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Have a Flocked Christmas

There is no denying it. There are pictures to prove it. Our first Christmas in our new house in the North Valley in 1966, my mom put up a flocked Christmas tree with coordinating green and blue glass balls.

I remember going to Rowland's Nursery on Rio Grande Blvd. near Old Town with my mom and walking around every tree in the lot to make sure we got the perfect specimen. When my mom finally found 'the one', she would tell George who worked there - flock it, charge it and deliver it.

The following year we had another flocked tree, but this time with very special ornaments. The tree had real red chiles tied on with red bows. Then my mom gave my sister and me popsicle sticks and yarn and we made Ojos de Dios ornaments in every color imaginable. We were so proud of our handiwork!

Our trees eventually became what I call menagerie trees, decorated with ornaments that were made in school, mixed with the fancy crystal and glass ornaments my dad used to special order. I remember putting long silver tinsel on our trees too. We had to put the strands one at a time. This would get pretty tedious and when no one was looking, I would throw it in clumps on the tree.

My mom has since reverted back to the themed tree...Santa Claus ornaments. No more Ojos de Dios, no more chiles, no more tinsel. And certainly no flocking.

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Comment by SoyJames on December 5, 2007 at 10:30am: What is this "Christmas Tree" you speak of? Some pagan custom?

Comment by Diego on December 5, 2007 at 10:35am: OH MY GOD talk about a flood of memories... here it goes, First are you guys actually wearing matching dresses????? I take it your mom made those...LOL that is really funny. The Ojos de Dios we made in elementary school but they never went on our trees Thank God!!!! But the killer is the flocked trees, I thought aunt Sandy was the only one who did that sort of thing and when i saw not one but two trees i was stunned and shocked at the flocked HAHAHA. I too remember going to Rolands, (now a Jackalope) to look for trees but we never had them flocked. I guess we couldn't affort it since they were a 100 dollars a foot so for a 7 foot tree thats about 700 dollars WOWZA. About 5 years ago my brother wanted "that look" so he bought a white tree, i guess they don't flock trees in NYC or at least not in Manhatten. One other thing the first tree is beautiful for sure and i have two things in my possession in that picture, the candelabra and the bird cage Thanks auntie!!!!!!

Comment by ColoMichelle on December 5, 2007 at 11:36am: OH MY! Lots of memories here as well. We never had the flocked tree, but my sisters and I had coordinated outfits made by my paternal grandmother and we made ojos as ornaments. My mother always told stories about her father getting drunk and throwing tinsel on the tree in clumps so every year she would drink a toast to her dad and throw a small clump on the back of the tree where it couldn't be seen! We all still observe this tradition today - kinda warped I know, but it wouldn't be Christmas without toasting the memory of Grandpa Mike.

Comment by Diego on December 5, 2007 at 11:41am: Do you think this is a New Mexico thing? because my family also wore the same Christmas tops for many Christmases. I always hated to do it becuase they were NEVER FASHIONABLE

Comment by Adelita on December 5, 2007 at 11:56am: My dear Auntie Mary made our matching dresses. And my mother still has them!!!

Comment by ColoMichelle on December 5, 2007 at 12:29pm: My paternal grandmother lived in Brooklyn, so maybe it's just an older relative thing. And no they weren't fashionable AT ALL. We had to wear them for pictures and they never left the closet again. Nana made a lot of other cool stuff though, like afghans.

Comment by SweetieDarling on December 5, 2007 at 5:58pm: This post was great! It took me back to when I was a boy...I used to drive my parents nuts every day-after Thanksgiving because I insisted we get our tree at a specific nursery in a town 50 miles away! Every year I would spend about 2 hours at the nursery trying to find the perfect tree. I remember the long silver strands of tinsel too - my mother always complained that she would find silver tinsel strands all over the house. Thanks for the memorable post, Lita! Happy Holidays!

Comment by Diego on December 6, 2007 at 8:35am: Just a thought about that tinsel, does anybody remember it getting stuck in the vacuum cleaner? Usually around the end January there would be so much around the roller it would start to have that "burning vacuum" smell. It was always so hard to take off.

Comment by Aly Sanchez on December 6, 2007 at 5:07pm: I don't remember getting tinsel stuck in the vacuum (wood floors) but I do remember getting tinsel stuck in the cats.

Always fun to pull that wet long strand out. I know enough now not to mix traditional tinsel and felines.

My grandmother once had a pink flocked tree with all white ornaments. It looked very "classy" to my 10 year old eyes.

Comment by Adelita on December 7, 2007 at 8:33am: Aly,
My daughter is dying for a pink Christmas tree! She bugs me every year. I guess to little girls, it's still very "classy"!!!

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