Christmas Décor

Summary

Stuff You Missed in History Class: Christmas Décor Episode Summary

Released on December 25, 2024 | Hosted by Holly Fry and Tracy V. Wilson | Produced by iHeartPodcasts

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Introduction

In the holiday-themed episode titled "Christmas Décor," Holly Fry and Tracy V. Wilson delve into the rich history and evolution of Christmas decorations. They explore the origins of Christmas trees, the development of glass ornaments, the transition from candles to electric lights, and share intriguing stories from listeners that add a personal touch to the festive discussion.

Origins of Christmas Trees

Early Traditions and Symbolism

The tradition of adorning trees during Christmas festivities has deep roots, primarily traced back to Germany. Holly explains, “We know that evergreens popped up sometime in the Middle Ages in Christian German households, and they were meant to represent the Garden of Eden” (04:11). These early trees, often called "paradise trees," were decorated with apples to symbolize the forbidden fruit from the biblical story of Adam and Eve.

Myths and Legends

Tracy adds, “One is that in the 8th century, St. Boniface came upon some pagans using an oak tree as part of a human sacrifice ritual” (04:47). While this story is unsubstantiated, it highlights the evergreen's symbolic significance in repelling pagan practices and representing Christian values.

Regulation and Conservation

As the popularity of Christmas trees surged in the 1400s, sustainability became a concern. In the Alsace region, laws were enacted to prevent the overharvesting of pine trees, limiting families to one tree per home to protect the environment (05:00).

Martin Luther and the Evolution of Tree Decorations

Martin Luther’s Contribution

Martin Luther is often credited with enhancing the Christmas tree tradition in the 16th century. Tracy reminisces, “He may have initiated the practice of adding lights to the tree by placing candles on the boughs” (06:19). This innovation not only illuminated the trees but also added a magical quality to the winter nights.

First Written Records

Holly notes, “About 50 years after Martin Luther's death, we have the first written record of Christmas trees in use in the homes of Strasbourg, decorated with apples, paper roses, gold foil candies and wafers” (06:58). These decorations were early precursors to the modern glass ornaments we recognize today.

Royal Influence: Queen Charlotte and Queen Victoria

Introduction to England

Queen Charlotte, born in Mecklenburg, Strelitz, brought the Christmas tree tradition to England in 1761. Tracy explains, “She incorporated the Christmas tree into celebrations shared with the royal family and its visitors, and this popularized the practice with the aristocracy” (09:48).

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

The tradition gained further prominence during Queen Victoria’s reign. An engraving of the royal family with a Christmas tree, published in the 1840s, significantly boosted the tree's popularity. Tracy adds, “Victoria and Albert were just ceaselessly fascinating to the press, their Christmas trees were covered extensively every year” (10:56).

The National Christmas Tree and Rockefeller Center

National Christmas Tree

In 1923, the first National Christmas Tree was lit on the White House lawn, an initiative by Frederick Feicher, Herbert Hoover’s assistant. Tracy recounts, “Feicher described his idea in a letter...to have the National Christmas Tree at Washington, which would stimulate other people to have outdoor Christmas trees” (18:52).

Rockefeller Center Tree

During the Great Depression in 1931, construction workers at Rockefeller Center erected a 20-foot-tall Christmas tree, symbolizing hope and resilience. Tracy highlights, “That tree came to symbolize the sustaining nature of this one big construction project” (20:46).

The Rise of Artificial Christmas Trees

Cy Spiegel’s Innovation

Cy Spiegel revolutionized Christmas décor by improving artificial tree designs in the 1970s. Holly shares, “He used real trees as models for the designs...once his division produced fake trees that looked more or less like real ones, business picked up quickly” (22:55). Spiegel's efforts led to the widespread adoption of artificial trees, which are now an integral part of holiday celebrations, with an estimated 10 million artificial trees purchased in the US annually.

Evolution of Glass Ornaments

Hans Greiner’s Legacy

The history of glass ornaments dates back to the 16th century with Hans Greiner from Lauscha, Germany. Tracy explains, “Greiner didn’t only make glass ornaments, he also made ornaments out of tiny glass beads on strings” (24:50). These bead garlands remained popular through the Victorian era due to their durability and shine.

Design Innovations

By the mid-19th century, glass ornaments had evolved beyond simple orbs. Holly notes, “Ornaments started to be designed to look like various objects, like fruit or animals” (25:58). This diversification made tree decorations more personalized and elaborate.

