page_title: Christmas in the post-war United States
section_title: Aluminum
hierarchical_section_title: Christmas in the post-war United States / Christmas trees / Types / Aluminum
caption_attribution_description: English: A small, tabletop aluminum Christmas tree.
context_page_description: Christmas in the United States during the post-war years reflected a period of peace, productivity, and prosperity. Americans staged sumptuous Christmases and enjoyed a variety of holiday foods unknown to previous generations. Several films, foods, toys, and television programs of the era have become American Christmas traditions.
  Once reliant upon Germany for its ornaments, toys, and even its Christmas customs, America became self-sufficient in the post-War years with Christmas ornaments and toys being manufactured in the United States that were considerably less expensive than their German counterparts. American Christmas customs and traditions such as visits to department store Santas and letter writing to Santa at the North Pole remained intact during America's post-War years, but the era generated contributions that have endured to become traditions.
  NORAD's tracking of Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve, for example, was initiated in 1955 and has become an annual tradition. The stop motion animated film, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer remains an annual telecast on American television—more than fifty years after its debut, and Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
context_section_description: In 1950, the Addis Brush Company patented an aluminum Christmas tree, the Silver Pine, that came with a floodlight and a rotating color wheel.  Modern Coatings, Inc. of Chicago manufactured aluminum trees in 1958, and The Aluminum Specialty Company of Manitowoc, Wisconsin manufactured more than a million aluminum trees between 1959 and 1969. The trees, including the company's flagship product the "Evergleam", retailed for $25.
  The aluminum tree spectacle could be enhanced with a rotating Christmas tree stand.  The futuristic, Space Age look of the trees made them especially suited to the streamlined home decor of the period.  Sales of aluminum trees declined after being treated satirically in the 1965 animated Christmas television special, A Charlie Brown Christmas.
caption: Aluminum trees had a futuristic, Space Age look that was compatible with the streamlined designs of post-War home furnishings.
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