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 There is nothing as splendid around the holidays than that picture post card of Christmas spirit – the outdoor Christmas tree. There is nothing more majestic than the beauty of an outdoor Christmas tree – outside in the elements, unencumbered and unconfined against the sharpness of a winter sky. Somehow a tree restrained within a house is less spectacular, less imposing than when viewed outdoors. The outdoor canvas is just more un-imposing, more majestic. There is a natural sense of awe. The lighting of our national Christmas tree in Washington DC is televised around the country, it’s awesome beauty arcing skyward, awash in a thousand points of light. The lights are reflected off nearly as many sparkling Christmas ornaments. Each element catching not only the sparkle of its own coat of light, but equally reflecting a million stars in each facet of every ornament. The outdoor Christmas tree in Times Square in New York City has graced a thousand TV and movie screens. It seems to gleefully watch over the ice skaters and shoppers, busily enjoying the holiday season and all the wonder it holds.
That is just one tree. How many of us have felt the warmth of the Christmas spirit as we stroll down a city street lined with lighted and adorned artificial Christmas trees? And it doesn’t matter the type of tree either, as each becomes the embodiment of the perfect outdoor Christmas tree. Each decorated tree holding its own Christmas spirit in the holiday lights that drape and cascade from branch to branch. From the sleepiest country town, to cities that never sleep, each tree becomes a beacon, a comfort, a guidepost if you will, for Christmas spirit. Outdoor Christmas trees are as varied and individual as each of us. From the classic blue spruce or Scotch pine, symmetrical and towering – to a stately oak or lone magnolia tracing its large and bulbous shape across the sky. These and many others gracing the outdoors with the magnificence of its bulk, dotted with a hundred cords of scintillating mini lights.
My favorite strand of outdoor Christmas trees are those that line the beach at Waikiki, Hawaii. Who says a Palm Tree can’t be a Christmas tree? Western culture is trapped in it’s European past of Christmas as a time of snow and ice. Of snow capped peaks as a background to forests of pines covered with snow, and the Christmas tree as beacon of light against a dark, cold and gloomy winter landscape. Snow, snow, snow – bah humbug. I’d rather have my Christmas tree blowing in the balmy trade winds – strands of lights wrapped up its trunk and down each billowing palm. The only white stuff on the ground is the warm sand beneath my bare feet. What better way to enjoy the spirit of Christmas with the warm Pacific water washing over my feet, my lighted and adorned tropical Christmas trees escorting and lighting my way down the beach to watch Santa Clause hang ten on a long surf board as he rides in with his bag of toys for all the good little girls and boys. And nary a snowflake in sight…what a merry, merry Christmas. Mahalo!
The tradition of the lighted Christmas tree first began by using small candles to light up the tree and dates back to the 17th century. Tradition moved slowly as it took about two centuries for the tradition to become widely established in Germany, and then continuing to spread to Eastern Europe. Candles for the tree were glued with melted wax to a tree branch or attached by pins. In the 1890’s, the Christmas candles for the first time were placed in specifically designed candleholders. Sometime between the years 1902 and 1914, glass balls and small lanterns were used to hold the candles.
The first Christmas tree lit by the use of electricity was in 1882. A Mr. Edward Johnson of New York City lighted a Christmas tree with eighty small electric light bulbs (Mr. Johnson was a “mucker”, or engineer who worked for Thomas Edison). It was Edward Johnson who created the first string of electric Christmas lights. These new electric lights were mass produced around 1890. Department stores started using the new Christmas lights for their lighted Christmas tree displays in 1900. They are now one of the most widely used decorations for the holiday season.
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