Sparkle
I bought a Christmas tree this weekend. Quite a change from last year's, huh? The biggest difference, not only from that tree but also from any other I've had in my life: I put tinsel on it.I grew up in a non-tinsel family. There seemed to be an unspoken understanding that tinsel was tacky. But I always secretly liked it -- the kind that drapes on the branches in thin, wispy strands. (Note that I still can't help drawing a distinction between the acceptable kind and the . . . other kind.)
Once, I came across a photo of my parents' first Christmas trees in the 1950s, before they had kids; there was the same "icicle"-style tinsel on it that I have now. It was sort of like discovering that one of them had had an illegitimate child.
Perhaps -- as I've often realized over the years in other matters -- the strictures, prejudices, or prohibitions that I'd imagined never actually existed at all. Maybe all I ever needed to do was simply utter the word: "tinsel." And it would be mine.
posted by Billy at 12:01 AM
5 Comments:
i love tinsel as well. that silvery sparkle swaying in any breeze that happens by is neat.
i bet your parents stopped putting tinsel on the trees when kids started crawling on the floor. babies are notorious for sticking stuff in their mouths. after that maybe going beyond the early financial start into other ses made tinsel tacky.
however, if it's good enough for jimmy stuart (it's a wonderful life) it's good enough for me.
don't you know? tinsel is to xmas trees as sequins are to drag queens! ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL!
and could you possibly be referring to garland as the less desirable form of tinsel? i grew up in a family that used both on a tree. i know, i know, an embarrassment of riches. oh, we can't all be so lucky. and even better, my aunts had one of those silver trees that was really just an assortment of different sizes of tinsel on a stick organized around a strategic central pole and cleverly changing color with a rotating color wheel. what could be better? more true to the essence of xmas? nothing!
if i weren't heading out of the country for the season, i'd put up my tritone blue tinsel xmas tree with equally extravagant shiny ornament. but alas, this year it's not meant to be. however, i'll just take pleasure in knowing that you have come to your senses and accepted your true nature. embrace the tinsel. it is time.
Garland? Judy Garland? No, I really like her.
You know Tinsel can kill a pet--cats especially love it and can eat it then it gets all tied up in their little bowels--keep your doggies away from it!
"...like discovering one of them had had an illegitimate child." I love it!
The tree looks lovely -- as they say here, happy Christmas!
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