Mid Missouri Holiday Decorations: The Magic Tree

Kids, this past weekend I was in Columbia, Mo.  I know a lot of you are familiar with the general vicinity and have probably been there several times over your tenure.  I have been there I don't know how many times, but for some reason I had never heard of a country wide phenomena called The Magic Tree. Apparently since I'm a big humbug who will refuse to put up a tree in my own home, I thought it would be nice to at least spread a little decorative cheer that someone else put up.

This is the Magic Tree. It has apparently been a tradition for many many years in the Columbia area, but I had never heard of it!  Basically what happened was a guy got a fix of the Christmas spirit and put lights on every single branch of a tree in his front yard.  He did this for a few years when after a while, his neighbors finally had him stop.  It was causing traffic pile ups and people were coming from all around the country to come and take pictures of this very carefully decorated tree.

There's even a whole website devoted to it with old pictures and people who have written in with their memories and a few notes from the decorator himself.  If you haven't seen it, you might want to check it out in its new public location.  When we went, there were people all around taking pictures and posing with it, even though it was on a cold, Sunday night.  On the website you'll find all the information about where it is and all the history, too.

Decoratingly yours,

Behka