Women pose with Christmas trees
December 18, 2016 1:19 PM   Subscribe

 
Pink bodystocking lady was AWESOME.
posted by Omnomnom at 1:24 PM on December 18, 2016 [14 favorites]


Tinsel was a REALLY BIG THING in days past.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 1:26 PM on December 18, 2016 [3 favorites]


These are fun to look at! There are some great outfit choices happening in a lot of them.
posted by aka burlap at 1:30 PM on December 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


These are the kind of trees Charlie Brown and Linus were supposed to get, aren't they?
posted by Huffy Puffy at 1:30 PM on December 18, 2016 [4 favorites]




I'm wondering what the story is on the lady in the Bavarian (?) costume with the chamberpot.
posted by beagle at 1:37 PM on December 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


Whatevs your fetish
posted by Nanukthedog at 1:38 PM on December 18, 2016 [2 favorites]


Well, at least they're not smiling at salad.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:40 PM on December 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


The article claims that they're all middle-aged, but many of them are younger. We associate those hair/makeup/eyeglasses styles with older women these days, so women in vintage photos look older to us. The girls in a high school yearbook from 1952 look like matrons to a 2016 eye.
posted by LindsayIrene at 1:43 PM on December 18, 2016 [20 favorites]


That was quite the collection of photos of really ugly Christmas trees.
posted by COD at 1:43 PM on December 18, 2016 [4 favorites]


This is hypnotically weird.
posted by infini at 2:02 PM on December 18, 2016 [5 favorites]


oh my god the clothing, the hideous clothing. THE HAIR
posted by poffin boffin at 2:05 PM on December 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


I don't remember seeing silver Christmas trees growing up. Maybe it was a class thing.
posted by kozad at 2:09 PM on December 18, 2016


I'm wondering what the story is on the lady in the Bavarian (?) costume with the chamberpot.

If I had a nickel for every time I said that.
posted by bongo_x at 2:14 PM on December 18, 2016 [8 favorites]


And the tinsel they used back in the 50's and 60's had lead in it, so you had to hang it one strand at a time. It looked a lot more like real icicles, because it hung straight down. It had to be applied judiciously, though, and I'm not sure I saw a single beautifully done tree in the whole photo set.
posted by kozad at 2:15 PM on December 18, 2016 [4 favorites]


this picture is interesting. It seems so joyless. And there are a lot of class markers I can't read as I'm not American. I bet you can absolutely read who these people are just from this picture.
posted by Omnomnom at 2:15 PM on December 18, 2016 [4 favorites]


Relevant TV Tropes

(WARNING: TV Tropes)
posted by radwolf76 at 2:19 PM on December 18, 2016


I don't think my mom made all of our clothes just to save money.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 2:29 PM on December 18, 2016


If I could fill out some of those gorgeous party dresses the way they do, I'd be flinging myself in front of every Brownie in sight from now until New Year's. Mrrrow!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 2:41 PM on December 18, 2016 [4 favorites]


Aluminum trees, color wheels and lead icicles, those were the days.
posted by Rash at 2:44 PM on December 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


Tinsel was a REALLY BIG THING in days past.

I miss tinsel.
Goddamn cats ruined it for all of us.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:45 PM on December 18, 2016 [12 favorites]


This pic is sheer perfection. That dress humbles the otherwise fabulous tree.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:47 PM on December 18, 2016 [11 favorites]


Everyone of these feels like it has an amazing story behind it, but I definitely need to know this woman's tale.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:53 PM on December 18, 2016 [6 favorites]


This pic is sheer perfection. That dress humbles the otherwise fabulous tree.

Except I want the small tree to be her hat.
posted by slipthought at 2:57 PM on December 18, 2016 [8 favorites]


LindsayIrene, I was just thinking what a fabulously large age range was being classified as 'middle aged'!
posted by DSime at 3:00 PM on December 18, 2016 [7 favorites]


Aluminum trees, color wheels and lead icicles, those were the days.