Commercialization

Frank Winfield Woolworth’s importation of Griner ornaments in the 1880s greatly increased their availability and popularity in the United States. Tracy mentions, “Frank Woolworth started importing them for sale in his stores, and he made a lot of money through ornament sales” (27:50).

Transition to Electric Christmas Lights

Candles and Fire Hazards

Initially, Christmas trees were illuminated with candles, which posed significant fire risks. Holly recounts, “These candles were incredibly dangerous. There are so many newspaper mentions of fires caused by Christmas tree candles” (36:11).

Invention of Electric Lights

Edward Hibbard Johnson, working with Thomas Edison, sought to eliminate the hazards of candles by introducing electric Christmas lights. Tracy narrates, “In the winter of 1882, he invited a member of the press to his home to see the first electrically illuminated Christmas tree” (40:14). This innovation marked the beginning of a safer and more sustainable approach to holiday lighting.

Adoption Challenges

Despite their safety advantages, electric lights were initially expensive and inaccessible to many. Holly explains, “Early strings, which only had 16 lights, cost the equivalent of several hundred dollars in today’s money” (42:36). However, by the 1910s, the cost had decreased significantly, making electric lights more affordable and popular.

Modern Usage and Safety

Today, Christmas lights are a staple of holiday décor, with approximately 150 million sets sold annually in the US. Tracy adds, “Holiday lights accounted for 6% of the energy use in the United States during the month of December” (43:12). While electric lights have reduced fire risks compared to candles, safety measures and regulations continue to evolve to ensure their safe use.

Listener Stories and Community Engagement

Susan’s Ghost and Marshmallow the Dog

Late into the episode, Holly shares heartwarming stories from listeners. Susan recounts a childhood ghost story involving a headless nun mannequin used to discourage vanity, alongside a story about rescuing a dog named Marshmallow. Holly appreciates these contributions, stating, “Thank you for rescuing dogs. Everybody that picks up an animal on the side of the road, you're a hero” (48:35).

Conclusion

Holly and Tracy wrap up the episode by celebrating the enduring traditions and innovations that make Christmas décor a beloved part of holiday festivities. They encourage listeners to share their own stories and experiences, fostering a sense of community and shared history.

Notable Quotes:

• Holly Fry, [04:11]: “We know that evergreens popped up sometime in the Middle Ages in Christian German households, and they were meant to represent the Garden of Eden.”

• Tracy V. Wilson, [06:19]: “Martin Luther may have initiated the practice of adding lights to the tree by placing candles on the boughs.”

• Tracy V. Wilson, [18:52]: “Feicher described his idea in a letter...to have the National Christmas Tree at Washington, which would stimulate other people to have outdoor Christmas trees.”

• Holly Fry, [24:50]: “The Griner family just kept making glass ornaments.”

Final Thoughts:

This episode of "Stuff You Missed in History Class" provides a comprehensive and engaging exploration of Christmas décor's history. From ancient traditions to modern innovations, Holly and Tracy illuminate the cultural and historical significance of the decorations that adorn our homes each holiday season.

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Listen to the full episode on the iHeartRadio app or your favorite podcast platform to immerse yourself in the fascinating history of Christmas décor!

Transcript

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[Holly Fry]

CT mobile.com welcome to Stuff you Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Fry.

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And I'm Tracy V. Wilson.

[Holly Fry]

It's Christmas.

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Uh huh.

[Holly Fry]

So happy Christmas to all who celebrate. If you don't, happy winter or holiday you do enjoy. Hanukkah begins tonight as we publish this, so if you're into that, you're doing Hanukkah. I hope it's a great one.

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Yeah.

[Holly Fry]

But today we're gonna talk about Christmas decor, specifically through history, including trees, glass ornaments and Christmas lights. And that comes with just a little heads up because there's some sad stuff in this one. So if that's something you just don't want to hear at the holidays, I get it. Just skip the last segment. That's where it all is. And you can come back to that later if you want to hear it. We will also remind you when we get to that segment. So if you get caught up hearing about other things, you know when to like, peace out. Sure. And you can just have the more fun parts.

[United Explorer Card Representative]

Yeah. So the Christmas song O Tannenbaum, sung in the United States usually as O Christmas Tree, was written in Leipzig, Germany in 1824 by Ernst Anschutz. But Christmas trees had already been around for at least 200 years at that point, and they are believed to have originated in Germany. Trees were used as part of various religious practices long before that point. But in terms of a tree being specifically used as part of Christmas decor and tradition, Germany probably gets the credit.

