Page 21 2024 Home For The Holidays Lincoln Daily News While it is not known exactly when, Christmas trees were fi rst introduced to the United States sometime in the 1800s by German immigrants. By 1851, “Christmas Trees began to be sold commercially in the United States,” according to the NCTA. It was later in this century that both ornaments (also from Germany) and artifi cial trees were introduced here as well. Sears was the fi rst company to begin selling these artifi cial Christmas trees. What about ornaments and other kinds of Christmas tree decorations? When and how did these come about? According to Britannica, this is another tradition that can be attributed to Germany. Apples were hung on the trees to symbolize Adam and Eve in the garden, wafers were sometimes added to symbolize the “eucharistic host,” and candles were added to symbolize Jesus as the light of the world. These decorations began to be replaced with a more recognizable glass ornament in the 1800s. Again, it was German immigrants that brought these ornaments to the United States. Many rejected these ornaments at fi rst, favoring decorations that held religious signifi cance rather than ones that simply looked pretty. It should be noted that, with the exception of certain immigrant groups and the wealthy, most Americans still did not decorate their Christmas trees even after German ornaments were introduced. In 1882, after the invention of electricity, Edward Hibbert Johnson had the idea to replace candles on his Christmas tree with electric lights. This was an immediate hit, with news of Johnson’s Christmas tree spreading across the country. By the mid 1890’s, President Grover Cleveland even had the fi rst electric Christmas tree installed in the White House. The popularity of these Christmas tree lights caused a fl urry of new Christmas decorations to be created and sold, including the humble German bulb-ornament. Over time, diff erent types of ornaments began to come about. In the 1940’s, when there was a shortage of glass, ornaments were made of cardboard. In the 1970s, Hallmark started selling their ever-popular ornaments. In the 1990s, these Hallmark ornaments started becoming more easily recognizable characters, such as Mickey Mouse and Batman & Robin. Continued --
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