Hang Your Christmas Lights in Arizona

As I was driving along the other day I wondered where the idea of Christmas lights came from. Each year thousands of people spend countless hours preparing their homes with strands of lights and extensive decorations to ring in the holiday season. So I went on a quest to share the origins of Christmas lights with our EXP Realty travelers and home buyers, and share some of the excellent displays of holiday cheer in my neighborhood.

Originally the custom was to decorate a Christmas tree with lights, but it wasn’t until the 1960s in the U.S. when tract housing become increasing popular that lining the eaves of homes with lights grew in popularity. Back in the 17^th century a tradition of using small candles to light up the tree started. It took a couple of centuries before the practice grew in popularity and spread to Germany and Eastern Europe. Initially the candles were melted against the tree or attached with pins. Later in the 19^th and 20^th century candle holders were used and later lanterns which held the candles.

With the advent of electricity Christmas tree decoration was ready to take a big leap. Towards the end of the 19^th century; 1882 to be exact, Edward Johnson an assistant to the famous inventor Thomas Edison, lit up a Christmas tree in New York City with 80 small electric light bulbs. By 1900 shop keepers and merchants alike were using the strings of electric lights that Johnson eventually developed to decorate their store fronts and displays. It wasn’t until the 1950s that average households adopted the use of decorative lights during he holiday seasons. One of the events that helped make the use of the electric lights more popular started in 1927. One of the oldest light festivals in the United States began. “The Festival of Lights and Christmas Festival” in Natchitoches, Texas was a joint effort of neighbors to decorate their homes. The festival still exists today and is known as “Holiday Trail of Lights”

So the next time you are in Arizona during the holidays looking for your dream home to decorate, stop at the Phoenix Zoo for Zoo Lights; another long standing tradition. And remember, when you find that dream home, you too can decorate it with the holiday lights of your choice. You are only limited by your imagination.

For more information on Arizona homes please contact me at:

Tim Broderick

Realtor, EXP Realty

602-741-0862

Toll free: 1-888-897-7821 ext 126

Email: tim@phoenixpowersearch.com