O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum...

As I sit here trying to sort my thoughts about (and pictures of ) Vienna into order, I'm listening to Frohe Weihnacht, a wonderful selection of carols and classical music that I discovered in Vienna. Hearing "O Tannenbaum" ("O, Christmas Tree") gave me the inspiration I was looking for: here is a selection of trees, ranging from the cunning (my parents' use of their weeping fig), to the altogether shocking (the "altogether" being a clue!). Apologies in advance for the picture quality, these are definately snapshots!


First, my parents' tree. We had hoped they would come and spend Christmas with us, but Ma isn't feeling well enough, so we visited them yesterday. I'd forgotten my father's cunning take on Christmas trees (he started doing this about 5 or 6 years ago). Far from traditional, but --swathed in tiny white lights and decked out with red wooden pears, knitted santa and angel, felt stars and a few other traditional favourites--it fits beautifully into their sitting room.

Next, a stunningly beautiful tree in Freyung, a Viennese shopping arcade. Tamara is in front, clutching a bottle of diet coke (or "cola lite" as I learned to call it in Austria! The infamous straw --see Weds 19--is stowed safelyinside the bottle...) Many people say that our modern-day Father Christmases and Santa Clauses are dressed in red solely because of a coca cola advertising campaign that ousted the traditional green.

And now... this is the window of BluMax on Mariahilferstrasse, Vienna's main shopping street.
At first glance, just an ordinary tree, swathed in net, feathers and angels. But let's take a closer look...these certainly ain't angels!
Some may have been wearing scanty panties, but others were in the altogether, their modesty protected merely by the afore-mentioned feathers and net...
Yes, what can only be described as a Burlesque Christmas tree, in all its glory!

I have to confess to having been a little shocked by this but Tamy was more disturbed by the gingerbread nativity scene that we saw in one of the booths at the Christmas market in Freyung Square. We assume that it was for display only, and not for consumption...