It seems each year something new has to be added to the Xmas decoration. But this year we have been a little limited and we can only put up decorations that are above the reach of our one year old son. So we had to skip the Xmas tree this year as well as some other floor decorations, but instead we have focused a bit more on the Xmas lights to give a cozy feeling at home.
The above lamp was actually a Swedish invention and a new modern take on the original advent candle stick that used real candle sticks. In 1929 Philips launched the first electrical light decoration for the Xmas tree, but there was a major problem, because there was a different voltage in the cities and the country side. This lead to a lot of Xmas tree light being returned where some of the light bulbs had broken due to the high voltage. Oscar Anderson had joined the company at the same time and was asked to dispose of the broken lights. He then asked if he could experiment to see if he could possibly use the still remaining light bulbs that were not destroyed for some new kind of decoration. He then came up with the idea to make an electrical advent lamp and in 1934 the first sample was made.Philips wasn’t so sure if it would be well received since they figured people would rather prefer the older version with normal candle sticks, but they agreed to do a test with 3000 units. Today about 90 percent of the Swedish house holds have these lights, and approximately 1 000 000 million electric candle lights are sold in Sweden each year. Pretty impressive with a population of just over 10 million people.
The next lamp is a paper star lamp that you hang in the window. I’m not sure how popular it is in other countries, but here in Sweden it seems that almost all homes have one. The tradition to put such a star comes from Christianity and the story of the Star of Bethlehem. It was originally invented in Germany.
Here is another one we have that is a little bit different shapes. It seems each new year they come up with some new designs and as they are made of paper they usually don’t last so long so we often buy a new one every other year or so.
Besides these lamps we also have some other light chains. My wife seems to add some new stuff each year, I try to make sure we don’t get too much stuff since it’s kind of a hassle to do all the decorations and also to take it down. But my wife usually gets her way so I guess soon we will pay more on the electricity bill for Xmas lights than for heating the home. But it’s fine, happy wife happy life and also it is damn cozy.
How about the Xmas decorations in your home ? Do you have some or a lot ? Do you usually buy more each year ?