Christmas decorations getting out of hand?
Ever wonder when our Christmas trees and lights, which are now blinding the folks on Mars, ever got started?
No one knows for sure, but authorities believe the first Christmas tree, a green fir, appeared about a thousand years ago in Northern Europe, making its way to the United Kingdom during Victoria’s reign and eventually spreading to North America and Australia.
Candles on tree branches were first used to light the trees. An American, Ralph Morris, who became concerned with the candles being a fire hazard, is credited with inventing the first Christmas tree lights in 1885. However, authentications vary.
Edward H. Johnson, an associate of the inventor Thomas Edison, appears on record as having the first Christmas tree with electric lights in his Park Avenue home in 1882. And in 1895, U.S. President Grover Cleveland displayed the first electrically lit Christmas tree in the White House.
The decorating custom caught on rather quickly, too, with F.W. Woodworth making his fortune importing baubles (Christmas balls) in the late 1800s to his store and reportedly making $25 million on them a year.
All that being said, let’s talk about the lighting extravaganza we have going on now. Lights are an integral part of the holiday season and as predictable as poinsettias and tree lots. For a while, icicle lights were the most popular before LED lights appeared to illuminate the whole world and the front room of every house on the street.
Why do some homeowners leave their lights up year round? Either the homeowners want to be the first to “click on” the day after Thanksgiving, a husband still is promising to take them down during halftime, or no one can remember who borrowed the ladder.
Once the Thanksgiving turkey carcass hits the trash, you can see the other owners spring into action. The more prudent ones who stored their icicle lights for fear they would melt (don’t laugh, there are some weird folks out there), are crawling around on the roof with strings of lights clinched in their teeth. The plan is to string a multi-light extravaganza to rival Disney World and/or the next-door neighbor.
Some owners have crossed the line. You know the ones. Their house, yard and shrubbery are outlined in blinking lights and a revolving musical carousel, seven animated dwarfs, a Santa with Humpty Dumpty on his knee and a live donkey. Three wise men sitting in a sleigh are spotlighted. So where does this leave the man across the street whose car grill is wearing the door wreath and his inflatable Santa figures are a sorry looking heap on the ground?
Decorating used to be so much simpler. I remember the year we changed our 40-watt porch light to a red 60-watter, gift wrapped the mailbox in green foil and hung a plastic wreath on the front door to win Best of Show on our street. OK, so I was one of the judges. It’s the spirit that counts. Ho, ho, ho!