I guess, well, what's that? So it's just about Christmas time, and you know I have to repeat my favorite Louis Armstrong in fact of all time. I know which one is coming. This one's about the tree, right, of course, it's about the tree. So you know, I heard this fact forever ago about sat Mo and how he got his first Christmas tree at age forty. But I love the way his wife tells it, so I'm actually just
gonna quote her. We finally went to bed, and Louis was still laying up in the bed watching the tree, his eyes just like a baby's eyes would watch something. So finally I said, well, I'll turn the lights out now on the tree. He said, no, don't turn them out. I just have to keep looking at it. You know, that's the first tree I ever had. Well, I hadn't realized that. You know, Louis was forty years old, and it seemed to me that in forty years a person
would have at least one tree. I was all swollen up inside when he told me that we were to leave the next day for Kansas City. I figured, Christmas is over, today's twenty six. Now I'll leave the tree. Louis said no, don't leave the tree. Take the tree with you. And he had me take the tree on those one night ers. Before I even unpacked a bag, I had to set that tree up, his Christmas tree.
So it's just this wonderful story. And she keeps the tree going for like a month, just putting it up night after night and taking it down the next morning, and all these hotels, and when the tour is over, I guess Louis actually wanted her to mail the tree home, and she finally had to convince him that the tree was going to dry up if she did that. I mean, I know I've heard that before, but it really is
such a wonderful story. Yeah, it comes from James Lincoln Colliers bio of Louis Armstrong, and I just love that story so much and and that this tree gave him so much joy, and it made me think maybe this week we should do in nine things all about Christmas trees. So that's what we're doing. Let's dig in pay their podcast listeners, welcome the part time genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good friend Ticketer and sitting behind the soundproof booth dressed like an elf
on a shelf and he's got this thing nail. That's our friend, the producer, Tristan McNeil. Alright, Mango, So I know your family isn't Christian, but you grew up with Christmas trees though, right, yeah, so we always had trees and presents and sang carols around the piano like it was just tradition for us. And uh, you know, this year I went to my parents place and they'd picked out what has to be the fattest, most misshapen tree I've ever seen. I actually, I'm gonna pull up this
picture for you. I'm not sure that that's actually a tree. It looks like that tree ate another tree. I know, it's always like a like when a python eats a goat or something so misshapen, but uh, you know, I my friends love the holidays. I think they got a discount on that tree. Lizzie, on the other hand, we'll spend hours just going store to store, just inspecting every single tree and trying to get the perfect shaped tree. And every year it is just the one fight we have.
It is miserable. Lessie. Isn't the only person out there looking for the perfect tree? Have you actually ever heard of Mr Christmas Tree, I haven't. Is he a tree salesman. He's actually a tree scientist. So his name is Gary Chastagner. And the thing that he's specializing again is trying to get Christmas trees that shed less. So he's kind of making the cockapoo of Christmas tree. That's exactly what he does.
I think it says that on his business card. What this this actually comes from mental flaws, and it says Mr Christmas Tree is currently leading a five year, one point three million dollar research project and it's aimed at helping Christmas trees retain their needles longer, and it's about
selective breeding. So he and his researchers collect these tree samples from farms across the country and try to figure out which ones are the heartiest and keep their needles the longest, and then they'll cross breed those, of course, and they keep doing this until they have the tree that will last until spring. So it's basically a tree made for Louis Armstrong. It would have been perfect. A well, here's actually another fact for you. And his research isn't
just about finding a perfect tree. It also includes how to water them. So according to his research, you need about a quart of water for every inch of your trees diameter, and you're supposed to water with that every single day. But here's the catch. Most Christmas tree stands can't actually hold that much water, and there aren't many great solutions other than just watering your tree a lot. In fact, in two thousand and seven, he even tried hooking up Christmas trees to I V trips, but even
that wasn't enough for the thirsty trees. This is how dedicated this guy that is wild. Well, here's a quick one I had no idea about. If your tree dies on you, you know, or you're just through with it after the holiday season, you can obviously mulch it, but that isn't your only option. You can also donate your
Christmas tree to a zoo. So why zo? Well, I I don't know if you just drop it off at any zoo, But according to the San Francisco Gate, the Oakland Zoo takes Christmas tree donations because they feed the trees as a quote wintertime treat to their animal. So the photo with the article is so great, it's just got like a bunch of drafts nibbling on the top of trees, and I'm sure it leaves them with minty fresh breath. That that three of your parents who showed me,
I feel like that could last them a few weeks. Yeah, that's true. So when you have next all right, was reading this interesting article in the Independent. It was called how the Nazis Stole Christmas, And one of the interesting bits was that the Nazis tried to take the Christ out of Christmas, and so here's how the author describes it. The regime's exploitation of Christmas began almost as soon as
the Nazis took power in nineteen thirty three. Party ideologists wrote scores of papers claiming that the festival's Christian element was a manipulative attempt by the Church to capitalize on what we're really old Germanic traditions. So they worked to rebrand it, and instead of stars on the top of the tree, they used swastikas naturally, and instead of Santa