[Holly Fry]

We say probably because in terms of documentation, there's not a lot and there are plenty of myths and legends about it. One is that in the 8th century, St. Boniface came upon some pagans using an oak tree as part of a human sacrifice ritual, and Boniface cut down the tree to stop the proceedings. There are some versions of the story where he burned their tree and then a fir tree grew from the stump of the ashes and was interpreted as a representation of Christ and his truth. Obviously this story is unsubstantiated, but in terms of evergreens specifically, we do know that they popped up sometime in the Middle Ages in Christian German households, and they were meant to represent the Garden of Eden. These early trees were decorated with apples and were part of the Catholic feast day of Adam and Eve, which fell on December 24th. So if you've ever been like, why the tree? That's why in this context, these trees were called paradise trees. And that practice became so popular in the 1400s that there was actually a pretty real danger of people overcutting branches. Pine trees were vanishing in degrees and amounts that were damaging to the trees as people went out to just cut their own. So in the Alsace region, laws were implemented to prevent that you were not allowed to cut your own branch whenever you wanted to, and only one tree was allowed per home.

[United Explorer Card Representative]

Martin Luther is sometimes credited with the invention of Christmas trees in the 16th century. In a story that's pretty poetic, it involves him looking up at the trees while walking through a forest in winter and marveling at the beauty of the moonlight reflecting off of the icicles and frost on the branches of the firs and then wanting to replicate that effect at home. That does not really hold water, though, because we know about those earlier trees and their uses. He may have initiated the practice of adding lights to the tree by placing candles on the boughs. And we will be coming back to.

[Holly Fry]

Those candles, feelings about candles in 1605. So about 50 years after Martin Luther's death, we have the first written record of Christmas trees in use in the homes of Strasbourg, decorated with apples, paper roses, gold foil candies and wafers. The earliest recorded sales of cut trees intended specifically for Christmas tree use dates back to the 17th century in Strasbourg.

[United Explorer Card Representative]

By the end of the 18th century, the practice of decorating a Christmas tree was completely established in Germany, as was described by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in a letter to his wife Sarah in 1799 while visiting the German Duchy of Mecklenburg Strelitz. Quote. Then on the evening before Christmas Day, one of the parlors is lighted up by the children, into which the parents must not go. A great yew bough is fastened on the table at a little distance from the wall. A multitude of little tapers are fastened in the bow, but not so as to burn it till they are nearly burnt out. And colored paper, etc. Hangs and flutters from the twigs. Under this bow. The children lay out in great neatness the presents they mean for their parents, still concealing in their pockets what they intend for each other.

[Holly Fry]

So as that mentions, and as we alluded to a moment ago in Some cases, people would not do a whole tree, but they would just do, like a single bough or a couple of boughs tied and, and hung or displayed on a table. We know that Christmas trees were in use in England in the 1790s or early 1800s and possibly earlier. And that is because George III's wife, Charlotte, who was born in Mecklenburg, Strelitz, brought the tradition with her to England when she became queen. She actually arrived in England in 1761. So it's very likely there were Christmas trees in the royal residences before one appears in written record. She incorporated the Christmas tree into celebrations shared with the rest of the royal family and its visitors, and this popularized the practice to a degree with the aristocracy. Then, at the end of the century, it's written that she had a yew tree put up in the Queen's lodge at Windsor for the holidays with full decorations. This was intended to be a centerpiece for a party she was planning for the children of the royals and the nobility. And the kids got to pluck sweets from the branches to eat. And after this, which was not a public event, but still a very big spectacle, most nobles with children are said to have adopted the Christmas tree as part of their home celebrations. And a lot of municipalities started making a practice of putting up large public trees for the children of the community to enjoy.

[United Explorer Card Representative]

We've talked on the show before about how Christmas trees became hugely popular during Queen Victoria's reign. As we noted earlier, they did exist well before that. But an engraving of her and the royal family with a Christmas tree was published in the 1840s, and that made the practice of putting up the tree vogue. That exact engraving was republished in the United States with tiny little alterations to make it look less obviously like royals. That became a standard for most households that celebrate Christmas. Because of that huge surge in popularity, the use of Christmas trees by Victoria's court certainly built upon the trend that Queen Charlotte had started. But Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, also from Germany, also contributed to the expansion of the Christmas tree's use. In 1840, he had Christmas trees imported from Coburg for the royal residences. Because Victoria and Albert were just ceaselessly fascinating to the press, their Christmas trees were covered extensively every year.

