Christmas Ornaments? Where did they come from?

Have you ever wondered where the idea of hanging a decoration on a tree came from?  I did, so I performed a little research and found out that the idea of adorning a fir tree with glass decorations was started in the dark ages in northern Bohemia.  This idea was adopted by early Christians to celebrate the birth of Jesus and what we call a "Christmas ornament" was born.
For centuries the Germans dominated the production of ornaments, mostly blown glass ornaments, a process they learned from Venetian traders .  Families would also decorate trees with candles, food items, nuts and other sweets.  Sometimes small toys were placed in trees.
This brings me to the question of how to judge the weight and size of an ornament and whether it is going to fit well on a tree.  We often get this question at our store, which is why our selection of tree ornaments tends toward the smaller, lighter weight ornament.
It wasn't until after World War I that British and American companies began making tree ornaments.  And certainly the technology which produced plastic added all sorts of possibilities to the Christmas ornament design.
So many other products have been manufactured with the Christmas ornament in mind.  There are the specialty storage boxes, the ornament hanger, bubble wrap and tissue paper to keep our ornaments from breaking and the narrow ribbon to tie the ornament to the tree's branch.
And of course there is the whole area of who collects what sort of ornament?  Is it a Santa Claus ornament collector?  a Snowman ornament collecter?  an ornament with the year's date collector?  a Coca Cola ornament collector?  a Disney ornament collector?  a Hallmark ornament collector?  There is no end to the catagories of collectors.
The concept of ornaments on trees from the dark ages has certainly "illuminated" our contemporary Christmas shopping experience and the beauty that a wonderfully decorated tree adds to a home.  As families open ornament boxes and begin decorating their tree, I can imagine that they tell stories about each ornament, they live their family history over again and it makes the decorating of the tree an experience of memory and fun.
The birth of the ornament in the 1500's lives on today.  This year at Sweet Tooth we have a new group of ornaments called Bead It.  With a snowman or Santa head, you can add the hats, the bodies, the little spacer beads with sayings like "Grandma" and make your own personal ornament.  I'd like to think that the one you make and give will provide annual comments, laughter and wonderful memories to the Christmas holiday experience.