Claus they replaced them with the Germanic and Norse god Odin. Yeah, that's so strange, but the artwork of it was supposedly really funny, and so here's how the author described it. Propaganda posters in the exhibitions show the Christmas or souls. This man Odin as a hippie like individual on a white horse charger, sporting a thick gray beard slough chat and a sack full of gifts. Hippe like Odin doesn't sound very Nazi. You know. I feel like Christmas is
just another thing the Nazis got wrong. So that makes sense. So, you know, I was looking into the story of artificial trees and this is just an aside. But according to the New York Times, they said that unless you're reusing your artificial tree for more than twenty years, it's actually more environmentally friendly just to cut down a tree every
single year. Wow. So that's true. Yeah, so I I guess they're quoting this environmental consulting firm from Montreal, and they took into account it's as greenhouse gas emissions, use of resources, and human health impacts, which I guess I never would have guest. But here's my fact. Do you know that the first artificial trees were actually made of green dyed goose feathers. I did not know that. This comes from a book on the History of Christmas by
Bruce David Forbes. But the goose feather trees came from Germany and reached the US in nine hundred and according to Forbes quote, customers like the one time expense instead of an annual outlay at escalating costs, and the artificial trees boasted no pine needles and less fire hazards. That actually reminds me that weird fact of how miniature golf greens used to use dyed goat hair for the artificial ground. That's right, so weird. So where do you want to
go from here? All right? Well, how about the fact that Christmas trees used to be a whole lot tinier. In fact, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the main present delivery system was gifts and the stockings, and instead of the tree being on the floor on a table, it was actually pretty common to hang the tree from a ceiling or from the rafts. It kind of sounds
like I'm just making this up, this is true. In fact, one article I found said that families would even hang the tree upside down to point the route toward heaven and supposedly fill the tree with divine power. Like that just would be so creepy, like a hanging tree. And then the fact that like everyone was doing this at the time. It's nuts you have a different take on this. I kind of want to try this next year. Well, I know we've got a fumer facts to go about
before that. Let's take a quick break. Welcome back to Part time Genius. We were talking about hanging Christmas trees. So will what fact are you gonna go onto next? I think one of the things I found most fascinating this week was learning that after we started bringing bigger trees indoors and not hanging them from the raft, they still didn't quite look like the trees that we have today. Why is that, Well, I'm sure you've heard about how people used to put lit candles on trees, like in
the era before light. Well, to make that happen, you need a lot of space between the branches, you know, so the candles aren't lighting the needles that are on top of those. So the ideal you of a century go was really like a whole lot more sparse and patchy. And then you'd use that extra room in there, not just to light the candles, but you'd hide these extra treats for your kids, which I can imagine that was, you know, pretty fun for them to find like little
gifts in there. And and then when, of course, you know, the electric lights came along, all of that space disappeared. And that's when we started getting these more full trees and the gifts started moving down to the floor. I can't imagine Christmas tree shopping with my wife back then, just like not having a patchy enough tree got to be more patchy. But weirdly enough, the first electric Christmas
lights actually go way back to the eighteen eighties. That's apparently when Thomas Edison's vice president at his company, they rigged up the tree with lights. And so then g E came out with lights in nineteen o one, and this is all from that same book on Christmas. And in nineteen oh three, ever Ready came out with the first string of eight lights, and it just of course kind of took off from there. But I really had no idea that it all started that early. I know,
in that's crazy to think about. So, uh, speaking of Christmas tree lights, I've actually got a fact. I think you're gonna love and I think it's a great way to go out. So in two thousand and ten, the Colombian government was trying to figure out how to reach guerilla separatists and and kind of try to get them to put down their weapons and come home. So this ad executive actually came up with this idea and he shared it with the government and they decided to try
it out. And they basically put up all these motion sensor Christmas lights, just strings of lights up on trees and strategic places. Right, So they picked nine pathways through the jungle and they did this in that area and basically, whenever the sensor tripped, the lights would go up and this message would illuminate that said, if Christmas can come to the jungle, you can come home, demobilize at Christmas. Everything is possible. Of course, that's an interesting idea, but
it did it work. Yes, so it was surprisingly effective. About three fifty people or so, this was about five percent of the guerrillas came home that year and put down their arms and rejoined civilization. And uh, it's convinced the government to do this almost every year since. So they use slightly different tactics, but every year more and more people are coming home to their moms. I mean, I think that's pretty great. I have to admit it. I think I'm going to give you the final prize
of the years. Congratulations. Well I also love the fact that you can hook up a tree to an I v SO in the Christmas fare. Why don't we share it with you? Me gave Tristan, even Julian. All right, well I'm for that now. Listeners were all for the holidays, but we'll be back next year with a whole new season of shows. Thank you for the kind reviews and all the facts and the letters you send, and we love hearing from you, and thanks so much for listening.