[Holly Fry]

One detailed example appeared in the Morning Post of London on December 28, 1848, and it reads in part, a Christmas tree is annually prepared by Her Majesty's command for the royal children. The tree employed for this festive purpose is a young fir, about 8ft high and has six tiers of branches on each tier or branch are arranged a dozen wax tapers. Pendant from the branches are elegant trays, basket, bonne bonniere, and other receptacles for sweetmeats of the most varied kind, and of all forms, colors, and degrees of beauty. Fancy cakes, gilt gingerbread, and eggs filled with sweetmeats are also suspended by variously colored ribands from the branches. The tree, which stands upon a table covered with white damask, is supported at the root by piles of sweets of a larger kind, and by toys and dolls of all descriptions suited to the youthful fancy and to the several ages of the scions of royalty for whose gratification they are displayed. The name of each recipient is affixed to the doll bon bon, or other present intended for it, so that no differences of opinion in the of dainties may arise to disturb the equanimity of the illustrious juveniles. On the summit of the tree stands the small figure of an angel with outstretched wings holding in each hand a wreath. That article goes on to mention that there are similar trees throughout the various living quarters of the castle.

[United Explorer Card Representative]

That write up also denotes the timeline of the Christmas tree's use and who is responsible for each quote. These trees are objects of much interest to all visitors at the castle from Christmas Eve when they are first set up until Twelfth Night when they are finally removed. They are not accessible to the curiosity of the public, but Her Majesty's visitors accompany the Queen from room to room to inspect them when they are illuminated. Her Majesty's tree is furnished by His Royal Highness Prince Albert, whilst that of the Prince is furnished according to the taste of Her Majesty. The other trees are jointly provided by Her Majesty and the Prince who plan and arrange the gifts of the table. So there was a shorter window for the trees than most homes might have today. There was a degree to which the trees themselves were sort of presence at least within the Royal family.

[Holly Fry]

Trees were also given by royals to various charity causes. A write up from early 1848 described the Duke of Cambridge visiting the German Hospital of Dalston and giving gifts to the patients there and then completing the visit by lighting up a German Christmas tree.

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[Holly Fry]

Just as movement from Germany to England and other European countries spread the Christmas tree tradition, movement to North America by Germans and other Europeans brought the practice of tree traditions with them. The first mention of a Christmas tree in the US is actually pretty early. It's in the late 1700s and their popularity quickly spread from there. The White House first had a Christmas tree in 1856 during the administration of President Franklin Pierce.

[United Explorer Card Representative]

Jumping ahead a bit, in 1923, the first National Christmas tree was lit on the White House lawn. The Christmas Eve event, which was segregated and left the black choir in attendance to sing late at night after the white carolers were done, was the idea of Herbert Hoover's assistant Frederick Feicher, and there was a very specific goal for these festivities. At the time, Hoover was the Secretary of Commerce and Feicher was well connected to the world of electricity, having formally worked for General Electric during World War I. The Society for Electrical Development had formed and they were looking for ways to promote the safety and capability of electricity. So what better way than to show off an enormous Christmas tree covered in electric lights? The White House had been using electric lights on the indoor Christmas trees for several years, but this was to be a large scale public tree and ceremony. Ficher described his idea in a letter later, quote the Society for Electrical Development was interested to have as Many people use electric lights at Christmas time as possible. So I thought of this idea of having the National Christmas Tree at Washington, which would stimulate other people to have outdoor Christmas trees. In order to get this started, we had to get the President of the United States to light the tree. If you get the President of the United States two years in succession to do a thing, he will always do it. The effort paid off for Feiker in cementing his reputation in Washington, and he was eventually made director of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce.

[Holly Fry]

I love that whole, if you get a President to do something twice, it's a tradition.

[United Explorer Card Representative]

Tell that to FDR and moving the date of Thanksgiving, which I guess he did try to keep doing forever until Congress was like, stop that. Right.

[Holly Fry]

One of the most famous public tree traditions in the US and that's the giant tree at Rockefeller center, began in 1931, and that was of course, right in the middle of the Great Depression. Rockefeller center was not finished yet, and the construction workers who were employed to build it were also the ones tasked with erecting the 20 foot tall tree. This is actually a little detail that gets told slightly differently because some accounts will say that they paid for the tree, but I think it's a little more likely that they had to put it up. The construction work at Rockefeller was really important. It was keeping a lot of people afloat during the recession. And that tree came to symbolize that sustaining nature of this one big construction project. To a degree, that symbolism was aided by the fact that holiday checks were distributed at the base of the tree in 1931. And the whole thing brought a lot of good publicity and resulting goodwill for the rockefeller project.

