The Aluminum Christmas Tree [Kindle Edition]

Thomas J. Davis (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A Thomas Nelson Kindle book.

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 555 KB
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (October 6, 2005)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B003F3FJQ4
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #514,663 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Three and a half stars, September 25, 2005

By 

Marilyn Dalrymple "MaLing" (Lancaster, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Aluminum Christmas Tree: A Novel (Hardcover)

The Aluminum Christmas Tree continues the story started in The Christmas Quilt. Readers revisit familiar characters and watch as these characters continue their lives. Family secrets unfold, people change, but life continues.
The story begins with Mildred Jackson's life and the changes with which she is having to cope. She is now a widow and must move, leaving behind years of memories. Along with the house where she and Jim had raised their children Mildred must leave behind her apple orchards and horses. That's a lot to leave behind.
While cleaning out her attic and preparing to leave, she comes across a Sears Roebuck catalogs and a box.
Scrawled across the top of the box in Jim's writing is this message:

DO NOT OPEN! DO NOT THROW AWAY!
ALWAYS REMEMBER! DON'T EVER FORGET!
ALL THAT GLITTERS AIN'T GOLD,
IMPORTANT THINGS CAN'T BE BOUGHT AND SOLD.

Mildred knew immediately what the message meant. The year the tree had been purchased was a year of change for the Jackson family. Seeing the box brought back a rush of emotions. Some good, some not so good.
When alive, her husband, Jim, had always looked through the catalogs and wondered what it would be like to be able to buy all the things he craved for his family. Then one day Jim got a promotion and he could finally afford all the things he'd dreamed about buying and one thing he wanted to buy was the aluminum Christmas tree.
Sounds like a perfect ending to a perfect story, right? Not quite. Remember his warning on the box in the attic? "All that glitters ain't gold," he'd warned. He could have written another line we've all heard. Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.
Davis lets readers look into the minds of each character and helps us understand why the characters act and feel as they do. Readers also get to see what changes the characters and how these changes effect the character's lives. That is what kept me turning the pages. The Aluminum Christmas Tree is a compact volume akin to a short lesson in Psychology 101.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Status Symbol, a 'CHRISTMAS STORY' Major Prize., November 13, 2005

By 

Betty Burks "Betty Burks" (Knoxville, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Aluminum Christmas Tree: A Novel (Hardcover)

Millie is at loose ends, preparing to give up her old life now that her husband had died; while packing to move to a smaller place since her children have grown up and moved away, a very special box is uncovered in the garage storage area -- Jimmy's private place to keep the things he dreamed of owning 'someday.'

With two boxes of Sears Roebuck catalogs, there is something she thought had been discarded long ago. It was a symbol of the late Fifties culture of what is worthy of ownership and the money it took to own such a sparkling, shiny item which would be used only once a year. I'm not sure I ever saw one, but my friend Eva Ezell admitted about ten years ago that she still has hers (also stored in her bulging garage -- no place for her car -- not in the upstairs of her crammed house. I collect things, but she would not part with anything.

That year, I was in transition, first year of college who would travel on the Trailways to Westminster, Maryland, to spend the holidays with Evelyn and her family. One thing for sure is that they did not have a silver aluminum tree. None at my dormitory, either. The next year, I was married and we did good to have a cedar tree (which, like Millie, I hated, as the branches were not strong enough to hold pretty ornaments). I'd like to have a keepsake like Jim's aluminum tree as it would be strong enough to hold a plethora of trimmings and ornaments galore. Thanks to Steve, regional manager of CVS, my "Santa Claus" of 2004, I have two small lighted trees which stick down in a flower pot to brighten up my small apartment. Sometimes, we learn that all we wish for, seeminly unattainable at the time, are not really what we need. But, we hang on to sentimentality and remember the hardships we had to endure to have the thing we wanted the most. Guess that's why I kept all my old Eddie Fisher records, even though I don't have anything to play them on.

Millie has this amazing, 'Retro' aluminum tree (something the yuppies would give an eye tooth for!) and can understand why Jim held onto it. This is a followup to THE CHRISTMAS QUILT and was written by a religion professor in Indiana. This is a good Christmas story, as is Thomas Kincade's THE CHRISTMAS ANGEL.