Pre-lit UPSIDE DOWN Christmas trees all the rage (I like!!)

[underpants]

"We have ones that hang upside-down from the ceiling, ones that stand upside-down in a specially reinforced stand and a wall-mounted one, too. Plug them in and off you go. They are very popular."

The wholesale supplier of the Chinese-made trees, Roman Inc, of Addison, Illinois, has temporarily run out of stock even though Christmas is still almost five weeks away. An announcement on the company's website, below a picture of its "Upside-Down Pre-Lit Christmas Tree", declares: "Due to the popularity of this item, we are unexpectedly sold out."

Yet topsy-turvy trees do not come cheap. The three standard sizes, going up to 7ft, cost between $257 (£150) and $500.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/20/wtree20.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/11/20/ixworld.html

[bbernardini]

1. Do they come with that lifesize Estelle Getty doll, too? n/t

[tigereye]

3. snort!

[jane_pippin]

2. Isn't the upsidedown tree a German thing?

I seem to remember a trip to the Milwaukee museum as a kid around this time of year and one of the exhibits about Milwaukee's settlers (The Streets of Old Milwaukee) featured upsidedown trees.

I'm going to go look it up.

[underpants]

5. You are confusing upside down trees with conquering Europe

A lot of people do that

[jane_pippin]

7. Lol! Perhaps, but it's true! See:

Some say German, some say Polish, some say just Europe in general:

http://www.iarelative.com/xmas/upside.htm

http://www.christmastreefarm.co.uk/thehistoryofchristmastrees.htm

"Legend has it that he used the triangular shape of the Fir tree to describe the Holy Trinity of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The converted people began to revere the Fir tree as God's Tree, as they had previously revered the Oak. By the 12th century in Central Europe, the Fir tree was being hung upside-down, from ceilings at Christmas time as a symbol of Christianity."

[tigereye]

4. oh that's just silly

[Love Bug]

6. Saw a picture of one of those years ago

Apparently this family had a toddler in the house and in order to make sure the tree remained unmolested by said toddler, nailed it to the ceiling upside-down. I've seen trees placed in the middle of playpens, too, for the same reason.

[Ivan Sputnik]

8. It's actually an old tradition

going back to the 12th century. See:

http://www.christmasarchives.com/trees.html

I doubt if most people with upside-down trees today know about this, though.

[underpants]

9. I sure didn't Mr.Robinson

Gee golly (takes off hat shakes head) I thought it had something to do with conquering Europe

[u4ic]

10. I wonder if it'll freak the cat out

:shrug:

(remember those Looney Tunes where the mice nail everything upside down and the poor cat has a nervous breakdown...)

[underpants]

11. I was wondering about the cat thing too

We wired our tree up to a bookshelf last year.