While many people choose a fresh Christmas tree for its scent, many others
simply want a beautifully decorated Christmas tree and will choose an artificial
or man-made tree. Artificial trees have been available in America since the
start of the 20th century. Many artificial trees are made to have a similar
appearance like real Christmas trees, but changes have been made to them to make
them decorative and different from regular Christmas trees.
As an example, in the 1950s some artificial Christmas trees had branches
made of aluminum-coated paper to give them a shiny metallic look. For those who
like to have a Christmas tree with a unique look, trees with a similar shiny,
metallic appearance are available today. They are however made with a different
material because the older trees were a fire hazard.
For the those people who are very busy and don't have the time to spend
carefully placing Christmas lights on trees, there are several pre-lit models of
Christmas trees on the market today. A standard type of these Christmas trees
look like their real counterparts except multi-colored fiber-optic lights can be
found scattered throughout the limbs and branches of these trees. This
arrangement saves time and effort of having to undo or untangle strings of
Christmas tree lights.
Another type of pre-lit artificial Christmas tree are those that are made
completely of fiber optics so that the tree appears to be shaped out of strands
of light that are wispy. Some of these brightly-lit fiber-optic trees also come
equipped with pre-recorded Christmas songs and carols and speakers to give the
added pleasure of music.
Many pre-lit Christmas trees have electric Christmas tree lights however
which need to be plugged into a real electrical outlet. The advantage of these
trees is that the lights are already strung on them from the factory and you
need only to follow the instructions about how to assemble the tree and plug in
the different parts for it to appear lighted. Once this is done correctly, the
tree will look as if it was decorated with lights manually or professionally.
Another ready-made decorative feature of artificial Christmas trees is to have
the appearance of snow-covered branches. That trend is an evolution of faux snow
that is often sprinkled in garlands and wreaths to add a Christmas quality to
those decorations. Icicle ornaments are also used to decorate real and
artificial trees and icicle lights are commonly used along rooflines and outdoor
areas for additional lighting decoration. These decorations, along with the
ready-made snow-covered branches of artificial trees, all convey the frosty, icy
and cold feel of the winter season when Christmas occurs.
Christmas trees that arrive from the factory with lights also have
decorations such as apples and minute red berries to provide additional color,
and real pinecones that may or may not be frosted or sprinkled with faux snow.
They may also be pre-decorated with red or gold bows, round ornaments, flower-
like patterns, dried bow and twigs and gold frosted branch tips. to give an
appealing, sparkling appearance. The trees also have varying hues of green
similar to real Christmas trees.
Pre-lit and pre-decorated Christmas trees are therefore an excellent way
to brighten the holiday in your home and enable you to gain more time to enjoy
the festivities of the season.
