CHRISTMAS TREE FORTS AND TINSEL BALLS…One of our favorite activities after Christmas and before you had to go back to school was to gather all the Christmas trees that people put out for the trash man to pick up and then drag them behind our bikes to one of the many large nearby empty lots. Our fort lot was at the corner of The Toledo, East Neapolitan and Lucia Walk. We would then pile them on top of each other at least three feet high to make forts which faced each other. Then we would take the tinsel off the trees and make them into balls of ammunition to throw at each other. I started wondering if that was really possible in the last few years since today’s little used tinsel is basically silver coated plastic strips. I discovered once again that my memory was right and that tinsel was made from a lead and nickel compound from the 1920s until it was discontinued in the 1970s from worries of lead contamination. The tinsel wars got pretty intense at times and you would often come home with tinsel ball bruises after a battle – a mark, or for that matter, many marks of honor. I have posted a photo of some trees being stacked in a park but it’s not Naples. I hope that one of the oldtimers like me has a photo of our forts and of the trees being dragged behind the bikes. Thanks for sharing your memories with me and come with me on a NAPLES WALKING TOURS BY TOM POE to hear more stories and share some of your own.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 21:02:24 +0000
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