[United Explorer Card Representative]

In 1964, the fake tree made its splash, thanks to inventor Cy Spiegel. Cy's life story is fantastic in its own right. He was born in New York in 1924, and during World War II he served in the military. Initially, he was assigned to Aircraft Mechanics School, which he was not really enthusiastic about. As he told to New York Times journalist Lori Gwyn Shapiro, quote, how would I fight Hitler with a wrench? He managed to finagle his way into the Army's pilot training and participated in several bombing raids during the war. He was flying on a bombing raid in Berlin that went awry when his B17 got shot by German fire. Spiegel, who was Jewish, did not want to go down in Germany and he was in rough shape. But he managed to make an emergency landing in Allied territory. He had instructed the men aboard to jettison any extra weight, so they could make it there. There's more to this story. It's really just to set up what an eventful life this man had and how unlikely it was that he would even survive the war, let alone go on to revolutionize Christmas.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah, he was in a lot of scrapes. He has a great life story. There are several New York Times articles about him because he's fascinating and survived a long time and told a lot of great stories. But after his military service, Spiegel started working as a machinist for a company that manufactured machines that made brushes. And at one point, higher ups in the company thought of the idea to use the brush making machines to manufacture artificial Christmas trees, which the company did. But those trees were not very appealing and sales were really slow to non existent. When people got fake trees, they were usually getting those foil ones that we think of as being very like mid century modern. But Cy got sent to the facility where they were making these brush trees with a mandate that he had to shut it down. But when he got there, he realized there was actually still a lot of potential in the idea of an artificial tree. And he told his bosses that he really thought they could make money if they created fake pines. And his bosses trusted his instinct. So they formed a new division called American Tree and Wreath and they put him in charge of it. Spiegel tweaked the process they had been using and he used real trees as models for the designs that the companies produced. Once his division was able to produce fake trees that looked more or less like real ones, business picked up and it did so quickly. In the 1970s, Cy realized just how big the market for artificial trees could be. And he started his own company, which eventually made him a very wealthy man. Spiegel died recently in early 2024 at the age of 99. And he had lived long enough to see his work completely change the holiday landscape. It's estimated that 10 million artificial trees are purchased in the US every year.

[United Explorer Card Representative]

As Christmas trees were growing in popularity, so were their decorations. Of course, while there were a variety of items that were used to decorate them in their early days, it wasn't until the 16th century that glass baubles purpose made to be Christmas tree decorations made their first appearance. Those glass blown ornaments were the work of Hans Greiner, who lived in the town of lauscha in the 16th century. Greiner was born in 1550 and his partner Christoph Mueller opened a glassworks in 1597. They produced a variety of items like beads and drinking vessels. Greiner didn't only make glass ornaments, he also made ornaments out of tiny. The Griner glassworks also produced glass beads on strings. Glass bead garlands continued to be popular through the Victorian era, well after griner's death in 1609. One reason for the bead garlands to stay popular was that unlike tinsel, which was originally made of silver, the glass beads would not tarnish, and they could be used for years while still looking very shiny.

[Holly Fry]

The explosion of interest in Christmas trees that happened in the mid 19th century meant that there was also a huge uptick in the desire for Christmas ornaments. The Griner family had stayed in the glass business, and several generations after Hans in 1847, another Hans Greiner, one of his descendants, started making glass ornaments in new shapes and designs. So prior to the 19th century, most glass ornaments were orbs or kind of elongated spheres. They might have a range of sparkly finishes, but the shapes stayed fairly consistent. But over time, there started to be more elaborate shapes, and ornaments started to be designed to look like various objects, like fruit or animals. If you've ever seen a bird ornament that can be clipped onto a tree branch, that harkens back to some of those early forays beyond round shapes and into representative ornament designs.

[United Explorer Card Representative]

Unlike earlier glass ornaments, which were hand blown into spheres, the new designs required a new approach. Hand blowing was still used, but it was combined with molds, with the glass being carefully blown into the molds to shape to them into the inside of the mold. Once they were shaped and cooled, the inside of the glass was coated with a silver finish. Several different materials were used for the silver coating over the years, from mercury to lead, to a process developed by scientists Baron Justus von Liebig, that combined silver nitrate, ammonia and sugars, which was a lot safer than the other methods. These new ornament styles had great timing. They came into being just as Victoria and Albert were making Christmas trees ultra popular. And that meant that the Griner family just kept making glass ornaments.

