Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

[Trenchfriend]

Oh, definitely. He's a professional artist and she's one of those "life of the party" people who loves to be the center of attention, and neither of them are shy about "expressing" themselves. They're wonderful people and good friends, but sometimes it would be nice if they would "take it down" a notch or three.

Oh my god! Sorry, but I definitely couldn't deal with such narcissistic/histrionic people, myself. My nerves would give up, immediately.

 

[Fading Fast]

Nice! I prefer subtle decorations. One couple we know used to throw Halloween parties when their kids were younger, and they always over-decorated their house to the point where we couldn't relax and enjoy ourselves because we were always concerned about tripping over something and breaking it. And they did the same thing at Christmas--the last time we were there they had twelve different Christmas trees in their house in addition to all of the other decorations. I can appreciate their enthusiasm, but it's just too much for my tastes.

Were the twelve trees decorated? I must can't image having the time (and spending the money) to get, bring in, set up and trim twelve trees. We are definitely a less-is-more couple, but to each his own.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've never gone in for Xmas stuff since I've been living alone -- just doesn't seem to be any point of it to me. But last year I hung the bauble from the antenna on the insistence of The Kids, who came over on Christmas Eve and we had a good olde fashioned holiday. They taught me how to play "Cards Against Humanity," and I terrified them by winning every hand.

 

[tonyb]

Hell, I got two large plastic storage bins full of Christmas stuff -- nice stuff, too, some of it older than I am -- that I haven't put on display since, hmmmm, 2012 (?) Or '11 (?)

Don't really have a good place for a tree inside. But we have a covered deck, and outside power. So we may set up a tree out there this year.

 

[hatsRme]

Here's something that disappeared quite some time ago, yet this can was in our house when we moved in...

 

[sheeplady]

I love Christmas decorations. Heck I love holiday decorations, of any sort. Bonus points if it's vintage hideous/guady.

I grew up in a family that didn't decorate. Well, thats not true. My father was rather lazy and cheap. We grew up on a farm, so every year my mother and I would pick out a tree early in the year... one that was going to meet its death anyways. One was in the swamp (and starting to die from its feet being too wet), many were under the major powerline and would meet the power company's saw in the spring. We'd go and get it Christmas eve, not as any big tradition but because my parents couldn't be bothered before then. I did like taking a tree that would die anyway, it's just the waiting until the last minute I never cared for.

Then tradition was that I would decorate the tree by myself in the front parlor while my parents watched tv in the kitchen and occasionally would come in and say, "aren't you done yet? We want to go to bed. You need to fix that garland." And then leave to watch more television.

Then one Christmas eve it was getting dark and my mother was screaming at my father we didn't get a tree, and I went out to the barn, got a saw, and hacked down a tree in the yard and dragged it in and dumped it on the kitchen floor snow and all. Much to the horrified look on my mother and father's faces. The next year i went up in the attic of one of the outbuildings and threw down my deceased grandmother's fake tree out the second story window because nobody would go up the ladder and help me take it down.

I was 14 that year. I refused to take that tree down from tge parlor after that Christmas (I did undress it and throw a sheet over it) and that saved future "it's dark and you're so lazy" arguments.

 

[Zombie_61]

Were the twelve trees decorated? I must can't image having the time (and spending the money) to get, bring in, set up and trim twelve trees. We are definitely a less-is-more couple, but to each his own.

They were not only decorated, but each one had it's own theme--this one had all "Star Wars" related ornaments, that one had all "horror movies" related ornaments, the next was decorated with nothing but candy canes of varying sizes and colors, the next with angel ornaments, and so on. All twelve. I sincerely appreciated the enthusiasm and artistry that went into each tree, but I'd have a hard time decorating just one.

 

[Fading Fast]

They were not only decorated, but each one had it's own theme--this one had all "Star Wars" related ornaments, that one had all "horror movies" related ornaments, the next was decorated with nothing but candy canes of varying sizes and colors, the next with angel ornaments, and so on. All twelve. I sincerely appreciated the enthusiasm and artistry that went into each tree, but I'd have a hard time decorating just one.

I'm with you - I respect what they did (if it works for them, no harm and, yes, holy cats that's a lot of enthusiasm), but can't image having the time (or money) to go out and buy, bring home, set up and decorate 12 trees. We barely get our one all done up (and that's only because super girlfriend takes on doing 80% of the work for it).

