Christmas-Tree Ornaments : Holidays and Entertaining : Home & Garden Television

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Figure A--Christmas ornaments first appeared in 16th-century Germany and consisted primarily of candy, fruits and toys for children. For 200 years a decorated tree was a child's delight because most of the ornaments were edible.

Figure B--The industrial age brought manufactured ornaments into wide use, and small toys and gifts were tied to the branches of Christmas trees. By the second half of the 19th century, trees struggled to stand under the weight of the gifts.

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Figure C--The toys soon became wrapped gifts and were moved under the tree, and this led to the development of purely decorative ornaments. These bright, shiny ornaments were designed to delight the eye. Once again, Germany led the way when blown-glass ornaments were introduced in the late 19th century. Frank W. Woolworth (above), founder of the Woolworth's chain of five-and-dime stores, introduced the fragile ornaments to America. The ornaments became the most profitable item Woolworth sold and were the basis of his fortune.

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Figure D--World War II cut off the supply of German-made ornaments, so in 1939, the Corning Glass Company of New York modified its light-bulb machines to produce ornaments. The company was soon producing 60 million ornaments a year, and handmade ornaments became a thing of the past ... for a while, anyway.

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Figure E--Ornament designer Christopher Radko re-introduced handmade German ornaments to America in the 1980s, after his treasured antique ornaments were destroyed when his Christmas tree fell over. Each handpainted ornament takes seven days to create and are lined with real sterling silver.

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Figure F--Candy canes were introduced in 1670. Legend has it that a choir director was having problems keeping children quiet during a rehearsal. He handed out candies that were bent to look like the shepherd's crooks used in the play. The familiar coloring and peppermint flavoring were added around the turn of the 20th century.

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Figure G--Long before electric lights twinkled on their boughs, Christmas trees were lit by wax candles. This was something of a fire hazard, so buckets of water were often hidden in the parlor to douse the tree in case the lighting got out of hand.

Figure H--Edward Johnson, the vice president of Thomas Edison's electric company, wired 80 red, white and blue lights to his Christmas tree in 1882. Despite being enormously safer than candles, electric lights didn't become a Christmas staple until electricity became widely available in American homes in the 1920s.

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Christopher Radko holiday trimmings

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