[Holly Fry]

Frank Winfield Woolworth founded his first two stores in 1879 in Utica, New York, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And when he visited Germany in the 1880s, he saw the Griner ornaments and he loved them. And he thought that his customers would love them too. And he was correct. He started importing them for sale in his stores, and he made a lot of money through ornament sales. One figure I saw was more than $25 million, which, you know, we're talking about the 1880s, so a lot. His success got other merchants interested, and soon ornament import deals were being cut with other store chains to meet the demand.

[United Explorer Card Representative]

The number of glassworks in Laosha continued to grow. If you're wondering why that one town became the center of glasswork ornaments, the Financial Times noted in 2014 that it had all the ingredients to be the best place for that kind of work. Its elevation is great. It has sand and limestone, and because it's in a forest, there's wood around to fuel the fires that would be needed for glassblowing. But mass production also began in the United States, so there were a lot of ornaments available at a wide variety of price points.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah, Laotia continued to be the main place they came from for a long time. Okay, it is time to talk about candles and lights, but before we do that, we're gonna take a little sponsor break.

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[Holly Fry]

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[Holly Fry]

All right, heads up. We promised we would let you know when the sad stuff is coming, and it's now. This section has some depressing things, so if you don't want that, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and we'll see you when you're ready for it. So we're going to start by talking about Tree candles. This comes with a slight confession. This is a thing that has always fascinated and terrified me for a long time. Anytime I saw an image of a Christmas tree with actual lit candles on its branches, it seemed so dangerous to me that I believed that that was the use of artistic license and could not possibly have been an actual way people decorated. Like when I read older children's books as a kid, I was like, I guess they didn't want to draw light bulbs. Like I just could not conceive that you would have so much open flame around a tree.

[United Explorer Card Representative]

That is presumably did progressively becoming drier and drier.

[Holly Fry]

Yes, but they 100% did. And some people still do put lit candles on trees. So these little candles were normally held in place with little clip on candle holders. And the candles themselves were either made of beeswax, which smelled very lovely, or tallow. Tallow candles were less expensive and because they're made of animal fat, they were also less pleasant smelling. Unless you wanted a meaty smelling tree.

[United Explorer Card Representative]

These candles were incredibly dangerous. There are so many newspaper mentions of fires caused by Christmas tree candles. Some of them are relatively benign, like this one from 1-9-1892 in the Jersey City News. Quote, A Christmas tree candle set fire to some curtains in the house of William Hoffman, Bergenline Avenue, Union Hill, yesterday. The flames spread and before they were extinguished the damage was $500. That was a lot in 1892, but still it does not sound like anyone died. Another non tragic one from the Courier journal of Louisville, Kentucky on January 5, 1909, read, quote, candles on a Christmas tree at the home of T.H. ferta at 2814 Montgomery St. Set it afire, causing an alarm to be turned on from box 136. At 6:00 last night, members of the family threw the blazing tree into the yard and when firemen arrived, they found that their services were not needed.

[Holly Fry]

Quick thinking, I presume there was snow on the ground and it just sputtered out. Not all incidents though had such fortunate outcomes. In 1924, which surprised me with how late it was, a particularly tragic fire in Hobart, Oklahoma made national news on Christmas Eve. The Baba Switch School, which was seven miles outside of any major town, had a Christmas party that involved a program of entertainment and was to culminate in Santa Claus giving out gifts to the kids. But as Santa was starting his segment of the evening, one of the candles on the tree high at the top top burned down and it caught the branch where it was clipped on fire. One of the organizers tried to climb the tree to put out the fire. But then the tree fell with from his weight and the wrapped presence below it and some of the attendees clothes caught fire. A stampede started as people panicked. More than 20 people were injured and several dozen died, many of them children.

[United Explorer Card Representative]

These fires were not outliers at all. Christmas tree candle fires were so common that on December 28, 1921, the Alton Evening Telegraph of Alton, Illinois reported on a story about there not being any fires caused by tree candles thus far that year. It opens with quote, Alton is close to a record. This time it is a record which means something up to noon today. No calls had been made to the fire department to extinguish a blaze resulting from Christmas tree candles. The article quotes the local fire chief, whose name was Feldwich, as saying, quote, it is true that the Christmas season is not over and that trees probably will be kept up and lighted for a few days more. But in the past most fires have been on Christmas Day or the day following. The chances for such fires are of course far less now than at the opening of the Christmas this season. The article cites the adoption of electric lights over candles as the likely reason for the lack of fires.