 

[BlueTrain]

We know some people who decorate excessively for Christmas and nothing like anyone else that I know ever did, with some exceptions. When I was little, the Christmas tree that we always had seemed huge but I have absolutely no memory of where it came from or very little of it being set up in the house. But I was the one who did most of the decorating. But being a little boy, naturally the tree seemed big.

The exception was, there was a lot of enthusiasm in my hometown then (probably not now) to put up outdoor decorations for Christmas. The best ones were up in that part of town where the doctors lived. I think there was even a competition. And by the way, when I say "up," it was literally up, the socio-economic stratification being distinctly graded by how far up on the hill you lived. I guess that's pretty traditional.

 

[scottyrocks]

I have a friend whose one of many jobs is a Christmas tree decorator. I'm not into Christmas trees but she does amazing work.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Spend some time looking at holiday snapshots or watching home movies, and you'll instantly see that Christmas trees in the Era, were, pretty much without exception, much scuzzier-looking specimens than anything you'll get today. Even the ones you bought from some guy in a gas-station parking lot were misshapen, bald on one side, and would drop needles as soon as you got them in the house. If you were really a patsy, you'd end up with a cat spruce, which got its name because it exuded the delightful seasonal aroma of feline urine. The extreme popularity of festooning a tree with gigantic fistfluls of cheap tinsel came about because of the need to camouflage the general seediness of the tree.

We always cut our trees off the side of a back road -- just pull over, hack it down, and drive off. Spending money on a Christmas tree was for chumps. The idea of a farm-grown, perfect, manicured tree was completely unknown.

It was also traditional for the browned skeleton of your tree to be slumped in your driveway until Spring. The town sent a truck around in the spring to collect them.

 

[Fading Fast]

Couldn't find a clip, but the best Christmas tree-decorating scene in a movie is in "The Bishop's Wife" when Cary Grant uses his angel powers to decorate with just a sweep of his hands and the tree goes from bare to beautifully decorated in seconds. I think about that scene every year when we decorate ours.


Edit Add: Found this GIF, the full scene is much better, but this gives you some idea:

https://vickielester.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/giphy.gif

 

[sheeplady]

As a kid, my favorite tree was the swamp tree. It had like 5 branches and I thought it looked really classy with the ornaments hug on it. You could see the lights on the whole tree. I hate the manicured ones where the ornaments stick out.

I, at one time, had 5 large trees (artificial) and 4 small ones (table top). They were all cheap things, bar two. I got them all in the "buy excess holiday decorations" years before 2010, and all at least 75% off. Lots of them were $10 and a few were $2. I made a killing when the recession hit in 2009. Stores bought like it was 2008 and then everybody panicked and nobody bought anything. I blew $50 that year and came ho me with my car stuffed, and I made wreaths for everyone i knew for gifts the next year.

Slowly, one by one, the artificial trees died. My white tree yellowed (that was $2, I'm not sure what I expected). Two fell apart after several years. I didn't replace them.

I still have my silver tinsel tree, which outlasted the rest. It notably was over $200 before Christmas one year, and I fell in love with it and would go visit it every week at Lowes. When it reached $50 I snatched that bugger up.

The rest of the trees went to charity (or the garbage), but I still have 3 table tops... one for each kid and one that was mine when I was a kid. The kids make their own ornaments for their trees.

 

[Zombie_61]

We know some people who decorate excessively for Christmas and nothing like anyone else that I know ever did, with some exceptions. When I was little, the Christmas tree that we always had seemed huge but I have absolutely no memory of where it came from or very little of it being set up in the house. But I was the one who did most of the decorating. But being a little boy, naturally the tree seemed big.

I remember the "process" of decorating for Christmas in my youth pretty well, if for no other reason than because it was consistent from year to year. Dad would hang the lights on the house one of the days of the Thanksgiving weekend because that was most convenient for his workaholic schedule, but we didn't turn 'em on until December 1st. Tree shopping occurred two or three weeks later because Mom and Dad preferred a real tree; they would inevitably dry out regardless of what we put in the reservoir in the bottom of the metal stand the trees were screwed into, so having them in the house for only a week or two was safer than having them for the entire month. It was/is a small house and the ceilings throughout the house were/are 4" shy of 8', so "huge" trees weren't an option. Once the tree was in the house, Dad left the decorating duties to Mom and I (and my older sister, if she had once again moved back home for one reason or another). We had boxes of the traditional "glass" ornaments in various sizes, shapes, and colors, but Mom loved the color pink and that somehow became the dominant color scheme for our trees every year. Even as a child I thought it was gaudy, but it made Mom happy so we just accepted it.

