Never too far away from the child who lives within me

Today I'm celebrating the invention of the electric Christmas tree lights

On this date in 1882, Edward H Johnson, an associate of inventor Thomas Edison and then vice president of the Edison Electric Light Company, first proudly displayed his Christmas tree at his home on Fifth Avenue in New York City with 80 hand-wired red, white and blue lights made especially for him. He became known as the Father of Electric Christmas Tree Lights. Eventually Christmas lights were used outside, on mantles, on doorways, and along rafters, roof lines, and porch railings. You can visit the HowStuffWorks site for more information on how Christmas lights work.

One of the most exciting days for me as a child was decorating the tree and watching the Christmas tree first lit. That is, except for those years when we had one of those "snowy" or "flocked" artificial trees which did not have lights. Instead, the lighting was actually provided by a rotating color wheel which sat under the tree. At least we did not have an aluminum tree in our house! Putting the lights on the tree is quite a challenge though. I'd get my friends to do that at my annual trim-the-tree party. Now, I look forward to decorating the tree with my nephews. I recently upgraded to a pre-lit tree and it's much simpler! I spent the day with my nephews today and we decorated the tree and house. (I know, I'm really running late this year) This year we added a neat strand of miniature lights along the top of the bookcases to light the tiny Christmas trees that they decorated to display. The trees are beautiful this year. They did a great job!

Some people are obsessed with the holiday lights at Christmas. You may recall the funny scene in Christmas Vacation when they tried to get the lights on the Griswold's home. You can see the video clip with Chevy Chase on YouTube. You may also remember how Danny DeVito in Deck the Halls wanted his house to be seen from space!

In the mid 2000s, the Christmas lights on Carson Williams' home which were programmed to turn on and off, synchronized with music, became famous on the Internet and featured on television shows. Today there are dozens of videos on YouTube created by others with similar animated Christmas light shows. Those animated Christmas lights were the inspiration to my ongoing e-tour of holiday lights this month.

After wrapping presents this morning and then working with my nephews to decorate the tree and talking with them about their Christmas wishes, I was reminded of the great memories of Christmas pasts as a child. Here's a link to the Muppets and John Denver singing the 12 Days of Christmas that you may remember as a child. Watching those lights first turn on my tree brings back the kid in me! Here's a link to a video created to Donny Osmond singing The Kid in Me. Also, in continuing my e-tour of holiday lights, I've posted a great video of animated Christmas lights to a funny song about one of the most unusual gifts I've ever heard requested! I think you'll like it too. :)

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

As posted on YouTube by D3Hobbes

Today, I wish for you that you are reminded of the joys of Christmas pasts and this year you let Christmas bring out the kid in you too!








Image credit: Pines and Needles