I recently picked up a collection of Disney Christmas Ornaments and it got me wondering how our Christmas traditions of trees and ornaments came to be, so I did some research on the subject that I will share with you.

The History of the Christmas Tree

Germany is credited with being the birthplace of the tradition of the using a tree during the 16 century. Christians began placing the decorated trees in their homes. The custom gradually spread through out other parts of Europe.

In 1841 the popularity of the tree rocketed after England's Price Albert decorated the first Christmas tree and Windsor castle. Other wealthy English families quickly followed the lead of country's royalty.

While popular in Europe during the 1800s most in the U.S. found the idea of a tree strange. The first recorded Christmas tree in the United States was set up in the 1830s by German immigrants in Pennsylvania. People in the parish were outraged in 1851 when the church placed a Christmas tree outside and demanded the minister to take it down. It wasn't until the 1890s that ornaments began arriving in the United States from Germany and the Christmas tree started gaining widespread acceptance. While most Europeans preferred Christmas trees that were about four feet tall in America most preferred large trees that reached the ceiling.

The History of Christmas Tree Ornaments

Christmas tree ornaments have been used to decorate trees for hundreds of years. Originally trees were decorated with strings of popcorn, apples and pastries in the shapes of hearts, flowers and stars. Today the most common tree decoration is the spherical Christmas bulb (or bauble). This classic design has been around in mass production since the mid 1840s and originated out of Germany. Eventually skilled artisans began making glass figures using clay molds. Glassblowers in Lauscha, Germany saw how quickly the Christmas baubles were becoming popular and began producing their own version.

Even today there are still about 20 glass blowing firms in Lauscha that continue to produce glass Christmas ornaments. In the 1880s F.W. Woolworth learned about Lauscha's bulbs during a trip to Germany. He began importing the glass ornaments to the states and made a large fortune in doing so. By the time the 20th century arrived Woolworth had sold over $25 million dollars worth of Christmas decorations. By 1910 Woolworth had over 1,000 stores selling Christmas ornaments across the United States. Starting in the 1950s years retailers began licensing popular pop culture figures to make items such as Disney ornaments featuring Mickey Mouse and other characters.

So that is a brief history lesson on how it all came to be. From simple decorations to the elaborate Christmas tree ornaments we have today.