Today’s entry in The 12 Posts of Christmas is a photo essay (with a bonus video that I decided to do on the spur of the moment) of the PopCult Christmas Trees.

Yeah…”Trees.”  Plural.  Mrs. PopCulteer has bought so many ornaments over the years that we ran out of space on the one tree long ago and had to start rotating them. Couple that with us finding the flaming red tree that we missed out on buying last year, and me having the feeling that, if we do two, why not three, and we wound up with three trees crowded into our cozy living room.

And even with that…we probably left more than two-thirds of the ornaments in the closet this year.

Now that we  have set the dangerous precedent of having multiple trees, things might even get more bizarre next year.

When I made my annual incursion into the attic here at Stately Radio Free Charleston Manor, I took inventory…and and there are half a dozen other trees up there.

God help us.

Anyway, we will kick off this year’s photo essay (in lieu of sending Christmas cards) with the smallest tree, a pre-lit four-footer that dates back to the time when your PopCulteer was not yet married to the love of his life, and just wanted something low-maintenance. I brought this one down to be the host of our tiny ornaments. Just so you don’t think we’re being extravagant here, the topper was a Dollar Tree find.

It occurs to me that some folks might be more interested in the cool stuff in the background than they are in the tree. That’s just rude. Don’t you be lookin’ at our stuff!

This tree was ideal for our tiny, nearly weightless, ornaments.

And how often do you find the perfect tree-topper at Dollar Tree?

At the base of this tree is Mel’s Tree-hugging Bunny JellyCat plush. Encouraged by our friend Pixie, Mel has joined the Church of the JellyCat.

Next up we have the flaming red tree. Mel wanted it when she saw it last year at Roses in Erie, but they only had one left and it was fully-decorated.  This year we found one in Canton, and it was assembled, but bare-assed nekkid, so we bought the display model (it was cheap, really) and stuffed it in the backseat of the rental car.

We figured we’d make it the host of our white and silver ornaments, and we bought some cheap white garland. The tree topper for this one was a Walmart find, and is either a lovely Northern star, or an albino Demogorgon. Either way, it’s quite striking.

Our flaming red tree, nestled in a corner that is cluttered with mostly cool stuff. I have never been able to figure out how Mel manages to leave bottles of window cleaner all over the place. Ive never actually seen her using it.

Before Mel gets too mad, I should point out that the window cleaner remark was a joke, and that I should have moved it before I took the photo. Whew! That was close. Mel did the bulk of the work on the trees, with my job mainly being the lummox work of carrying stuff around.

Northern Star or Albino Demogorgon? You be the judge!

Finally we have the main tree, which is our pop culture tree. It’s not as crowded as in previous years.  Some of this is because of the time-crunch that came from not being able to decorate until we got back from Chicago. Some of it was not being in the mood to decorate much because friends kept passing away. Some of it is because I asked Mel to stop hanging giant ornaments on the bottom branches of the tree because they don’t leave room for any packages.

The main tree. Pay no attention to the groceries I haven’t put away yet.

Batman and Robin climb past an ornament with fabric used in a production of “Amadeus” at Steppenwolf on their way to worship at the altar of Jack, the JellyCat.

We went to the Lucky Cat Museum in Cinncinnati last August. I think we got this there. Photo by Mel.

The other ornament we got at Steppenwolf that is filled with material left over from the wardrobe from “Amadeus.” This is from the outfit we first see the former boy genius in.

The head of Jack The JellyCat, wearing a Santa hat. He sees you when you’re sleeping, and reports back to JellyCat central. Photo by Mel.

Our final photo shows Plankton, dejected because HE wanted to rule the world and now Jack The JellyCat has stolen all his thunder. 

We wrap things up with that video that I spent about ten minutes making. The music is by Jim And The Sea Dragons, who you’ve heard on Radio Free Charleston. Go buy their music. They’re great! PopCult and The AIR wish you the happiest holiday possible, given the circumstances.