It was my job to assemble the aluminum tree, bedeck it in pale pink ornaments and place the color wheel so it would be properly illuminated through the front bay window for our neighbors...
posted by jim in austin at 3:04 PM on December 18, 2016 [2 favorites]


These pictures are almost making cry, because I miss Christmas in the 70s.
posted by JanetLand at 3:08 PM on December 18, 2016 [3 favorites]


good lord the first one is the spitting image of my grandmother at that time, from the hair all the way down to the small feet. She even still does her makeup like that-I've never met another person who has as many coral/orange lipsticks. I haven't talked to her in...3 years now (she's not the best). Her birthday is coming up (Christmas Eve), and most of the memories I have attached to her are Christmas-related. God, this is just. Wow.
posted by FirstMateKate at 3:09 PM on December 18, 2016 [2 favorites]


As a young lady in the 60s, a few of those were high school girls going to the Christmas dance, not all middle-aged or older. I too do not remember anyone I knew actually having an aluminum tree. Almost all the trees in these pictures were pathetic looking. But I admired the color scheme of the lady with the purple hair to match her purple tree.
posted by mermayd at 3:22 PM on December 18, 2016 [2 favorites]


COD: "That was quite the collection of photos of really ugly Christmas trees."

I begin to understand the hatred my father has for artificial Christmas trees. I mean ours wouldn't pass close scrutiny but at least it looks like a tree and not what ever the hell this metallic thing is supposed to be.
posted by Mitheral at 3:26 PM on December 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


I definitely need to know this woman's tale.

It's one of those Christmas stories that begins with "B" and ends with "ooze."
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:29 PM on December 18, 2016 [10 favorites]


I miss tinsel.

I used to, then the other day Cracked pointed out that the Legend of the Christmas Spider was the likely origin, and I NOPEd right out of that feeling.
posted by radwolf76 at 3:30 PM on December 18, 2016 [3 favorites]


We had a silver tree one year when I was quite little (say 1966 or 67), complete with the rotating color wheel lamp. My mother hated it so much she made my father throw it out and get a real tree on Christmas Eve.
posted by briank at 3:38 PM on December 18, 2016 [2 favorites]


The clothes are fantastic. The clothes are the best part!
posted by steady-state strawberry at 3:46 PM on December 18, 2016 [4 favorites]


I don't have any science to support this, but I really suspect that volume of tinsel cost us a few feet of sea level rise.
posted by aaronetc at 3:53 PM on December 18, 2016 [2 favorites]


Scrolling through the photos I half expected to see one of my relatives posing next to a tree..
posted by coldhotel at 3:56 PM on December 18, 2016 [4 favorites]


A few trees seem to be on tables. Was/is that very common? Ours were always on the floor.

I am clearly not related to any of these people: in old photos, my family members always have a drink and/or cigarette in hand.
posted by ghost phoneme at 4:01 PM on December 18, 2016 [2 favorites]


My mother got a fake white tree one year (1972? 1973?) and it was only decorated with green or blue glass ball ornaments, "icicles" (tinsel) and silver tinsel garlands. There is something in there I don't think is worth unpacking...loved the photos, though.
posted by maxwelton at 4:01 PM on December 18, 2016


There is something about this one that is so reminiscent of the Electric Six video for Danger High Voltage and I can't quite say why.
Maybe the sort of louche pose of the woman on the right or that she maybe has dick valentine's face?
Or the proportions of the room, the lamps?... I, I don't know what. But I saw it and it was all I could think of.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 4:03 PM on December 18, 2016


THE HAIR

...I think a lot of the weirdest hair-dos are actually wigs. Not every woman wore a wig all the time but a ton of women owned at least one. I found them pretty unsettling as a kid.
posted by bonobothegreat at 4:11 PM on December 18, 2016 [2 favorites]


I definitely need to know this woman's tale.

It's one of those Christmas stories that begins with "B" and ends with "ooze."


Yeah, my first thought was that she was waggling her hand in front of her face in the international signal for "Where the hell's that G&T you were supposed to be making for me??"
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:25 PM on December 18, 2016 [5 favorites]


Am I the only person who would desperately love a pink aluminium Christmas tree? And some of whatever it is you need to get your hair as big as that?

Ok then.
posted by arha at 4:46 PM on December 18, 2016 [11 favorites]


WHOA. In the fourth picture, there is apparently some kind of spinning colored disk that reflects off the shiny tree.


I'll be searching Amazon if anyone needs me.
posted by 4ster at 4:53 PM on December 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


Dear lady in red dress holding the overweight dachshund: May I please visit so you can kick my ass in gin rummy? You probably have some stories to tell. I'll bring the boozy fruitcake.
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 4:55 PM on December 18, 2016 [18 favorites]


I was more distracted by the heinous window treatments in most of the shots. Although the lady with the silver-blue dress with the silver-blue side flip hairdo standing in front of the silver-blue wall paneling with a martini reminded me of some good times...
posted by halfbuckaroo at 4:56 PM on December 18, 2016


Also, these photos remind me of this video by Royksopp.
posted by 4ster at 4:56 PM on December 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


Those trees will CUT you!
posted by RolandOfEld at 5:30 PM on December 18, 2016


And some of whatever it is you need to get your hair as big as that?

