View Full Version : Tinsel
I'm old fashioned - I like my green Christmas tree with tinsel. I know it's not the in thing this year (black trees upside down apparently so decorations hang freely) but me, I like tinsel. So out of the bag it comes from last year (and many years before), shake it out, put it on the tree, hoover the carpet, put the hoover away - and only then do the bits that drop off and I've missed show. By that time they're on my shoes and rapidly spreading round the house, in fact I swear they multiply when my back's turned. Doesn't matter how many times I clean them up, there are always some left. Months later I'll see a little glint shining between floor boards. Sometimes they even hang around until the following Christmas.
Does anyone else have this problem. Or does modern tinsel not shed quite so much?
orkneylass
19-Dec-07, 18:50
My last real Xmas tree was about 21 years ago when my first son was a baby. We had a berber loop pile carpet which trapped the sharp pine needles. I spent hours picking them out so that they would not pierce the hands or knees of a crawling baby! Never again....
Aaah, I should have said - I'm afraid my tree isn't real, old and green but definitely artificial. I agree Orkneylass - pine needles and small children don't mix. By the time real trees are ready to be put out, unless they've been sprayed you get a trail all the way to the door. Shame really, can't beat the smell of a real tree.
George Brims
19-Dec-07, 19:57
I don't think it's modern vs old style tinsel, I think it's new vs old. The stuff gets more brittle with age so more and more bits drop off. We used to have great trouble with our cat (the late lamented Buggsy). We discovered he wasn't just playing with it, he was eating it. It was that sparkle that revealed itself when I was scooping the litter tray that gave him away!
I love tinsel! Yes, it is always a mess, but oh, so pretty.
My kids never liked the fuss and muss so they will be delighted when they arrive next week to discover that my tree is tinselless. I couldn't find any in Edinburgh.
And to think that last August I let that sales guy at Comet talk me into a super duper vacuum cleaner because I was anticipating that I would need it to deal with the Christmas tinsel. Ah, life!
Haven't had tinsel on my tree for years - still have some lurking in the boxes though - wee one wore some in her hair for last year's school christmas party lol My baubles are old friends though - most have a memory attached and I collect more if I see a nice one. Always have a real tree and I give it a bit of water each day and it happily sits there and hardly sheds a needle - nordman fir.
Canuck no tinsel in Edinburgh - that's a scandal!
I don't think it's modern vs old style tinsel, I think it's new vs old. The stuff gets more brittle with age so more and more bits drop off. We used to have great trouble with our cat (the late lamented Buggsy). We discovered he wasn't just playing with it, he was eating it. It was that sparkle that revealed itself when I was scooping the litter tray that gave him away!
So maybe I just need to weed out the old. I still have lots of decorations that belonged to my mother (who died 20 years ago in her 80's) and for all I know some of them may have been inherited. Love getting the old suitcase out every year and seeing these old friends again.
Gosh, badger... I've not seen tinsel in years. When I was a kid we used to have tree lights that looked like candles; the candle bit was a glass tube filled with liquid that the light heated up so that bubbles rose up the tube. Probably lethal but fascinating.
Oh Ricco - you're so young :) . I can remember real candles on the tree, in little holders that clipped onto the branches. Wouldn't that give the H&S people a field day ? Like the sound of those glass things though, we never had those. Sound really pretty.
You can still buy tinsel, or do they call it something different now? It doesn't look quite the same as it's much thicker than it used to be and of course comes in different colours.
So maybe I just need to weed out the old. I still have lots of decorations that belonged to my mother (who died 20 years ago in her 80's) and for all I know some of them may have been inherited. Love getting the old suitcase out every year and seeing these old friends again.
Thats the rub badger! all those deccies that have come down the family from way back when! How can they not be looked at an remembered?:)
hell raizer
20-Dec-07, 23:44
i remember my dad with real candles on the tree, its a wonder there was a tree left :lol:
Oh Ricco - you're so young :) ... Like the sound of those glass things though, we never had those. Sound really pretty.
It may have been a Canadian thing. We had some of the bubbly glass bulbs too.
The tinsel from my youth was made from very thin strips of what was likely lead. It made into a very solid ball if you rolled it up between your fingers. At least it didn't fly around like the plastic stuff of today.
I can remember real candles on the tree, in little holders that clipped onto the branches. Wouldn't that give the H&S people a field day ? Like the sound of those glass things though, we never had those. Sound really pretty.
You can still buy tinsel, or do they call it something different now? It doesn't look quite the same as it's much thicker than it used to be and of course comes in different colours.
We had real candles too badger, and a pot of some snow-effect stuff we brushed onto the tree with a toothbrush! :lol: I thought it looked great.
I much preferred the finer silver strands of the old tinsel rather than the bushy coloured wreaths it comes as now.
Hmmmm.....I think this thread's dating some of us just a wee bit! :eek:
I just hung up ma tinsel & Ma cheap & Nasty decorations in ma room offshore last night..I Love it .. it was like an explosion in the more store!! My room mate said 'yer no putting decorations up' But i stood my ground with the miserable git..Just coz he's getting home for christmas doesnt mean ma xmas has to be dour..TINSEL ROCKS!
I just hung up ma tinsel & Ma cheap & Nasty decorations in ma room offshore last night..I Love it .. it was like an explosion in the more store!! My room mate said 'yer no putting decorations up' But i stood my ground with the miserable git..Just coz he's getting home for christmas doesnt mean ma xmas has to be dour..TINSEL ROCKS!
Wow Zappy puts up his tinsel, then surprise, surprise the Dons win, is there a connection? [lol]
It may have been a Canadian thing. We had some of the bubbly glass bulbs too.
They were wonderful, weren't they! I used to sit and watch them for ages.
Wow Zappy puts up his tinsel, then surprise, surprise the Dons win, is there a connection? [lol]
Glad ye noticed!! roll on bayern!
Glad yer happy about the Dons Zappster (used to work with someone who was Dons mad and I was thinkin about him fondly last night when I saw the score). Good for you puttin up yer decs - rock on!
Does anyone else remember what my mother used to call "Jack Frost" ? I think it came in a packet and after spreading cotton wool around (snow) it was sprinkled over it - looked a bit like small Lux soap flakes. Very pretty.
Oh dear, Angela, definitely showing my age now :roll:
Powered by vBulletin® Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.