The exception was, there was a lot of enthusiasm in my hometown then (probably not now) to put up outdoor decorations for Christmas. The best ones were up in that part of town where the doctors lived. I think there was even a competition. And by the way, when I say "up," it was literally up, the socio-economic stratification being distinctly graded by how far up on the hill you lived. I guess that's pretty traditional.

That still holds true here. The people who live in the more "affluent" neighborhoods tend to be rather obnoxious with their outdoor decorations, clearly trying to outdo their neighbors in some sort of demented "I'm Christmassier than you!" rivalry (most of them, strangely, in an area known as "Friendly Hills"). But there are a few streets in town where they appear to coordinate their efforts every year, creating a more homogeneous atmosphere through their decorations, and those streets often become traffic-jammed with "looky-loos".

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

Reading this reminds me of Bill Mauldin's " Willie and Joe" cartoons of WWII. In a Christmas cartoon, the boys are somewhere in Europe celebrating Christmas and their tree is hung with hand grenades and garlands of machine gun belts. The boys are drunk as usual.

 

[Fading Fast]

Every year at Christmas, we go home to visit my girlfriend's parents who live in a suburb of Detroit. On the way in from the airport (and throughout our stay) we drive by areas that run the gamut from barely getting by - shacks, dilapidated trailers, tiny one and two room houses (my guess, auto-worker houses from the '10s-'50s) all the way up to McMansions and even some super-duper rich houses (think one-down from Downton Abbey).

I have found no discernible pattern here as described above (and am not disputing at all - sincerely - what others have observed). Some of those very, very modest residences have no Christmas decorations, some have some very modest and on-their-last-legs ones, some have some (IMHO) nice tasteful ones, some have a lot and some go all out - full-blown light-and-decoration extravaganzas that completely overwhelm the house.

And that pattern holds up unto the McMansions, which tend to have none or tastefully nice ones or full extravaganzas (which only differ from the full extravaganzas of the modest homes in scale and the intricacy of some of the light displays / nativity scenes). Also, more of the McMansions relative to the modest homes will have whatever is the current "hot" decorating item (like when the ice crystals were big several years back).

But the super-duper rich houses (basically real, not "Mc," mansions) tended to have either none, a few here or there, or a nice, but still small, amount - never, to the best of my memory, has a single one of these had a full-blown extravaganza.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I don't remember any real outbursts of outdoor decorations in my neighborhood, probably because even in those days vandalism was an issue. The town always had a municipal tree displayed at the end of the wharf, and one year some drunken lobsterman tied it to the bumper of his pickup truck and dragged it all the way up the street, leaving a trail of of fir boughs and broken lights in his wake.

I lived for some years in one of the state's most famous Upscale Quaint Tourist Towns, and they strongly discouraged outdoor displays that weren't made up of twinkly tasteful little white lights. I hung the gaudiest, most ridiculous blinking multi-color star i could find in the front window of my apartment just to be contrary.

As for home trees, we never had a set time for putting ours up, but we did have a very firm rule about taking it down. My mother's policy was that it went "out the door, flying" no later than 2pm on Christmas Day. As soon as the presents were done, we'd start stripping the tree, and when the lights and balls were off, out it went.

 

[Fading Fast]

⇧ Wow, Christmas Day - the Day itself - seems fast. We've always taken ours down a day or two after New Years as it feels really dated and sad then, but Christmas Day seems aggressive as it would kinda take away form the feel of the day - did it? Maybe it's all what you grew up with / are used to.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Ma was not a particular fan of Christmas -- it was always a time of particularly high stress for everyone, and she was of the opinion that the sooner it was over the better. I think my own utter ambivalence about the holiday stems directly from that.

 

[Fading Fast]

Ma was not a particular fan of Christmas -- it was always a time of particularly high stress for everyone, and she was of the opinion that the sooner it was over the better. I think my own utter ambivalence about the holiday stems directly from that.

As you can image, Christmas was very low key in my house growing up - we were a one-modest-gift, sparse decorations, no big-deal family as we were toward every single holiday. But my girlfriend's family celebrates Christmas and most holidays more robustly (still low-key, overall, but more than my family did) and it took me many years to not feel too uncomfortable with a more enthusiastic embrace.