Originally, natural items were used to adorn Christmas trees, i.e., fruit, popcorn and candies in different shapes. In the early 1800's a German glass blower created some glass garlands for his tree that resembled the strings of popcorn that usually decorated his tree. His idea quickly caught on with other German glass blowers and Christmas tree ornaments began to be mass produced.
Christmas in the year 1832 young Queen Victoria wrote about her beautiful Christmas tree decorated with lighted ornaments, glass figurines and the presents sitting under it. Then in 1840 a local British newspaper published a photograph of Queen Victoria's Christmas tree with the glass ornaments from her husband, Prince Albert's, native Germany and Germany began exporting the beautiful glass ornaments throughout Europe.
It was during a trip to Germany in the 1880's that E.F. Woolworth discovered these glass ornaments and began importing them to the United States and made a fortune doing it. By 1910 over 1000 Woolworth stores nationwide were selling these imported German glass ornaments. By 2009 Christmas decorations were second only to gifts in seasonal sales.
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Enjoy!
