|
Vintage
Christmas Tree Photographs,
Page
Three
 |
Taken on December 25, 1942, this picture
shows both the wonderfully high ceilings of a Victorian-era home and
the charming Lionel train racing around the tree, complete with a
double track layout and a whistling train station. By Christmas of this
year, most children's toys containing metal were sold out, with no more
being made until after the War. I suspect that the train was from
previous years. Note the presents for the children displayed in front
of the tree-mostly games made out of non-restricted cardboard for the
girl and a wooden tool bench for the little boy. Despite the hardship
of a world at war, the children look quite happy.
|
|
Here is Chris Cuff, a frequent
contributor to this website and a personal friend, chewing on his brand
new rubber duck on Christmas Day in 1953. Notice the wonderful 1950s
style gas station his brother is playing with-it would bring a fortune
today! The tree stand is still used in the Cuff household, and is a
family heirloom. Chris reports that their tree had only two strings of
C-6 lights on it for a total of 16 bulbs. The ornaments are the World
War II era plastic examples from Chris' grandmother, and the tinsel on
the branches is of the vintage lead type-long since banned from today's
trees.
|
 |
|
|
Chris Cuff shares with us a picture from
the main street of his hometown, circa 1950. It was taken in Nyack NY.
Chris reports that they used these same wreaths every year, putting on
fresh pine boughs annually to spruce things up a bit. They were still
in use as of the time his family left the area in 1968. |
| Here is my all time favorite Christmas
picture, kindly shared with us from the collection of David Neely, and
restored by Lee Lowry. It is from the turn of the century, and by all
appearances is American in origin. There are no electric wires visible
in the photo, so I'm sure the wonderful Christmas trees are destined to
be lit with candles. |
|
|
|
Website
visitor Anna Bates shares this picture and memories of her mother with
us. Referring to their first aluminum Christmas tree, Anna writes: "I
still remember when Mom brought that thing home in a big cardboard
box. Permanent tree! When she pulled out that painted
silver pole, we laughed so hard we cried. Later that night
we all stood in the living room for the ritual of turning on the color
wheel for the first time. We stood there in amazement watching
the tree turn red, yellow --- then when blue came around a hushed
"oooooooh" from all of us. She was so proud of that thing.
In this picture, she is sitting next to her tree, wearing a matching
aluminum corsage, strappy sandals, huge rhinestone earrings to
accentuate her dyed red hair. I loved her so much. And to
think I thought all that stuff was tacky when I was a teenager! Her
name was Nora Bates, and she died from complications of Alzheimer's
disease in April 2003. |
|
