There has been some discussion of tinsel recently (from Carole and Vicki) and they've gotten me thinking about tinsel throughout my childhood. I was born in 1957, so we used real tinsel on our trees, the kind with lead in it.
My father was almost a tinsel tyrant. After we decorated the tree with ornaments, he got out the tinsel and we all started carefully placing it on the branches, one strand at a time. That was fine for the first five minutes, but my sister and I quickly tired of one strand at a time and moved to the back of the tree where we could put on clumps of tinsel. After a few minutes, we were even more impatient and tried to get away with the Cardinal Christmas Sin of throwing tinsel at the tree. My father always noticed, reprimanded us, and gave us the annual lecture about how one strand at a time placed carefully and thoughtfully on each branch was the proper was to decorate. By this time my sister and I had often started crumpling the lead-based tinsel into balls to throw at each other.
But tinsel (properly placed!) did make our trees look like this:
"Real" tinsel was discontinued in 1972. I think my father stockpiled
several boxes and we actually took it off the tree and tried to save it
for a few years, but the strands broke and looked quite bedraggled. I
wonder if I might have ended up a bit smarter if I hadn't been exposed to so
much lead while decorating one strand at a time throughout my childhood and my sister throwing lead tinsel balls at me? I do kind of miss our tinsel-draped trees but this is my second year of not putting up a tree so there's nothing to put tinsel on.
How about your trees - tinsel or not?
We also did one strand of tinsel at a time, and had to equally meticulously remove one strand at a time to save for the next year. The only time I remember new tinsel is when we switched from silver to gold. I love the look of tinsel, but the process got to be annoying, so I invested in a bunch of tin icicles to get the shimmer.
ReplyDeleteThis is Jill, I read regularly but can’t seem to sign in to comment.
DeleteThanks, Jill. I'm glad to hear that others had to do one strand at a time, but we were lucky that we didn't save it. The tin icicles are a good idea!
DeleteWell now I'm not so sad that I never got to decorate a Christmas tree growing up -- I had to get my lead exposure only from the pipes and paint chips!
ReplyDeleteWe also used the lead-tinsel on our tree when I was a child. Only . . . we had no Tinsel Tyrant to direct us, and we all quickly lost interest in the one-strand-at-a-time approach. Our trees NEVER looked as lovely as your childhood trees! As for a tree . . . well. I haven't had a traditional, decorated tree up in my house since 2016. And I don't miss it at all. (I do have several small fake and undecorated but pre-lit trees in my house. I love the lights, and these are easy to deal with.)
ReplyDeleteBonny, I was born in 1951, so I was certainly exposed to lots of lead tinsel. My parents always put tinsel on the trees, but my father was a somewhat impatient man, so he had no rules for tinsel application. I think my mother was just glad when it was all over. I have to admit I never knew that it was lead based. We quit using tensil and went to garland as soon as it became available. Tinsel was such a mess! But your trees were quite impressive!
ReplyDeleteWe had tinsel on our tree as well (and a HUGE Tinsel Tyrant ... my mother) and our tree did not go up until Christmas Eve (thanks to The OG Grinch, my father) sigh. I can remember many a year that The Tyrant did not have the tree completed on Christmas... thank gosh for a nana who had a tree that was perfectly imperfect... inviting... welcoming. And yes, my cousins and I had lots of fun re-tinseling the tree... and each other! Ha! I don't think I ever knew about the lead... and by the time I was putting up my own tree, I opted for the tinsel-free version. I am a bit sad that there is no tree this year, but I am surviving! XO
ReplyDeleteThere was tinsel on our tree when my brothers were young but by the time I came along we had a fake tree and the use of tinsel had been discontinued. I much prefer garland, I'm sure because that's what we used. Your childhood trees are quite impressive!
ReplyDeleteWe used that lead tinsel on our trees during the 1950s -60s. My mother was the "tinsel tyrant" and my father and grandfather used to egg us kids on to "throw it" because it was taking too long. I think by the 1970s we stopped using tinsel. When I was very young our tree wasn't decorated until Christmas Eve, as the family grew, we put it up about a week before Christmas and left it up through the 12 days of Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI think maybe tinsel was the norm in the 50s and 60s, but my poor father thought trees were never the same without it! It's good to hear that someone else had a Tinsel Tyrant, but it your father and grandfather sound like they also had fun with it!
DeleteI LOVE tinsel. A tree is not a tree without it although I haven't used it since I got the cats because they would surely eat it and cost me a fortune in vet bills.
ReplyDeleteEven though the modern tinsel is not nearly as good as what we had, as soon as the last critter goes over the bridge, I'll be tinseling my tree again.
I agree; tinsel does look nice but I'm glad I don't have to put it on a tree under the watchful eye of a Tinsel Tyrant. You'll miss the critters but will have a tinselled tree to look forward to.
DeleteMost if my childhood trees were tinseled...ONE.PAINFUL.STRAND.AT.A.TIME! One year we got a flocked tree. Beautiful? I guess so, but I sure missed the pine fragrance a real tree has. Flocking covers up the fragrance with g*d knows what chemicals.
ReplyDeleteI've never had tinsel on my own tree, and never will! I have a few glass icicles (some of them made by my aunt) along with some tin stars & twirly things that catch & reflect the light. Though "Heineken" is doing that job solo this year. ;)
ReplyDeleteI think we had some tinsel on some trees in the 50's and early 60's but no tinsel tyrant at our house. My Dad insisted on flocked trees for several years until my Mom convinced him they made a mess by the end of the season. I have to smile at the image of you and your sister throwing tinsel balls at each other. Seems like something that would have happened between my brothers.
ReplyDelete