A great Christmas gift tradition is giving personalized Christmas tree ornaments. Every year when it’s time to decorate the tree, these ornaments will bring back special memories and create discussions among family and friends. This helps to create that warm Christmas spirit year after year. It is also a great tradition as the gift giver, because you already know that at least part of their gift will be a keepsake ornament. This can take some of the stress out of holiday shopping and gift giving.
A little history on the ornament . . . The word ornament is defined as an accessory used to beautify or improve the appearance or general effect of an object. To decorate a tree with a Christmas ornament is an adornment or embellishment. They are ornamental by nature and therefore lend beauty or attractiveness to the Christmas trees.
So that just tells us about the word ornament, where did this all begin? Well, there is a lot of controversy around how the Christmas tree ornament came about, but everyone seems to agree that it all started in the 1600’s in Germany. My favorite theory is that people would bring the tree into their homes in the dead of winter as a sign of hope for the spring to come. They would decorate the tree with nuts and fruits, things that would normally grow on trees. Eventually ornaments grew into candy, paper streamers and around the 18th century came hand cast glass ornaments. Lauscha in Germany was the home of glass ornament production. Later on silk, wool thread, chenille and stiff spun glass were used in Christmas tree ornaments.
Christmas tree ornaments made it to America around 1880. It is said that F.W Woolworth, an American retailer first sold imported glass ornaments in his shop. Decorations also included cut outs of old magazines, cotton wools and tinsel. Then World War I disrupted natural commerce and necessitated the production of cheaper ornaments with new technologies. This gave way for injection plastic molding and revolutionized the ornament making business. Now days you can find an ornament for just about anything - from toilets to vegetables to SpongeBob SquarePants!
However, one thing always rings true, ornaments beautify the Christmas tree and remind us of our loved ones and all the wonderful Christmas’ gone by. Blue Snail Gifts has many great personalized Christmas tree ornaments available for children - Personalized Christmas Tree Ornaments.
