Ornaments

Christmas ornaments are decorations (usually made of glass, metal, wood or ceramics) that are used to festoon a Christmas tree. more...

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Ornaments take many different forms, from a simple round ball to highly artistic designs. Ornaments are almost always reused year after year, rather than purchased annually, and family collections often contain a combination of commercially produced ornaments and decorations created by family members. Such collections are often passed on and augmented from generation to generation.

Santa Claus is a commonly used figure. Candy canes, fruit, animals and snowflake imagery are also popular choices

Lucretia P. Hale's story "The Peterkins' Christmas-Tree" offers a short catalog of the sorts of ornaments used in the 1870s:

There was every kind of gilt hanging-thing, from gilt pea-pods to butterflies on springs. There were shining flags and lanterns, and bird-cages, and nests with birds sitting on them, baskets of fruit, gilt apples, and bunches of grapes."

The modern-day Christmas ornament was originally invented in the small German town of Lauscha in the late 16th century.

Bauble

A bauble is a spherical decoration that is commonly used to adorn Christmas trees. It is one of the most popular Christmas ornament designs, and you can find at least one bauble on virtually any Christmas tree. Baubles can have various designs on them, from "baby's first Christmas," to a favorite sports team. Baubles have been in production since 1847.

Invention

Glass baubles were first made in Lauscha, Germany by Hans Greiner who according to legend, began hand blowing glass into Christmas decorations because he was unable to afford usual ornaments such as nuts, apples and candy.

Greiner originally started by blowing glass into the shape of fruit and nuts. The inside of his decorations were made to look silvery, at first with mercury or lead, then later using a special compound of silver nitrate and sugar water.

As demand for Greiner's ornaments grew, he began blowing the glass into new shapes including the sphere which is now the most popular.

Export

Other glassblowers in Lauscha recognised the growing popularity of Christmas baubles and began producing them in a wide range of designs. Soon, the whole of Germany began buying Christmas glassware from Lauscha and after Queen Victoria's Christmas tree was pictured in a London newspaper decorated with glass ornaments and baubles from Prince Albert's native Germany, Lauscha began exporting its products throughout Europe.

Read more at Wikipedia.org