I’m not a fan
of winter, so I didn’t mind the unusually warm temperatures we’ve been having
lately. I didn’t mind our rainy Christmas, and I didn’t complain like so many
others have that it just didn’t “feel like” the holiday season this year. It
has been mostly above freezing during the day in Southeastern
Pennsylvania, throughout December and the first few days of
January. But yesterday, with a high temperature of 31 degrees and blustery
winds, it seemed like winter had finally arrived.
This morning
when I took my husband to work, it was 11 degrees. We let the car warm up
before we got started, so we were cozy for the ride, but it felt like walking
through a freezer on the way to the car. But, it’s January—and that’s the way
it’s supposed to be.
It was still
almost dark when we left, with a thin sliver of moon and stars still visible.
As we drove, we noticed that a few people still had their Christmas lights up,
and we remarked that it was nice to see. It’s a shame that once Christmas is
over, most of the lights and decorations come down, because January is such a
cold and dark month.
In February and
March, you start to see the days getting longer. Even when it’s cold, there is
a little more natural light, and a sense that Spring, though still far away,
will come. But in January, the lengthening of the days is barely noticeable,
and there is a letdown after the holidays.
It’s easy to
understand how Christmas lights got started. In the darkest days of the year,
when people lit their homes with candles and lanterns, extra light was needed
for everyday living during the winter. And lanterns placed in windows and
outside of homes would have guided friends and family who were visiting to
share in the festivities. People started bringing evergreen trees inside, and
placing lighted candles on them. It’s debatable how this custom got started, but by sometime in the 19th Century, Christmas trees were popular throughout North America and Europe.
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| Victorian Postcard |
The history of electric
Christmas lights is intricately tied to the dawn of the modern era, when houses
began to be supplied with electricity. Thomas Edison invented the first
functioning light bulb in 1879. In 1882, an associate of his, Edward Johnson, was
the first person to electrically light his family’s Christmas tree in his New York home, located
in one of the first sections of the city to be wired for electricity. He became
known as “The Father of Electric Christmas Tree Lights.”
A visiting reporter wrote the following description of that magical, modern
tree in “The Detroit Post and Tribune”: “Last evening I walked over beyond Fifth Avenue and
called at the residence of Edward H. Johnson, vice-president of Edison’s electric company. 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 eighty lights in all encased in these dainty glass eggs,
and about equally divided between white, red and blue. As the tree turned and
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, blue, white, red, blue—all evening.”
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| Christmas Postcard, circa 1920 |
In 1890, Edison published a promotional
brochure which may have been the first mention of commercially available
electrically powered Christmas lights. It stated that “There are few forms of
decoration more beautiful and pleasing than miniature incandescent lamps placed
among flowers, or interwoven in garlands or festoons; for decorating Christmas
trees or conservatories…”
From there, the popularity of Christmas lights exploded. People began placing
electric candles in windows, and decorating staircases, lampposts and the
insides and outsides of homes and businesses with strings of lights. They have
become safer and easier to use over the years, and most recently, energy
efficient LED lights have become popular. It’s hard to imagine Christmas
without Christmas lights. And it’s nice to see that some of them stay up into
January, to bring some comfort and joy to these long, cold nights!
