Trimming the Tree 2

Color arrangement is a matter of taste. Some people prefer a single color, usually red, or a combination of blue and silver. I prefer the multi-colored tree. One color can be tiresome, or may quarrel with some outstanding furnishing. A proper tree belongs in the room at Christmas time. It does not stand there like a stranger.

Trees may be sprayed with aluminum paint for a silvered effect or with water or casein paints. A solid color requires two coats. Painted trees are hardly appropriate to Christmas in the home, though they may be striking in long rows in a hotel lobby or town hall. Special occasions may excuse the painting of a Christmas tree. I have seen, for example, an effective tree set up in honor of a new baby. It was given two coats of white casein paint, then decorated with strings of pink popcorn, booties, rattles and other delicate-colored gifts, tied on with light blue ribbon.

Electric lights add life and additional color to the tree, but often the passers-by on the street get a better view of them than the family indoors. It calls for a little ingenuity to hide the necessary wires and make the lights stand as upright as the candles they replace.

Twelve-inch lengths of wire are helpful in this respect. Electric lights are suitable for outdoor trees. In choosing colors, consider that some carry better than others. White has higher visi­bility than amber; amber is brighter than red. Green or blue have a relatively short range. White bulbs with colored reflectors are effective.

It is a matter of good judgment, it seems to me, to avoid using traffic colors on an outdoor tree if it stands close to the street. Motorists find the multiplication of red and green lights confusing at Christmas time, espe­cially when they are on community trees at crossroad locations.

True tinsel has not been available for some time. It tarnishes quickly and new materials have replaced it, but they do not have the fineness and sparkle of the old-fashioned kind. Thin strips of tinfoil are much used now­adays in place of tinsel. These should be hung lightly at the top of tree and a little thicker at the bottom.
 

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