Cheap Christmas Trash
Cheap Christmas Trash!I heard this expression first in a play. I forget the title of the play, but it was about a set of sisters in the South. One kept using this expression to comment on another, in reference to the other’s liberal sexuality (i.e. she was a tramp).
She was “cheap Christmas trash”.
This expression gives me a chuckle. It has an oxymoronic feeling to it, as I try hard to make Christmas and its decorations neither cheap or trashy.
However, we used to have an aluminum Christmas tree stand with green and red votive candles. I thought it sweet. Someone definitely put it in category of “Cheap Christmas Trash”. He was glad when it finally cracked.
We have some old plastic ornaments that every year do not get put on the tree – perhaps they count for CTT. But at the moment we don’t seem to have CTT out.
Is Christmas really Christmas without some kitsch?
I need a chuckle and a smile today – please tell me about
A. Your favorite piece of Cheap Christmas Trash
B. What you do with it each year
C. Is it a source of friction in your household?
posted by Ur-spo at 10:20 PM
19 Comments:
I don't know if I have any Christmas trash. I love the Christmas season.
I remember a rather care worn little angelic tree topper. Her halo kept slipping, and she kept tilting to one side, as though she were ready to bolt the straight and narrow path. I always felt rather sympathetic toward her, as my halo was never fastened too tightly either.
That tree branch she rode on must have left some splinters in some very sensitive spots.
The price one pays to be an angel.
I bought a 7' aluminum Christmas tree that I had for year that I loved putting up but that eventually broke. But it was defininitely Christmas trash.
As for now. I have a number of ornaments that aren't even ornaments that have a place on my tree every year, including....a giant plastic green fish, a car air freshener, a doll whose hair grows if you pull a string in her butt, and a stuffed reindeer. It wouldn't be Christmas is they weren't on my tree, often hidden in the back but there all the same. No one has ever argued about it, they just accept my craziness and go on.
A. I have a CTT aluminum Christmas Tree Shaped Card Holder - it was a gift. It's highly functional, but tacky
B. Most years I use it for it's functionality, but some years I tape all of my cards to a door.
C. Murphy (my dog) does not mind what I do, so NO FRICTION :)
Now that I am going to downsize AGAIN (b/c of move) I will probably toss it. If we meet before I leave, it's yours :)
Mr. Wild One and I do not share the same taste in ornaments for the tree. I like the "old world" style glass ornaments. He likes more modern stuff. Some of it is nice. The ones that are humorous, I find kitchy. It's never caused friction, though I don't think I've mentioned it before. I wonder what will happen if he reads this comment.
Well, I made a small tree this year from coat hangers, lights, and garland. The idea was good; my exectuion of same leaves something to be desired, so I think it needs to fall in the CTT category. The good news is that it was cheap to make and I can rebuild it for next Christmas if -- God forbid -- I am still living alone. Ben made one at his house and it looks great -- so who got the gay gene in our relationship?
I have one red velvet used foan from the first Christmas ornament I bought, at about 12. It's always on the tree.
I have a garland that goes on the door, it's a red velvet stripe with bells. Every year the velvet gets more rinkeled. Last year I got sick of it and just cut the thing to the top big bell.
I have all my mom's old stuff. Real Christmas balls. My cats tell them with it's time to go. lol
Almost every year one or two falls due to a cat passing under the tree or playing with it cause he sees his reflection.
I think I'll sto[ here, but I could go on forever. lol
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My Grandparents' tree was a 3-foot-tall metallic wonder, with branches resmebling golden firwork explosions rather than actual wood. Every year, they set it on a tray table in front of their main window so everyone could enjoy it as they passed by.
To my knowledge, no comments were made about it out loud. Well, maybe some low-key chuckles.
i think i qualify as cheap christmas trash.
The year we met we were looking for a nice tree topper and couldn't find anything on which we could both agree.
On Christmas eve we were doing some last minute grocery shopping and ran across a Malibu Ken doll in spandex swimwear that changes color when wet. He was only $2.99 so we bought him and put him atop the tree. That night at our traditional orphans Christmas sing-a-long he was all the rage. The main joke being that if the tree catches fire, we'll finally get to see his clothes change color.
17 years later and he's still the top!
How's that for CTT?
Rodger wins.
A. Growing up my parents always topped the tree with a glass angel with a golden skirt that lights up. Mom tried to replace her several years ago but my older sister and I vetoed that move. Also, mom has a stable with baby Jesus, Mary, Joe and all the animals and wise men. I will admit that it has seen better days and mom attempted to replace it....vetoed. And lastly, I am the keeper of my grandmother's silver aluminum tree with the color wheel.
B. Each year the old golden angel adorns the top of mom and dad's tree. The stable is set beneath the tree and mom makes snow and mountains and on and on. As for the silver tree, it hasn't been out of storage since we moved from our house to a condo. I used to put it up in our den and put the "nice" tree up in the formal living area for all to see.
C. Any friction? The angel and the stable/manger caused some friction at first, but my sister and I used revers Catholic guilt psychology on my mom and got our way. We played the tradition card. As for the aluminum tree, there is no friction.....until we again have a home with two living areas. The tree WILL live again.
Merry Christmas!
Can somebody tell me the name of the damn play??
My bro and sis are about 15 years older then me. They painted some wooden ornaments and every year we had to put them out. One year they must of gotten wet or it was humid in the attic and they all stuck together. My mother pulled those things apart and hung them anyway. They were horribly disfigured but she wouldn't throw them away. Last year we cleaned out her Christmas decorations and she very reluctently let me toss them.
Spo - The play is "Crimes of the Heart" written by Beth Henley. She won a pulitzer for the play in 1981.
There was a movie version in 1986 with Sissy Spacek, Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange and the demi-god Sam Shepard.
thank you Rodger!
OOXX
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I just created my first real piece of Christmas trash -- a Squidmas wreath made of neon-orange fake seaweed, bedecked with rubber Squid. I anxiously await the moment when one of the neighbors notices and calls the neighborhood association to complain, me being the VP on the association board. My light-up reindeer has seen better days -- his antlers and one of his legs have shorted out, and he falls over when it rains, so that he pathetically raises his head over and over as if to say. "Call 911!" Nobody seems to appreciate my favorite Xmas action movie, "The Long Kiss Goodnight." I'm not remembering anything else. It causes no friction in my household because I cook Christmas dinner, so they're not about to complain. The hermit crabs roundly approve of the wreath, BTW.
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