Christmas Ornaments

Glittering and sparkling, Christmas ornaments make Christmas tree look much more magical and fun. They can be added to any decoration around the house during the holiday season, can be used to give your gift wraps an interesting holiday look and can also be given as party favors to your guests. There are traditional holiday ornaments along with the ones that keep adding themselves to the Christmas ornament collection and make the holiday decorations look livelier than ever. Many people keep some of the best and most expensive Christmas ornaments they have as keepsakes and collectibles and even pass them down in their families as heirlooms to be used year after year on Christmas.

Christmas Ornaments first became popular around 1880 and instantly became hit. At that time, the only ornaments that were in the market were German hand-cast lead and hand-blown glass decorations. Until 1925, Germany had almost a monopoly over the Christmas ornament market. Japan gave the first significant shove to Germany's supremacy by producing ornaments in large quantities in newer designs that were more colorful and had an oriental touch and exported them to the United States. Later, Czechoslovakia also entered the competition with several fancy Christmas ornaments.

By 1935, more then 250 million Christmas tree ornaments were being imported to America. The first American company started producing Christmas ornaments significantly only in 1939, due to the outbreak of World War II. Christmas ball and bauble ornaments have been quite popular since then. Keepsake Christmas Ornaments first appeared in 1973 as decorated glass balls and yarn figures. Later, they expanded to include Christmas ornament handicrafts such as bone china, porcelain, paper mache, wood and acrylic ornaments. Glass angels, stiff spun glass butterfly wings, flower baskets and vases decorated with tinsel, air balloons with tinsel and egg zeppelins have been the hot favorites during the holiday season.

Some people like to display their Christmas ornaments even after the Holiday Season is over, just to remind them that there is happiness and cheer around the corner. Special ornaments can be enjoyed year after year and some of the most popular ones are Christmas Stars, Santa Claus and his elves ornaments, Snowflake and feather ornaments and Christmas angel ornaments. The variety and styles of Christmas ornaments has increased to a much wider collection since then as they have evolved into much more sophisticated and expensive decoration items. Homemade Christmas ornaments also caught on as cheaper and creative substitutes and they were often embroidered with silk, wool, chenille and tinsel to add glitter and colors to them.