Women and the Trees They Love

This will be the first of a few holiday blog posts that are all based on photo albums with a certain theme. Holiday pictures are a staple among most of us. And they can be predictable, especially with social media. The office Christmas party, a meal out at a special restaurant, our finished tree or the house lights, and of course countless pics of our dear children on the laps of Santa's across the country. But each of my posts will find a different tangent that is both traditional but also unexpected. 

This one features our tradition of the indoor Christmas tree. The original folklore came from the Lutherans of Germany & Latvia as a symbol of life throughout the cold winter season by bringing the evergreens indoors. As the Victorian era entered, they were then popular with simple decorations of colored paper chains, popcorn, apples and lit candles. The US escalated those trends with the addition of electric light strings in the 40's and everyone exploded with concepts of glass globes, candy canes, gingerbread men and exotic tree toppers.

You know how we often think that people resemble their pets, especially their dogs? This collage of vintage holiday photos show how the suburban woman of the house reflected the trends in her trees. I am guessing most are from the mid 50s into the late 60s. Kitsch was in fashion and trees became less "life like" and artificiality was embraced as style. The line between garish and fashion was blurry to be sure. But you cannot deny that they were unique as well as special.

Enjoy the few that I have posted and check out the link for all 43 photos.

Vintage Everyday - Holiday snapshots

Cookie Cutter

The holiday season is upon us and one of my favorite annual tasks is the art of cookie baking. Cut-out cookies are a uniquely American form of baking as they are considered biscuits among other things in other countries. I have hosted many cookie decorating parties and this year the tradition will return. I collect a handful of things - cufflinks, plants, Original Cast albums. But my cookie cutter collection has gotten big enough that I nabbed a garage sale plastic chest to store them all in. There is a drawer for Christmas shapes. One for various other holiday seasons. And a third for unusual options from kangaroos to roller skates. I just bought a new one in the shape of a fox and am going to make gingerbread red foxes instead of men.

I recently found this short video that shows how actual metal cookie cutters are made on an assembly line. It is an interesting process that makes such logical sense on viewing.

The adjective of being "Cookie cutter" that has come into our vernacular over the last century is that something alludes to conforming or being exactly like those that have come before and after. Ironically this is the total opposite of how I view myself. I like to think that the shape of each piece of pastry may be the same, but it is the frosting, color and decorations added to them that make each unique. I believe the last time I had my cookie party, I made a challenge to take the shape of the cut-out and conform the cookie into something transformed!