each
light flashed on and off at its own pace. Eventually someone would spot the
trace of colored light peeking out from under the foil cap. Now my parents
could rest easy knowing the foil wouldn’t short out the bulb and start a fire.
As the lights flashed
independent of each other, they created splotches of white, yellow, red, green,
and blue on the pale blue living room walls throwing the tree’s needles into
dark silhouettes. The colors would be here and there and in combinations all
over the walls and ceiling as the lights illuminated and went off. The patterns
never repeated with the ever changing lights. I would spend hours laying on the
floor near the tree or just under the edge of the bottom branches watching the
changing patterns. To this day I have rarely found anything as relaxing. I was
thankful that my parents let us keep the tree up until around New Year’s. Now I
know how much my dad worried about the tree getting too dry, but we all enjoyed
the snowy tree.
Happy Holidays
Donna Kunkel
Isn't it wonderful how vivid our childhood memories of Christmas remain? I've never heard of flocking a tree before--interesting post!
ReplyDeleteLoved your post Donna. Wonderful memories. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful, treasured memory, Donna. Thanks for sharing with us.
ReplyDeleteWhew--sounds awfully complicated--but something the whole family can be involved in. A nice memory.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite thing about a fresh tree is the smell. I bet you had a great sniff while laying on the floor next to it! Thanks for the memory Donna.
ReplyDeleteI've never experienced working with a real tree before. It sounds like a lot of work, but the smell and look of a fresh tree can't be beat.
ReplyDeleteWow! That is quite an undertaking! We had one of those little aluminum trees and eventually moved up to a fake green one, lol. Thanks for the great glimpse of a fun tradition.
ReplyDeleteOh, My! What patience it took to decorate your tree. But then, what wonderful memories. A great tradition. Do you still Flock your own tree?
ReplyDeleteWow! Quite the effort to make your tree beautiful. My grandparents had a tree like that, but I had no idea of the work involved. Thanks for sharing. Merry Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI love how you watched the changing patterns of the tree, like cloud watching with twinkles. Thanks for sharing. I the black and white photo and tree. Happy holidays!
ReplyDelete