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Archive Gallery: PopSci's Vintage Guide to Enjoying the Holidays

Posted 12.21.10 at 2:12 pm 2 Comments

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DIY Christmas Tree: January 1919

It was the year 1919, and the future of Christmas was in jeopardy."Santa's stinginess in handing out real pine Christmas trees in the last few years has caused us to look on him with increasing disfavor," we wrote. "But if our patron saint won't give us Christmas trees our inventors will make us some."

Families could make high-tech artificial trees in just a few easy steps. First, drill holes in wooden poles. Second, create a shaft out of the poles by binding them with a circular piece of wood. Install a clock machine into a wooden base, and once you're done, mount the shaft onto the pedestal. Stick several tree branches into the holes, trim them with ornaments and lights, then switch on the driving gear. Ta-da, you have a revolving Christmas tree.

Read the full story in "Make Your Own Christmas Tree"

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Read the article: Archive Gallery: PopSci's Vintage Guide to Christmas Past

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2 Comments

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alias007

12/22/10 at 11:55 am

lol @ tobacco santa...

i'd actually love to have a christmas bow machine.

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pioneer10

12/22/10 at 1:38 pm

I was surprised to see such practicality and utility in most of the ads (other than the cigarettes, anyway). I expected to see things like erector sets, chemistry sets, spectronomy and the like. Most of these things actually are geared along the lines of saving money, not pure science. That said, I definitely could have used most of them over the years!