THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2022 - NATIONAL CHRISTMAS LIGHTS DAY

 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2022 - WELCOME TO DECEMBER

It’s the first day of the last month of the year.  Twenty-four days until Christmas, 30 days until New Year’s Eve; 31 days until 2023.  

And, it is:

National Christmas Lights Day

From: https://www.christmas-light-source.com/pages/history-of-christmas-lights 

“Christmas lights actually started out just as candles. These candles were attached to the tree using wax or pins. The practice began in Germany during the 17th century and over the next 200 or so years; it became an established practice in Germany and began to spread out into other countries of Eastern Europe.”

Karen comments:  With Christmas coming just a few days after the Winter Solstice, and with the message of a savior born and that this savior was the “light of the world”.  John 8:12 says, “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”,

(Back to the article):

“The practice was originally started to bring illumination to the ornaments that were placed on the tree. This practice continued until around 1900 when candleholders became popular and people started to use them instead of wax or pins to hold the candles to the trees. The purpose, however, stayed the same. It was to illuminate and make those beautiful works of art that decorated the tree become even more visible.

 

Karen comments: Attaching candles to evergreen trees, although pretty, was also dangerous.  Dry trees could go “poof” up in flames - so people who wanted to celebrate Christmas indoors had buckets of water to quickly douse fires.  

 

(Back to the article)
“It was not until around 1915 that glass balls and lanterns were also used replacing the candles on trees as the main form of illuminating and providing glittering beauty to these wonderful symbols of Christmas with the masses. The world of Christmas lights really became something amazing with the invention of the light bulb and electricity. In 1882, the first Christmas tree to be lit by electric lights was seen in New York. It was lit by Edward Johnson who happened to be a friend (and partner) of Thomas Edison. The Christmas tree was lit with beautiful red, white, and blue lights, which are still the favorites of many today. It also led to the creation of the first string of Christmas lights, which were easily mass-produced and were available for sale around 1890. This of course was the start of the wonderful traditions we have today of placing strings of Christmas lights around our trees and homes to liven the holiday.

“The first White House Christmas tree to have electric lights was seen in 1895 and lit by President Cleveland.

“The first sets of sting lights were too expensive for the majority of people to afford but by 1900, many department stores were using Christmas lights to liven up their holiday displays and attract customers. The American Eveready company produced the first Christmas light set however in 1903.

 

“The first sets were expensive $12 for 24 lights which in today's money would be about $80.00, too expensive for the masses, however, a wonderful idea was struck and Christmas lights became available for rent at a much cheaper price allowing them to be used by everyone to liven up the holiday displays in homes and businesses. These lights were created by GE. They came in seven colors, clear, frosted, green, blue, purple, ruby, and opal.

*****

I remember as a child helping put the lights on our Christmas tree.  I discovered that some light sets were such that if one light went out, all lights went out, and other light sets were such that if one light went out, the rest would still work!  Those were “serial” or “parallel” light sets.

Serial-wired light strings cannot be cut and if one bulb is removed the rest of the string will go out. (Note - if the bulb is removed.  Burnout bulbs can be left in the string - but it is best to replace the burned-out bulbs to keep the electrical current.

Parallel wired lights can be cut and terminated to fit and if one bulb is unscrewed and removed, the rest will stay lit. (Bulbs that have threaded bases are a clue you are working with lights that are wired in parallel.).

Modern Christmas light sets are generally a combination of serial and parallel circuits.  Let’s say you have a light strand of 200 bulbs - with 20 bulbs to a section (or 10 sections for the entire strand).  You might have one section out and 9 sections working.  So in the section that is out, it is serial - and one bulb might be missing. 

Karen's comment - be very careful in putting light sets away.  Make sure all the bulbs work on a set as you wrap them up on a paper towel (or toilet paper) core.  Next year as you get the lights out again, check that they still work.  

And, it seems as if squirrels like chewing on light sets and thus damaging the whole set.  (A HOA - Home Owners Association that I know of had lights on their swimming pool building - and after a week they noticed it wasn’t working and when checking it out, noticed that squirrels had gnawed the wiring!!)

Christmas lights do add a positive spin on dark nights - and many communities sponsor Christmas light contests.  (Some are sponsored by electric utilities - so they give out a prize to individuals for their display - but homeowners around the community are paying for increased electrical usage!!!)

Do celebrate the Holiday season with lights and decorations.  Even though I’m in an apartment, I have a small Christmas light display!!!

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

KAREN ANNE WHITE, © DECEMBER 1, 2022