It’s become an annual tradition. Sometime, a week or so before Christmas, your PopCulteer posts a whole bunch of photos of his Christmas Tree, rather than actually write anything substantial.
Of course, nobody seems to mind because Mrs. PopCulteer, Mel Larch, does such a wonderful job decorating the tree. With 2020 being the year from hell, we didn’t get to travel much, and therefore don’t have much in the way of new ornaments with cool stories behind them this year. I think our only new ornamets were the glass-blown junkfood ornaments I found cheap at Kroger, and the Pusheen in a stocking that I got for Mel, not realizing that I gave her an identical one last year.
Normally Mel agonizes over how to group our ornaments together, so that all the Batman ornaments are in one place, and all the Walking Dead and SpongeBob ornaments are in their place. This year I asked her not to do this. I thought it was better to have the cool stuff spread all over the tree, plus it greatly reduced Mel’s self-induced stress level.
I’d say the end result is pretty spectacular. It’s fun to stare at the tree (I’ve been known to do that) and it’s like a a giant puzzle, finding all the ornaments from Chicago, New York, The Yellow Submarine, GI Joe, Pusheen, Senoia Georgia, Coca Cola, and all the fun things we’ve accumulated over the years. You see the whole tree up above this text. Below, with sparse commentary, you’ll see close ups.
We had to start with the topper. In the background you’ll see art by Jeff Pierson, a Svengoolie puzzle and some Wrigley Field stuff.
With Ringo, Squidward, Batman & Robin & Batgirl, Hot Wheels and more, this part of the tree is dripping with pop culture goodness!
There’s a lot of Chicago in this part of the tree, but you can see some other stuff lingering around the edges.
Mel likes to hang the big, heavy ornaments at the bottom of the tree, so there’s no room for gifts. I kid, I kid.
Detail on Bugs in drag.
This was tricky to photograph, but Mel’s “W” flag ornament is translucent, and I was able to position it in front of one of the lights on our pre-lit tree. It looks really cool in person.
Gotta work in a low-angle shot.
I hope the presence of The Mothman doesn’t mean that the tree will collapse on Christmas Day. Look for some kind of artistic intepretation of the tree Monday, and have a very happy holiday season. God knows we’ve earned one.
VERY cool!