A long time ago, there was no electricity and Christmas was spent with lighted candles and lamps. The birth of vintage Christmas lights came to be when Thomas Edison discovered electricity and in 1882, his colleague Edward Johnson, lights up his Christmas tree with electric bulbs colored red, white and blue.
People loved seeing the dancing lights strewn all over the Christmas tree and around their homes. Soon, companies like General Electric offers to sell or rent electric light bulbs to the general public. Most of these products needed to be hand wired which means you also need a handyman to install the lights.
The electric bulbs were made out of different colored glass, usually pear shaped or round globes. From carbon filaments to tungsten, these lights offered a piece of the holiday cheer that has been loved from then on. Currently, you won’t feel the Christmas season unless you have hung your Christmas lights outside your home or see shopping malls lit up with different colored lights to add the ambience of the season.
The Japanese brought about an innovative idea of using milk glass wherein you can paint the glass with whatever color you like and still bring about the shine of the bulb through its paint. Later on, other companies from Europe would come out with their “Fairy” lights and “Twinkling Lamps” wire set to start a trend in vintage Christmas light decorating.
Lighted figurines also dominated the market as accessories to your typical Christmas tree. Figures of Santa Claus, either his face or a full body Santa can be seen hanging with light glowing from the inside on a tree. Other figures like a candy cane, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer are popular and heavily sold to the market. Other designs include fruits like apples, pears, or strawberries. Some have nuts like acorns, pine cones and walnuts. There are also flower shaped lights like lilies, roses and thistle. Other figures include angels, songbirds, puppies and clowns.
Tabletop trees were also introduced. Here, you can display your vintage Christmas lights to your advantage because the tree itself in artificial. A wire is already in place so the bulbs can be set and lighted whichever way you wish it. Made out of chenille, papier mache, plastic or metal, these tabletop trees makes decorating easier. Now, we have added other features like the tree may rotate on its stand or even have some music played when the tree is switched on.
It is the season to be happy and joyous. It is also the season to be creative and to start mixing up the old with the new. Having vintage Christmas decorations light up your new tree is the perfect combination for a nice Christmas evening. The old fashioned look can bring back the nostalgia of past Christmases and make you look forward to more Christmases to be spent with your loved ones. It is truly amazing that because of one man’s use of electric bulbs on a tree for aesthetic purposes, we now have a staple item in every Christmas tree around the world.
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