[Holly Fry]

But electric lights also scared people. An item in the Daily plainsman of Huron, South Dakota on December 12, 1929 read quote, a few years ago the caution was watch the Christmas tree candles. Fires cost many thousands of dollars at this time of the year. But now when a few dollars will buy a set of electric candles that is all off, it would be well to see that great care is used in setting up the electric Christmas tree strings. However, faulty connections might cause short circuits and what chance would a dry Christmas tree have?

[United Explorer Card Representative]

But electric tree lights were invented long before that 1929 caution item was printed and this one ties to Thomas Edison and a man who started out as his boss but then became his assistant. That man was Edward Hibbard Johnson, who was working for Automatic Telegraph Company in 1871 when he hired 24 year old Thomas Edison as a contract consultant for the company. Edison's drive impressed Johnson and when the inventor cut ties with automatic telegraph to go his own way, Johnson went with him, working as sort of a promoter and sometimes investing his own money into Edison's business ventures.

[Holly Fry]

I feel like we should have an aside to say yes, we know Thomas Edison is incredibly complicated and problematic and that's outside the scope of this particular episode. I just didn't want anybody to be like, well, he talked about Edison and didn't mention what a jerk he was at all we know just isn't really germane to Christmas lights because we're gonna give this to Johnson. After Edison's invention of the light bulb and its patent in 1880, Johnson quickly started thinking about how that technology could be used to put an end to the all too familiar news stories about homes burning due to Christmas tree candles.

[United Explorer Card Representative]

Working with Edison, Johnson had become really adept at showing off ideas to get people interested in them. And so in the winter of 1882, he invited a member of the press to his home to see something he had been working on. When journalist William Augustus Crawfitt arrived, he saw quite a spectacle which was the first electrically illuminated Christmas tree. Crawfitt wrote of the scene. Quote, there at the rear of the beautiful parlors was a large Christmas tree presenting a most picturesque and uncanny aspect. It was brilliantly lighted with many colored globes about as large as an English walnut, and was turning some six times a minute on a little pine box. There were 80 lights all encased in these dainty glass eggs and about equally divided between white, red and blue. As the tree turned, the colors alternated, all the lamps going out and being relit at every revolution. The result was a continuous twinkling of dancing colors, red, white and blue all evening.

[Holly Fry]

That was just the beginning, though. Johnson built on that idea, and he continued to invite press to his home at Christmas in subsequent years. Here's how the New York Times described the Johnson Christmas tree of 1884. Quote, A pretty as well as novel Christmas tree was shown to a few friends by Mr. E H. Johnson, President of the Edison Company for Electric Lighting. Last evening in his residence, number 139 East 36th street, the tree was lighted by electricity, and children never beheld a brighter tree or one more highly colored than the children of Mr. Johnson when the current was turned on and the tree began to revolve. Mr. Johnson has been experimenting with house lighting by electricity for some time past, and he determined that his children should have a novel Christmas tree. So that New York Times article goes on to describe how the tree was 6ft tall and had 120 lights and how the tinsel and other ornaments appeared to their best advantage thanks to those new lights. It also described the Edison motor that was enabling the tree to rotate. And this 1884 version of the electrically lit tree also featured lights that shifted color, and that was an invention that Johnson had just patented.

[United Explorer Card Representative]

As much as people marveled at Johnson's electric decorations, it wasn't as though those news write ups caused an instant run on electric Christmas lights. Even if people wanted them, there were still some obstacles. For one thing, they were expensive. Early strings, which only had 16 lights, cost the equivalent of several hundred dollars in today's money, way out of the price range of most people at the end of the 19th century. And for another, most houses didn't have electricity at that point. If they wanted lights like the ones Johnson had been showcasing, they'd have to invest in running wiring.

[Holly Fry]

Of course, those problems would eventually be overcome. By the 19 teens, string lights had dropped significantly in price, to less than one sixth of what they had cost in the 1880s. Despite the concerns some had about the dangers of electric light strings, once electric string lights became affordable, they also became very popular, and they quickly replaced candles in most homes. That is not to say there have not been fires caused by electrical lights. There absolutely have been, and there have been fatalities. But the numbers of holiday decor fires have lowered considerably thanks to electric lights. And as safety science and regulations have been implemented, that danger has continued to shrink. Drink According to Smithsonian online, in 2016 it was estimated that 150 million sets of lights were being sold annually in the US and holiday lights accounted for 6% of the energy use in the United States during the month of December.

