MovieChat Forums > Holiday Affair (1949) Discussion > What kind of Christmas tree did they hav...

What kind of Christmas tree did they have?


I love those old-fashioned trees with the spaces between the layers of branches. Anyone know what those are called? Definitely not scotch pine, blue spruce, etc.

I've looked for that type of tree for years -- no one sells them anymore. Guess people nowadays think they look too spindly, but I think they're beautiful.

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We will watch the movie tonight but since I am almost 80 I remember trees like that. The reason the trees were spindly is that they were as grown naturally. Not pruned and trimmed etc in their growing time, nor probably raised in tree farms.

People then did not like them. I remember my Dad cutting off limbs and drilling into the tree trunk to "even" things out. Another difference was that trees did not go up till Xmas eve (at least in our house) and Santa did the trimming.

Tree decorations and all other kinds were much simpler than now. However in my parents childhoods they had real candles on their trees (and a bucket of water nearby!)

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All very true, Ematerso. Also, the type of tree in the movie was a popular German-style tree (google "German Feather Tree" for an example). They were popular I think until the 1960s, when people wanted fuller, more bush-like trees that held more lights & ornaments, and resembled the "perfect" artificial trees that had become popular.

If anyone can tell me the name of the tree type (what type of spruce, fir, etc) the one in the movie is, i'd much appreciate...

Merry Christmas to all fans of this terrific movie.

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I'll check back next year.

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Do you want a real tee or an artificial tree? I saw on Pinterest where a woman just took her artificial tree and left out every other row of limbs and then inserted her Christmas village houses in between. It looked similar to this type of tree or a feather tree.

Please paint something cool today...Don't paint the sun anymore!

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Good idea, but I'm really just curious about the type of tree it is. I'm wondering if they grew like that, or if maybe people pruned them. But thanks.

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I coincidentally came across an article this morning title Why My 1970s Christmas Was Way Better. The first reason was the tree:

Giant, unruly tree that takes over the living room.

There were no fancy tree lots in the '70s; we got this tree in the parking lot at the A&P supermarket:

[the image of their tree is here]

What kind was it? A Douglas Fir? A Noble? Who knows? Nobody cared, it was a Christmas tree. There was no rhyme or reason to the ornaments or decorations. THIS TREE WAS AWESOME.


Here's the article with photo: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lori-ferraro/why-my-1970s-christmas-was- way-better_b_4419628.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

It looks similar to the one in the film, albeit with different decorations and might be a fir tree with many of the branches having fallen out due to sitting on a lot. People didn't take care of their trees as much previously. I remember their was a move in the 70s or 80s to have people be more conscientious about adding water to the base of their trees to prevent fires from the lights. I wonder if people even kept them in water years ago. I think they used to sell them on those crossed wood slats like we see in Charlie Brown Christmas. How do they even sell them now? I no longer purchase a real one and can't even recall how they sell them.

From what I've seen from photos online it looks more like a Noble fir than a Douglas because Douglas fir tree branches seem too "slopey" to be the correct tree. Is that the tree you think it is?

Also, this video has a pre-war Lionel train and 1940s-style balsam trees: http://youtu.be/bVWj2Ulk-yE

It looks like it could be a couple of different trees, but the fact that trees were usually taken from their natural environment probably had a lot to do with the look.


Please paint something cool today...Don't paint the sun anymore!

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I think it's a Silver Tip. That has the spaces between the branches.

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Merry Christmas 2014 everyone! A year later, and I think we have the answer: A silver tip pine!

Thanks all, and enjoy Holiday Affair on TCM (I dvr'd it last night)...

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I looked at the images of silver tips. Do they just grow that way with the space between rows of branches or do people just trim them that way?

By the way, I just found this movie with three others for $9 at Walgreens.

"There is nothing in the dark that isn't there when the lights are on." - Rod Serling

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Merry Christmas 2015 to all Holiday Affair fans.

Sitcom Sally, silver tips grow that way. Some people have tried to trim other types of trees to make them look like this, but doesn't really work because the branches don't grow in an even circle around the trunk.

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That makes sense. They are really special. I'm glad we finally got an answer to the mystery tree.

"There is nothing in the dark that isn't there when the lights are on." - Rod Serling

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I believe it was a Double Balsam

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They were Balsam firs. Here's an article explaining what happened to them:
https://www.oldhouseguy.com/old-fashioned-christmas-tree/

My family, and everyone else I knew, had those more open-style trees until they disappeared from Christmas tree lots by the early 1990s. For some reason, people wanted the more shrub-like, dense trees we have today, on which the ornaments lie on the surface, rather than hanging between the branches.

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