SouthCoast Homes Were Always Lit By Ceramic Christmas Trees

In 1968, my mother, like many other women her age, fell head over heels for the homemade ceramics craze. I was 10 years old, and my brother was 12. Ceramics became a family activity.

My parents purchased a ceramic kiln. It stood in the basement of our two-family home on Brook Street in the North End of New Bedford. Our little family occupied the first-floor apartment. The second-floor apartment was empty and became our family ceramic studio.

Mom taught her sister Shirley and my cousin Steve about ceramics. Before long, Mom's studio was full of crafters, including the neighborhood kids, scraping, smoothing, painting, and creating artwork.

Dad filled molds with clay and handled the various phases of firing the ceramics in the kiln.

Mom seemed to mass-produce ceramic treasures and gave them away as quickly as she could make them. She never sold a piece or took a penny from anyone for lessons or supplies.

One of Mom's most cherished pieces was her ceramic Christmas tree. I still have it today. It is one of the few pieces to survive the many moves over the years.

Mom has been gone for nearly 30 years now, and the tree is one of the few things I have that belonged to her.

The ceramic Christmas tree separates from the base. Dad wired the tree base to make a lamp and installed a wind-up music box that plays "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town."

Dad then drilled holes at the ends of the tree branches for colorful plastic ornaments and one at the top of the tree for a star. When the lamp is on, the plastic ornaments appear to light up.

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There was a time when these ceramic Christmas trees illuminated homes all over the region. While ceramic making has become, for the most part, passé, the ceramic Christmas trees remain a cherished reminder of another era.

Ceramic Christmas trees are available at hobby shops, and some classic trees are on eBay for a hefty price.

But there is nothing more special than a ceramic Christmas tree made by your Mom more than 50 years ago and passed down to you through the years.

Now that's the magic of Christmas.