Christmas Tradition

Oh boy, the dreaded fruit cake:


Fruitcake is for many families the giving and receiving of a favorite, though often ridiculed, traditional food.

Fruitcake is considered to be a part of many families' Christmas traditions just as important as having a Christmas tree.

Like many Christmas traditions, the idea of giving fruitcakes as gifts is thought to have originated in ancient times.

No one ever recorded who took the first cake and added fruit, honey, nuts, and alcohol to make an edible gift for their family, but records indicate that this tradition was occurring in Rome prior to the birth of Jesus (B.C.).

One of the main reasons fruitcakes were given as gifts in early times is that the ingredients combined in such a way as to greatly reduce the spoiling of this food.

This was a huge advantage when the average family had very little control over their food supply, and allowed people to travel longer distances since they could carry a food supply with them that would not spoil.

The fruitcake as we know it today evolved from plum cake recipes in England.

It became a natural food to have for holiday celebrations, since it could be made in advance (sometimes many months in advance) and then families could be prepared to give their visitors a treat.



The festive lights:

Christmas lights were at one time were candles, chosen because their twinkling appearance reminded families of the twinkling of moon light through the branches of fir trees in the forest.

Despite the safety precautions taken by these early Christmas light users, mixing live flame with highly flammable Christmas trees resulted in a very dangerous situation and many fires resulted.

When Thomas Edison invented the first light bulbs in the late 1800’s, it was only a short time before people were putting them on their Christmas trees.

These Christmas tree lights soon were being produced and displayed in colors, but only for the very wealthy families, since this new product was very expensive!

Mass production techniques soon lowered the price of these holiday decorations to the point where average families could afford them.

At the same time, the design and complexity of these Christmas lights was also changing. Instead of needing to have each light individually wired, the lights were created with spiral bases to screw into the light sockets on the Christmas tree light strings.

This made them easy enough for the average family to use and soon these lights decorated windows, doors, and even the outside of homes as well as the Christmas trees.

The Christmas season is truly much brighter because of Christmas lights!


Christmas is almost here!!!

Join me again tomorrow as we celebrate more of Christmas.