As someone else mentioned, some of the women may have wigs. My grandma also had weekly hair appointments that involved lots of product and pins to last her through the week, so I'd assume a lot of the women had their hair professionally done, especially for a holiday. Apparently some of the processes are becoming a bit of a lost art.
posted by ghost phoneme at 5:36 PM on December 18, 2016 [3 favorites]


I was just thinking what a fabulously large age range was being classified as 'middle aged'!

I was just thinking what a fabulously large income range was being classified as 'middle class'.
posted by BlueHorse at 5:46 PM on December 18, 2016


WHOA. In the fourth picture, there is apparently some kind of spinning colored disk that reflects off the shiny tree.

It's a "Color Wheel"
I think you are required to have a picture window on your ranch house to show off the tree. I saw a few of these every year when we went driving to look at lights, back in the early 60s.

Here's a rotating aluminum tree with a color wheel Youtube link.
posted by jjj606 at 6:00 PM on December 18, 2016 [1 favorite]


Magenta begowned woman with wine and dramatic eyeliner may be my official Christmas spirit totem.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 6:13 PM on December 18, 2016 [4 favorites]


Haha my parents are such hipsters they got the tree and color wheel when they moved into their ranch house a decade ago. It makes me sad because I like real trees and didn't get to have one this year because we were too busy and leaving to travel for the holiday.
posted by dame at 6:46 PM on December 18, 2016


There was something about this one that made me think it was retro instead of vintage.

The photo color looked to well corrected, the image had no vignetting, and that mini tree looks like it has a silver spray painted plastic injected molding stand that I wouldn't think would exist in the 1960's.

After poking around with GIS I'm pretty sure that it's from this site (I couldn't find the image there).
posted by All Out of Lulz at 7:10 PM on December 18, 2016 [10 favorites]


Oh the tinsel...my grandma had those lead icicles and we were still using them in the 80's and 90's. You not only put them on the tree one by one...you had to take them off one by one and store them like delicate hair switches. For our tree, my mom bought the plastic/mylar kind and we STILL took it down and reused it for years....
posted by Tandem Affinity at 7:24 PM on December 18, 2016


Am I the only person who would desperately love a pink aluminium Christmas tree? And some of whatever it is you need to get your hair as big as that?

I was going to say "what a bunch of great holiday trees" until I came here and saw the other comments. And wigs are awesome, and I'm always trying to convince my wife.
posted by bongo_x at 7:26 PM on December 18, 2016 [4 favorites]


There was something about this one that made me think it was retro instead of vintage.

That one definitely does not look authentically vintage. It's all just not quite authentic, like a rockabilly fan from the 80's. But the plastic stand removes doubt.

I still think a tree without tinsel is slightly off, even though I haven't actually seen one in a couple of decades or more.
posted by bongo_x at 7:28 PM on December 18, 2016


Thanks, All Out of Lulz, I spent about 5 minutes looking at that one and being vaguely upset by it.
posted by mynameisluka at 7:50 PM on December 18, 2016


I'm in the minority: I love these trees. Tacky Christmas, if one must call it that, is a respectable Christmas decor style. Sincere, ironic, or otherwise. Real trees are a delight but the alleged "authenticity" of a real tree is a smidge overrated.

I am a proud owner of a pink Christmas tree. It is very thoughtfully decorated with only mid century ornaments (like these). I get compliments on it even from devout real-tree enthusiasts, but even if I didn't, I would still rock it with the same pride I see in many of the women featured in these photos.

It also serves as an excellent reminder to keep up my sense of humor, no matter how stressful the holidays may become.

(On a side note, the "joyless" photo mentioned above makes me think about, or is a bit evocative of, American Gothic. Or a Douglas Sirk film!)
posted by nightrecordings at 7:59 PM on December 18, 2016 [4 favorites]


Before about 10 years ago, I always had a real tree in a cast iron stand, just like Mom. I had to water it twice daily because I also had a fool cat who drank the reservoir in the tree stand dry every day.

