We Wish You a Modern Christmas
Preserving a family legacy through modern Christmas trees
Discover how a family legacy inspired the creation of sleek holiday trees.
The holiday season often engenders beautiful memories that will last a lifetime.
But how do you pay homage to those sparkling times as an adult? When Matthew Bliss’ grandfather passed away after battling Alzheimer’s, Matt wanted to commemorate all the Christmas Eve memories they had created together. His grandfather, Lawrence “Bud” Stoecker, spent years working in aerospace and construction, but his hobby was creating modern Christmas trees. Bud decorated his family’s modern structure with a different ornament theme each year.
“My brothers and I would put our heads underneath the tree and look up, and my grandfather would slowly rotate the tree,” remembers Matt. “It looked like the most amazing kaleidoscope you’ve ever seen. I take great pride in knowing that I’m offering that unique experience to families all over the world.”
In memory of his grandfather, Matt started The Modern Christmas Tree®, a company that sells trees constructed from acrylic, crystal, glass and plexiglass components. “My grandfather was such an important person to me, and he wasn’t living the final years of his life with the dignity I thought he deserved,” Matt says. “It was time for me to pay tribute to him and his ingenuity and designs.”
The modern trees are found in Midcentury Modern homes, hotels and even at Disneyland during the holiday season. The company’s most popular designs are the pearl-white and crystal-clear colors. “The white tree is kind of a blank canvas, so you can use [it] to pull off any look you want, simply by changing the color of the ornaments,” he explains.
Customers who put up their own artificial trees will often use the small or wall trees as additional home décor. Matt receives Christmas cards from customers across the globe, from Hong Kong to Europe to Australia. “It’s really cool to have that direct connection with the consumer,” he says. “You lose that when you start producing tens of thousands of trees.”