The holiday decorations are all taken down (except for the outside lights, ahem) but it’s always nice to have pictures to remember the tree by. Our tree usually looks pretty similar from year to year, because we have a large collection of ornaments we’ve gathered over time — from my childhood, bought during our travels, received as gifts, and of course, handmade by the kids. I do like themed trees and enjoy looking at the trees of people who change their decorations every year, but I can’t imagine not using all of the special ornaments we have.

Some years, like this one, I add another childhood memory to the tree: real metal tinsel like we had when I was growing up in Germany. I know, tinsel is so tacky — but that’s modern tinsel. The stuff sold as tinsel today is generally made out of plastic. It’s very light-weight, more like Easter basket grass than the tinsel of old. Metal tinsel has weight to it, so it hangs beautifully and sparkles as well. (We once had some of the really old kind, made of silver, and that stuff was heavy and ohhhh-sooo-coooool.)

I have a stash of German tinsel from when I was a kid that my mom saved (so, 30+ years old) and this year I supplemented that stash with some vintage strands from Celebrate 365. It isn’t manufactured anymore because it’s lead-based, with the usual health and environmental consequences that come with lead, so you can only find packets second-hand. It’s called Lametta-Eis in German, and there are a handful of other places it turns up for sale, like eBay and Etsy. From a health standpoint, I feel OK using it, since our kids are way old enough to know not to eat it, and our dog Troy doesn’t eat things unless we specifically give them to him (true story). I am careful to wash my hands after handling it, and to not break it if possible. It’s quite fragile, actually, although with proper care it lasts for decades. I always save even the littlest bits that get torn off so they don’t go into the landfill or out with the tree to the compost. The fact that it’s vintage and lasts for so long also helps quell environmental concerns. It’s not like not using it would make it disappear, so I will continue to carefully use it and then dispose of it safely some day when it has fallen to bits.

The new tinsel, though vintage, was relatively smooth and straight and quite shiny. My old stuff was crinkled and some had darkened over the years. So to blend the two, I first thought I would crunch up the new stuff to make it crinklier (like how tinfoil gets crinkly when you ball it up). Ah, good. It looked more like the ripply-surfaced icicles it’s supposed to imitate, but I thought I could make it even prettier. After some experimentation, I ended up crimping it between my fingers to give it waves (like a crimping iron). Better!

(That’s a Seattle Mariners stocking ornament there, natch.)

I added the tinsel one and two strands at a time just to the tips of the branches, which isn’t as slow a process as it sounds, then gathered all the strands on the branch between my hands and crimped it all at once.

See all the lovely waves? Some of my mom’s stash was gold, so I think about 1/4 of the tinsel on the tree is gold, mixed in with the silver. It also comes in colors, like red and blue, though the colored lights on our tree bathe the strands in all kinds of shades anyway.

Taking closeups of the tree  is a great way to document such a difficult to photograph subject. This is one of my favorite ornaments, by Kathe Wohlfahrt, which we picked up on a visit to Germany. Many of my childhood ornaments are from Kathe Wohlfahrt, collected one or two at a time over the years when we lived there. The older ones have chipping paint and a few bits missing — like my one-winged angel — but I treasure them. If you ever have the chance to visit Rothenburg-ob-Der-Tauber (the famous walled city) in Germany, the Kathe Wohlfahrt factory and shop are located there. It’s like a Christmas wonderland, that store.

All in all, an old-fashioned tree with a lot of memories. One of these years I’ll document all the special ornaments. I’ll have to do it before my kids move away, because they’ll be taking their ornaments with them, just as I did when I left home. And someday, maybe one of them will want the tinsel for their tree. If not, at least they’ll have the memory of “real tinsel.”