Well, where are you displaying? In a store front, or the front room? Let's take a look at controlling the background. A Christmas tree embodies the holiday scene; that body had better have a heart. The Sub for Santa tree always has an environment advantage even a White House Christmas tree can't compete with. This is the 2002 Birds of America tree in the White House. The ceilings are high, the chandeliers are low, the carpets are deep, mirrors and paneling are everywhere. Every Governor sent at least 2 bird ornaments. They are one of a kind ornaments. Artists all over the nation work for months designing them. Nurseries competed fiercely to have their tree chosen for the Blue Room. Live security from the FBI stands guard. The 1st Lady has to wait until the staff says everything is perfect. Then she is lead through the rooms to see the decorations for the 1st time. The display space doesn't get any better than that. But where is the heart of all that work?

I know only one guest. She expressed wonder, awe, enchantment at the White House decorations. There was no sitting quietly, not in the crowd. The decorations she immediately remembered were the papier-mâché of the White House Pets. Hearts will warm around pets. Even the State Gingerbread house had the pets in front. Only security knows if a human got to sit quietly in the Blue Room and absorb the Christmas Spirit. There is a picture of Millie spaniel standing in front of the Blue Room. She is ignoring the Christmas Tree. I have seen a picture of Socks sitting under a White House tree. He looked much more comfortable than he did when the photographers cornered him before the election.

There is no place like home to display a Christmas Tree. Oh, the old days at the apartment. There wasn't enough of anything. The tree was a super discount from a Christmas Eve excursion. There were only two strands of popcorn. We ran out of ornaments half way down the tree. But that tree was big and it filled the living room. Great heart warming experience with this bad looking tree. It is an exclusive happy memory to the people who were there. Now this half tree is hanging on a hook. It doesn't have a back. But there is no way to miss with it. The setting is a step down den with a huge double picture window behind it. The ornaments are warm red. The fireplace is just to the left. The snow outside is the deepest Salt Lake has had in 20 years. Total strangers would deliberately sit on the couch by this tree and just gaze.

At home, the wisdom of the ages prevails, the bare spot is turned to the wall. Then what do you do with that obliging wall? With a home displayed tree - Anything the thumbtacks will hold up, and the manager doesn't catch, goes up.

You can't help basking in the holiday glow of soft holiday lights, giving, the right a person has to live in their own home, and paper projects the elementary kids have brought home. The elderly roll their eyes at the thought of taking down the tree. But only a moment or so. You're ready for this because you've followed the instructions in ''Taking a Stand''. In the next few seconds they'll send you to get a favorite photo to put next to the tree. When you take down the tree you'll notice other items they've put on and around it. These backgrounds touches mean something; they are the heart of the Christmas tree.

No such luck with the display tree. Your background space is the dusty black cube that hawked the Halloween goods. Or maybe that icky oatmeal goes with anything berber is supposed to be your wonderland.

Or maybe you have to deal with the 360° available to view space that we have at the Festival of Trees. Very few 360° backgrounds will be filled with 500 lovingly hand decorated specialty trees, and the fresh bakery smell of hot scones. That's when the tree is in danger of becoming part of the forest. White lights are the brightest. White lights attract the eye better than colored lights. But not when 8 of 9 trees are using white lights. Do you want your tree to stand out? I recommend the use of: Backdrops, Motion, and Figures interacting with the tree.

BACKDROPS

Look at the depth a two dimensional backdrop adds. It was sold as a shower curtain. But here it is a wonderful translucent backdrop. There is a vanishing point behind the tree. Look at the detail of the heron's leg. The vanishing point is a fictional two miles away. It is still two dimensions, but it gives a 3 dimension illusion. Recently the Festival has limited the use of backdrops. The trees share air space with trees behind them. My first backdrop, the heron at the pool, had bare wood and hinges showing out the back. I was considering draping more garland down the back. The decorators behind me were very worried. My set up made their tree look bad. They asked me if I was going to cover the back. I said yes. They were still worried. They offered to cover it with the wide bolt red paper they had been using. It was a good compromise. They had matching bows and swags up by the time they were finished. Their side of the backdrop matched their tree, and gave a depth of field to both our spaces.