Now I have the choice of a very lifelike, 6-foot green artificial tree, a smaller white tree, and a baby tree in sparkly strawberry pink. I try to go for a theme every year. The pink one was purchased for the '05 Hello Kitty tree, and the white one for '06's retro-atomic-snowflake-1950's-toy-rockets-and-robots theme. Themed ornaments are supplemented with my share of the ornaments we made all through childhood. It's fun making a new tree skirt and stockings every year.

Last year I used the white tree and it was an all black-and-white decor. If I can pull it together this year, it'll be the green tree and a Homespun Disney theme. Lots of cinnamon ornaments cut out with the mouse-ears shaped cookie cutter.

Can't make promises, but will try to find crazy party dress for selfie with Eccentricitree.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:09 PM on December 18, 2016 [3 favorites]


I definitely need to know this woman's tale.

It's one of those Christmas stories that begins with "B" and ends with "ooze."


All sober Christmas stories are alike; each boozy Christmas is interesting in its own way.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:10 PM on December 18, 2016 [11 favorites]


When did Christmas tree lights become a thing? And while their trees are ugly, I bet the cars in their driveway are pure Americana awesome.
posted by Beholder at 8:51 PM on December 18, 2016


That is not, in any way, a tree, unless it's some kind of insane space-cactus.
posted by mstokes650 at 9:26 PM on December 18, 2016 [2 favorites]


Oh the tinsel...my grandma had those lead icicles and we were still using them in the 80's and 90's.

Our family did too, until they started coming out of the other end of the dog.
posted by Countess Elena at 9:27 PM on December 18, 2016 [2 favorites]


I had to water it twice daily because I also had a fool cat who drank the reservoir in the tree stand dry every day.

You just solved my "why is the Christmas tree drying up" problem, thank you.
posted by corb at 10:04 PM on December 18, 2016 [11 favorites]


When did Christmas tree lights become a thing?

Before electrification.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:48 PM on December 18, 2016


When did Christmas tree lights become a thing?

Before electrification.


As a small child in the 1980s we were told in school not to use real candles on our Christmas tree as it was shockingly dangerous. It seemed like a strange thing to do and the 80s must have been the last gasp of this tradition (passed down from pre-Edwardian days) as I've never heard this warning since.

I can't imagine anywhere selling the necessary items (tiny clip-on candlesticks, matching candles) because it would be such a fire hazard.
posted by NoiselessPenguin at 2:18 AM on December 19, 2016 [4 favorites]


Little candle holders in the 1916 Sears catalog. (pintrest link, so may be 'log in to see more'.)
posted by sebastienbailard at 2:24 AM on December 19, 2016 [1 favorite]


When I was on high school exchange in Germany in the 1990s , my host family had real candles on the tree. I don't know if that's still a thing, or if they were archaic weirdos.
posted by lollusc at 2:31 AM on December 19, 2016


My husband's family (Scandinavian) still uses real candles on little headdresses, which every year I am sure is going to burn them all alive.
posted by corb at 2:35 AM on December 19, 2016 [1 favorite]


I think we should have a metatalk thread where those mefites with trees dress up and post photos of themselves in this style.
posted by lollusc at 2:41 AM on December 19, 2016 [10 favorites]


My husband's family (Scandinavian) still uses real candles on little headdresses, which every year I am sure is going to burn them all alive.

That's Lucia, right? Or do they do it on Christmas too?
posted by lollusc at 2:42 AM on December 19, 2016


My favorite by far is the American Gothic one, the two sober-faced women sitting on each side in armchairs. That's a real tree spray painted white (if they had spray paint back then) or better yet, sprayed with artificial snow. Look at that tree, it looks like it's exploding in all directions. Magnificent.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 2:45 AM on December 19, 2016


Australian christmas tree decorations can get a little scary.
posted by sebastienbailard at 3:10 AM on December 19, 2016


If I remembe3r rightly, the peculiar shape of those VERY artificial trees was due to the branches being hinged off the main stem, so that you could just fold them into it and the whole thing feed the whole thing into a plastic sleever for storage. The fact that it didn't look much like a real tree was pretty irrelevant, especially since it was so sparkly to begin with.
posted by Fuchsoid at 4:08 AM on December 19, 2016 [1 favorite]


Um...German here. We use real candles on our trees, next to the electric ones. We also get annual PSAs to keep buckets of water near our trees.
And one particularly exciting Christmas the curtains caught fire and my mother in law singed her eyebrows clean off.

But it wouldn't be a real Christmas without candles, so we still use them.
posted by Omnomnom at 5:33 AM on December 19, 2016 [11 favorites]


Oh the tinsel...

