Christmas trees can be traditional or trendy, and the latest trend is to turn them on their tails. Upside-down Yule trees are all the rage this year, and Donna Bruner of Tribez salon was among the first to see their allure.
“I had a client years and years ago that told me she had an upside down Christmas tree and how much fun it was,” said Bruner. “Then I was on a quest to do something unusual and I was in a San Francisco showroom and saw it.”
Now her tree is the talk of the town. Clients come in to take photos, with or without an appointment.
Bruner said the upside-down arrangement makes sense. The narrow tip on the floor leaves more room for presents.
Some of these trees hang from the ceiling with a heavy bottom to stabilize them, but Bruner’s rests on a base with a strong metal rod to keep it upright. She completed the upside-down vision by surrounding the tree’s top – bottom? – with an upside-down choo choo train circling the tree and brightly wrapped presents to complete the package.
Putting the tree together was a special challenge, Bruner said. “It weighs 70 pounds!” Working from the base up she had to assemble a multitude of branches, then she decorated them while standing on a tall ladder.
“But people love it,” she said. “Everyone wants to know where I got it.”
Germany is credited with first bringing evergreens into homes to celebrate Christmas. The tradition immigrated to the United States, and by 1830 the trees were referred to as “Christmas trees.”
Christmas trees have always been subject to trends. In the late 1950s, the craze was to have a spotlight on the tree with revolving colors instead of lights resting on the branches. At some point aluminum trees were the rage. Folks have long experimented with large and small lights, twinkling, colored or all white, and different ornament types and color themes. Hanging icicles lost their popularity once it was discovered how dangerous they were for animals and how long they would hang out in the living room corners.
The upside-down trees now making the scene are artificial and 7 feet or so in height. Hammacher Schlemmer, online purveyor of quality artificial trees, was sold out of its $600 model weeks ago. Its description calls the upside-down tree a 12th-century European tradition. Target.com advertises its 7 foot 5 inch upside-down tree for $399.99 plus $111.99 for shipping and also notes it is in the European tradition. This tree has 460 mini-bulbs and weighs about 25 pounds.
Last week at Tribez, Kindsey Perez, 17, sat under a hair drier with a ringside view of the tree.
“It’s really interesting,” she said. “I love the train upside down, defying gravity.”
“It’s a great twist but I wouldn’t want it in my home,” she added.
Enthusiasts of the upside-down tree say it’s easier to see the ornaments on the wide branches. But it begs the question: What happens to the star that traditionally crowns the top of the tree?