I've had my own backdrop rear up and stab me in the back. Normally I have very good luck with stained glass type back grounds, see the Sources page. Using grids and the crayon batik method, see the Stands page, I can get a backdrop of nearly any window. Victorian windows have very subtle color effects. Medievil windows have powerful red on blue designs. (see source page) But this time I chose a modern window. The designer had been with Tiffany. No one had trouble finding my tree that year. The fabric was an ecru color for an antique look, and to help the skin tones. My background looked a lot better on the reverse side, with a soft light flowing through it to the tree behind it. The crayon dyes were too harsh on the front and didn't look as good on the side my tree was on.

MOTION
The jewelry tree appearing in the left border is a cone shaped tree. It turned around. The motor speed was about 10 turns in a minute. I remember it being about five feet tall. The light flashing off the rhinestones as they turned attracted alot of attention. A fair tree motor is about $40 and can safely light about 300 lights. You can not put more than 40 pounds on top. The weight must be perfectly centered. Other tree motors will carry heavier weights but they do not have the electric contacts to light the tree. Genuine electrical display motors are about $1.00/per pound of carrying weight. The weight HAS TO BE CENTERED. A 400 lb. carrying motor will handle the big live trees and their ornaments. I got a 75 lb motor one year. The tree and ornaments weighed 60 lb. My carousel tree turned for 5 glorious seconds, then the electricity blew out. I smelled ozone, and the lights went dead. I didn't get the weight centered. I wailed, and stomped my feet. I had been decorating for eight hours. I was so overwrought I was ready to throw the whole thing in the dumpster. Thankfully the lights came on after I plugged them in the regular extension cord. I ripped out the motor and put the carousel horses on top of the canopy. I thought my heart was busted in two. I knew it hadn't the next day. A reporter had seen me test the canopy lights. They'd written that a working carousel tree was at the Festival. That's when my heart busted in two, fell off the shelf, and smashed on the floor. So I did what the old song advised, and stomped on it. I was letting down everyone who read the article; I'd been too cheap to get a better motor.

I had a very eerie experience with a motion figure in 2001. I had been working on a memorial tree. It was the 10-year anniversary of the death of a canine patrol officer, Jack Elmer. He had been killed by a drunk driver barreling thru an illegal left turn. I had done a portrait doll in porcelain for the figure beneath the tree. The body came from a hardware store motion angel. The motor bobbed the head, flapped some wings, and waved the hands vaguely. I stripped off the plastic parts and reset the head and hands with the porcelain. Then I costumed the body with a reproduction of the uniform. His badge was cut from an Olympic key chain fob made specifically for the Murray Police Dept. My vague seraph had been transformed into an angel officer. He was holding out his star flashlight, and searching the area with piercing brown paperweight eyes. The next week another officer was killed by a gunman. Then a sheriff was killed in a motorcycle wreck. Then 9-11 hit. There were a few police and fireman memorial trees in 2001 I can tell you. I wonder how many of them had been themed before September?

Sound ornaments DO NOT work with theme trees. They have to run for long periods of time. They break, burn out, become obnoxious. . . Good sound only comes from good sound systems. The only successful sound ornament I've seen in 20 years were dancing gorillas strung between 2 palm trees. They sang the Macarena. They jiggled, they went nuts every time someone clapped. One gorilla set the others off. They burned out three days later from over use. If you include the chirping birds, singing lobsters, or motion sensor phaser fire, God forbid - make sure it has an off switch. Even a selection of 30 Christmas Favorites has a 15 second tolerance window when the Donald Duck ornament is rasping them out.

THEME FIGURES

This striking cloth sculpture Gibson Girl was displayed on a pedestal. She was almost as tall as the table top tree I put her next to. I watched her catch the eye of doll collectors from 100 feet away. Her silhouette, shimmering crystal beads, and long glossy ringlets drew people in to look at the tree. There is a great story about her drawing power in the introduction. She drew people in to see The most Important Ornament I have ever made.