[United Explorer Card Representative]

In the US Demand for Christmas decorations has steadily risen since the end of World War II, owing to a mid 20th century boom in home ownership and the ever growing mass production both in North America and abroad. U.S. residents spend $6 billion on Christmas decorations every year.

[Holly Fry]

Christmas Decor I will tell you my ridiculous thing that I recently did. Okay, we talk on Friday. In the meantime, I have a story from our listener Susan, that is two stories in One great one hearkens back to our discussion of ghosts. Ghosts at Halloween. I also like to think ghosts are very Christmassy. Yeah, we have a lot of Christmas ghost stories. Yeah, so it seemed like a good one to use. Susan writes Hi Tracy and Holly. I have a story about a fake ghost that I've been meaning to share with you. I attended a Catholic school from kindergarten through eighth grade. There was a tradition of having a sleepover for all of the girls in the summer before we entered sixth grade. The sleepover was held at the school, parts of which date back to 1835. One of the big events associated with the annual sleepover was the sighting of the headless nun. The story about the headless nun was that she was vain and wanted to wear makeup. As a result of her vanity, she cut off her own head. I'm sure I'm forgetting some details. This was 36 years ago. I'm not kidding when I tell you that it was a dark and stormy night. I can remember as we walked through the old creaky hallway, hand in hand. This was a hallway that was normally off limits to us. We could see a door up ahead with a strange greenish light coming out of the room. As soon as each girl passed the door, they screamed. When it was my chance, I steeled myself to look in there. It was a mannequin in nun's clothing, minus the head. I believe the moral of the story was to convince us not to want to wear makeup, lest we end up like this poor soul and cut off our own head. Even as an adult, I can still be gullible, but at 11, I rolled my eyes. I don't know if this tradition continues. I hope you find this story as amusing as I do.

[United Explorer Card Representative]

I do.

[Holly Fry]

She's the Louise Belcher of her of her group, where she's like, what? It's mannequin. I love it for pet Tax here's the other great story. I am attaching a picture of Marshmallow I teach at a middle school. Sidebar thank you for being an educator. Last week our head secretary greeted me as I came into school with you have to go to Laura's room. She has a dog she found on the side of the road. No need to tell me more. I get down there and see a great Pyrenees on the floor in the lap of a sixth grade girl. He was showing us all his belly. He was such a sweetheart. He had a GPS tracker that kept going off. My friend Laura was at her computer trying to figure out how to track the owner through the tracker. She asked me if she was crazy for rescuing the dog from the side of the road. I said absolutely not. The road she takes to school is a country road with a 45 mile per hour speed limit. Fast forward an hour. The owner calls our school and says, I own a nursery by the river. Do you happen to have my dog? When he came up to school to claim Marshmallow, he brought a lovely plant for the office. I was told that Marshmallow kept looking over his shoulder as if he didn't want to leave the kids. I was thinking how Marshmallow's story would be a nice pet tax. And then I remembered I wanted to also share my fake ghost story with you. Thank you for your hard work on the podcast. I enjoy learning about aspects of history that I normally wouldn't come across. I appreciate you broadening my horizons. Susan. I love this story so much. Marshmallow she sent a picture is very cute. I love a big fluffy pooch and he's great. And I love that you found his owner and that you got some, you know, beautiful flora out of the deal. So thank you for rescuing dogs. Everybody that picks up an animal on the side of the road. You're a hero. And thank you for sharing this very fun, funny story of a less than scary nun mannequin with us. If you would like to share a story with us or tell us about Christmas decor in your household or anything else, you can do [e-mail] you can also subscribe to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you listen to your favorite shows.

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Stuff youf Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Here's to the season. From hanging ornaments and matching pajamas to building gingerbread houses with extra icing and staying up late to wrap gifts and watch movies, these traditions make the holidays truly special. And through it all, the Chinet brand is there to share in the joy. With the Chinette Crystal Collection, holiday tables are perfectly coordinated allowing for excellence with less cleanup so everyone can focus on what really matters. Here's to the traditions that bring everyone together year after year. Here's to us, all of us. Find a local [e-mail] from hobby farmers.

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