I have a vague memory that we used a roll of chaff one year. HARDCORE.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 5:48 AM on December 19, 2016 [1 favorite]


So I walked into the warehouse/factory building converted on a Uni Campus into a multipurpose startup hub thingie but not quite a coworking space this morning (Monday)

and discovered the world's saddest tree put up by the student entrepreneurship society board

I have pics up
posted by infini at 6:00 AM on December 19, 2016 [7 favorites]


The dresses.

I'm am pretty over the whole mid-century modern thing, but a 1950s party dress is just pure joy for me. The bubble skirts! The weird brocaded fabrics! The rhinestones! The tulle! So much tulle!
posted by thivaia at 6:18 AM on December 19, 2016 [2 favorites]


It's a "Color Wheel"
I think you are required to have a picture window on your ranch house to show off the tree. I saw a few of these every year when we went driving to look at lights, back in the early 60s.


OH MY GOD THAT'S IT THAT'S THE "CHEESY COLOR WHEEL" FROM I WILL BE HATING YOU FOR CHRISTMAS! That's how color wheels are relevant to Christmas! I thought it was just like an ornament with a color wheel like you use in art class. I've been listening to that album since 1997. Thanks Metafilter!
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 6:29 AM on December 19, 2016 [1 favorite]




As a small child in the 1980s we were told in school not to use real candles on our Christmas tree as it was shockingly dangerous. It seemed like a strange thing to do and the 80s must have been the last gasp of this tradition (passed down from pre-Edwardian days) as I've never heard this warning since.

In Denmark using real candles on a real tree is seen as traditional, and still done. The selling of real christmas trees is a pretty big business for scouts and similar organizations.
posted by Unwandering star of the North at 6:53 AM on December 19, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm so into this woman. All hail.

Yeah, I immediately made her my Facebook avatar.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:06 AM on December 19, 2016 [2 favorites]


NoiselessPenguin: "I can't imagine anywhere selling the necessary items (tiny clip-on candlesticks, matching candles) because it would be such a fire hazard."

Unless you use them on an aluminum tree and then it's no more hazard than any other candle use.

Here in Canada I've only seen candles on trees in German homes.
posted by Mitheral at 7:23 AM on December 19, 2016


So the kids have talked me into making tandoori chicken legs for Wednesday lunch just before they all go off on break. They caught me taking photos of the tree.
posted by infini at 7:37 AM on December 19, 2016


All right you guys, I have decided something needs to be good in 2016, I'm officially going to wear my poofiest dress and be glam for Christmas next to my tree.
posted by corb at 9:23 AM on December 19, 2016 [10 favorites]


If you ever needed proof that joseph conrad is fully awesome is fully awesome, come look at this FPP about aluminum trees.
posted by gladly at 9:41 AM on December 19, 2016 [2 favorites]


and discovered the world's saddest tree put up by the student entrepreneurship society board

Shades of "A Charlie Brown Christmas"!
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:52 AM on December 19, 2016 [1 favorite]


In Denmark using real candles on a real tree is seen as traditional, and still done.

setting your curtains on fire is very hygge, yes?
posted by prize bull octorok at 11:32 AM on December 19, 2016 [9 favorites]


that mini tree looks like it has a silver spray painted plastic injected molding stand that I wouldn't think would exist in the 1960's.

I actually own the little tree she's holding (okay, not THAT one precisely but that one, you know what I mean) and it's less than 10 years old for sure.
posted by cooker girl at 12:35 PM on December 19, 2016


Collector's Weekly has a story about the visual esthetics of that period: A Wonderful Life: How Postwar Christmas Embraced Spaceships, Nukes, Cellophane
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:20 PM on December 19, 2016 [3 favorites]


I'm officially going to wear my poofiest dress and be glam for Christmas next to my tree.

Still waiting.
posted by bongo_x at 8:14 PM on December 19, 2016


No one else in Denmark closes their curtains as far as we can tell.
posted by shelleycat at 9:06 PM on December 19, 2016


Thanks for posting this, it was just what I needed to see right now and I had no idea.
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:06 AM on December 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


As a kid growing up in the early 70s, we always had a real tree (Mom insisted on Douglas fir) but instead of an angel or star or other tree topper, they'd suspend the 12"-diameter mirrored disco ball above it.

Also bubble lights.
posted by Lexica at 8:53 PM on December 20, 2016 [2 favorites]


« Older I'm a Mac. I'm a PC.   |   "we are the only consistent black presence in... Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments