Un-firgettable!
“I have a very strong relationship with Christmas,” says Ruben Natal-San Miguel.
And it’s not just because the 57-year-old photographer has fond memories of holidays spent with his family around a metallic tree in Puerto Rico. Noel is literally part of his name, “Natal” being the word for Christmas in several languages.
As rare as his name is his tree: a 3-foot metallic dazzler that hangs upside down from a ceiling fan inside his Harlem home.
“It’s like a chandelier tree!” he says.
Attached to the fan’s light fixture, and underneath a fur-lined decorative skirt, the glowing installation drips with red-, white- and bluecolored ornaments. It’s more than a way to conserve floor space: Hanging the tree is a long-standing tradition that pays homage to Natal-San Miguel’s German roots. Although uncommon in these parts, it’s a tradition visible in Central and Eastern Europe. It’s said that, in seventhcentury Germany, St. Boniface first used an upside-down fir — whose shape resembles a crucifix — to teach pagans lessons on the holy trinity.
Natal-San Miguel has been mounting his tree that way since 2001.
“I did some research and I thought it was really cool,” he says.
It’s also cool in terms of its style. NatalSan Miguel, who’s also a designer, wanted the tree to complement the decor of the surrounding living area. He calls it an “Americana” display, with its red sofa and blue-themed photos in white frames.
“I like to make the effort,” he says. “I think [your Christmas decor] should bring out the best in you.”
At first glance, Craig Voorhis’ Christmas tree — an artificial one with green, orange, blue and red lights — is nothing special. That is, until you see where he has it: atop his BMW SUV.
“Decorating a tree in the house seems like so much work,” says the Upper West Sider. Tired of mounting, watering and picking up the needles from an actual tree in the two-bedroom apartment he shares with his wife, Andrea, 50, and their children, he shelled out $100 for the 2-foot-tall faux fir Christmas Car Tree.
Besides, says the 51-year-old, who works in sales for an accessories company: “What better way to spread the joy . . . than by outwardly having it on your car?”
His kids — Cooper, 7, and Grayson, 3 — have certainly gotten a kick out of it, he says, and so have others: On a recent trip to a New Jersey Costco, people driving past them honked, stuck their phones out of their car windows to snap photos and gave them thumbs-up signs. The Voorhis family has since decided to make their on-the-go tree mount an annual tradition — one that will even head with them to tailgates at MetLife Stadium before Giants games.
“I think it’ll get a lot of attention,” Voorhis says. “It’s going to stand out a lot more than a Giants flag will these days.”