My porcelain lion went with a lion and lamb theme. That glorious mane has quite a story. There once was a teenager with real buttercream red Irish hair. He went to my church. He drove his parents nuts because he wouldn't cut it. They even conspired with his girl friend to try to get it trimmed. It didn't work. The instant I saw him I started to covet that red hair. Human hair is the best for doll making. A dyed lock cost $40 a pound. Here, walking around loose on the street was the perfect natural color and wave for my lion. The Festival of Trees is a 100% donation to the Primary Children's Hospital. When you are finished decorating everything belongs to the hospital. but the dedication photos. I looked at that red hair, with my mouth watering, and said ''I want it all for the Festival of Trees.'' He said ''No.'' I asked a question. ''Do you mean to say you wouldn't give your hair to those poor little leukemia patients at Primary Children's?'' He said ''NO!'' But the next week he came into church bald as a cue ball. He handed me a plastic sack with every last strand in it. There was just enough to do the lion's mane. My nephew donated the dark lock for the goatee under the chin.

Ice carvings are wonderful beneath outdoor trees. This reindeer lasted in our front yard for days. An indoor ice carving lasts a few hours. It's just right to serve the fruit or the punch from at a holiday dinner. A good hotel restaurant will have a chef that ice carves. This is an expensive, but spectacular ornament. The ice blocks are large and need special freezing conditions to keep the air bubbles out.

I know the Raggedy Ann tree was successful. The items under it kept moving. I didn't put any motors in Marcella's nursery. So these reproduction dolls either do what the book describes: They got up and danced around by themselves; Or eager little hands got past their parents and the docents to rearrange my display. The picture shows Uncle Clem's kilt covering the Camel with Wrinkled knees. The bird quilt is no longer folded. Raggedy Ann has moved out of the left display area. The baby is back in the manger. And the book has moved to the other side of the tree. I am still furious with Simon & Schust over that book. It was the dingiest Raggedy Ann book I'd ever seen. The reds were printed in a nasty brown. You couldn't see the locks of the doll. But copies were scarce during the holiday rush, so I had to take what was available.

The best figures are ones that are doing something with the tree's theme. I make porcelain dolls. Moth is adding a garland to the Midwinter's Night tree. Her wings are the actual pattern of an English moth. I crayon batiked it onto the sheer silk sewn on the wire frame. If I'm lucky the dolls are finished in time for the Crossroads Dolls show. Moth is wearing a blue ribbon on her wrist. Puck is smashing ornaments. For Seasons Greetings I costumed four dolls as the Four Seasons. Fall was a red headed engineering professor holding out a diploma. Summer was in gardening clothes. She was harvesting the garland. Winter was a stern old knight kneeling in the snow. I made his wig from unspun silk fibers.

The stick poking out the back is anchored in a 1 gallon can with plaster of paris. I'd hung blossoms, and a mobile of winter sprites flitting around under its branches. A mobile doesn't need electricity to move. You can put the parts at eye level or higher to get the eye attraction you need. The Seasons Greetings tree is the only time I've used poly batting snow. It is a regular staple for store display. It covers a fair space and resembles snow drifts. Make sure you get the unbonded batting. It poofs and bunches better than the bonded. The best artificial snow I have ever seen was made of those foam BB's they used to stuff beanbag chairs with. The designer had a light vacuum running up the trunk of the tree. The BB's had a static charge. They rolled gently down the side of the tree like a soft misty snow fall. Then they fell into a catch pan that fed them back up the vacuum. It was a triumph of display. Most ground cover is banned, wood chips, rafia, straw, etc. because of the fire hazard.

Most visitors leave The Festival with eyes sparkling in wonder. But they can't see the trees for the forest. When I ask them which tree is their favorite, they can't remember. When I mention a specific tree, that's when the memories come pouring out. So when you are in Salt Lake Valley the week after Thanksgiving, remember this. Go to the Festival of Trees during the DAY. Most crowds attend during the evening. Amble, ask the docents what they like about their row of trees. They always have a strong positive feeling about at least one of the trees in their row.

Then there are the store trees, bleah. People are very aware those annoying pre-Halloween trees. Look at the people's faces as they pass them. There is very little positive reaction. The trees are shills; and shoppers know it. They have no heart. They're only buy and sell. They have very little to do with quietly gazing at your own little tree on a holiday evening. Don't make your tree an ornament rack. Do something personal.

OK now its time get the tree on a stand.




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