In and around 1860, Christmas cards were popular in the UK, but hadn't caught on here. While examples existed previously in the U.S., it wasn't until 1875 that they were a success, thanks to Louis Prang. Prang was, among other things, a writer on many subjects (it is said that he is remembered for the Prang Method of Art Instruction, Prang Standards of Color, and Prang's Aids for Objective Teaching). He's also considered to be the Father of the American Christmas Card, as he perfected chromolithography, which used 36 lithographic plates to reproduce up to 32 colors in a single picture. This led to the ability to reproduce the richness of oil paintings on greeting cards and art prints. He also came up with the idea to have competitions for Christmas card designs (June, 1880).

Christmas cards weren't always a throw-away. According to a reference in the December 31, 1881, Harper's Bazaar magazine, "The American Christmas cards excel the imported cards this season, and many of them are framed and presented as separate gifts, instead of merely accompany a present."

So, while the cards themselves weren't engineered, the unique equipment that manufactures them is certainly engineered.

Apparently, Christmas lights came into play at about the same time as cards were popularized here in the U.S. Edward Johnson, as associate of Thomas Edison, electrically lit a Christmas tree for the first time in 1882. In 1895, the first electrically lighted Christmas tree was displayed in the White House. The year 1900 brought the earliest known advertisement for Christmas tree lamps, placed by General Electric in the November 18 edition of Scientific American magazine. The ad mentioned that the bulbs could be either purchased or rented. The first commercially available lighting sets (hand-wired by the customer) were offered in 1901, but these were intended mainly for use in storefront windows. In the 1904-1905 timeframe, GE offered the first pre-wired lights for Christmas trees. According to the Timeline article referenced below, "The outfits included miniature base GE/Edison carbon filament lamps, with prominent exhaust tips at the top of the glass envelopes. It is probable that the socket string (or festoon) was manufactured by The American Ever Ready Company."

Most bulbs used through 1916 incorporated a carbon element; at about this time, GE brought evenly burning, longer-lasting tungsten-filament lamps into production. By 1920, GE offered for the first time a flame-shaped lamp with a tungsten filament — soon to become an industry standard and manufactured through the 1970s.

The "infant" Underwriters Laboratories first tested the then-established standards for American Christmas tree lighting strings. The UL safety designation quickly became an effective sales tool. In the 1920s, Japanese and highly detailed Austrian and German designs entered the market. The Japanese sets were machine made and thus, cheaper, so this type dominated the market for a few years.

Lester Haft of the C.D. Wood Electric Company changed the way the world used Christmas tree lights in 1921, applying for a patent "…describing the use of existing styles of screw-in and bladed add-on connectors and their incorporation into a standard series-wired lighting string of eight sockets. The patent application was carefully worded so as to include almost all possible ways of wiring the sets using the connectors. The key to the filing was that for the first time, easy to use connectors would be incorporated into Christmas lighting strings."

Things got really interesting in 1959 when the Aluminum Specialty company introduced the first aluminum Christmas tree to a "somewhat confused" public. As conductive aluminum trees and strings of electrical lights don't mix well, other ways were found to light the wildly popular trees. For example, base lighting with rotating color wheels kept the juice away from the dangerous part of the "tree." The sales of string lighting took a nosedive, punching the tree lighting industry dead in the face while they were also struggling with, interestingly, offshore competition. By 1970, nearly all Christmas tree lights were foreign-made.

Fast-forward to the present: Artificial trees are popular, but they're no longer of the type that leave "half of the manufacturing" process to the customer. In a tree design by Holiday Tree Trim Co., for example, manufactured branches are permanently strapped to the pole (trunk) for easy setup and storage, and, of course, the tree comes in sections. The company, which has been manufacturing Christmas trees for 40 years, makes a point of touting the fact that they're Made in America, "not in an overseas factory."

Artificial Christmas trees are so official in the U.S. that they're included in Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 3999. Also included here are "Christmas tree ornaments, except electrical and glass." The category also includes such articles as beach umbrellas, flyswatters, lamp shades, tear gas devices and equipment and, thankfully, "wreaths, artificial."

As I check my watch, it occurs to me that perhaps I should get going with the Christmas card thing. I should also stop and get a tree. A real one, though small. And some reasonable decorations that don't require a home electrical service expansion.

I also wonder, shouldn't there be an SIC code dedicated to articles of Christmas?

SOURCES

The American Christmas Card
http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Cards/louis_prang.htm

American Made Christmas Trees
http://ww6.christmasdepot.com/letter.html

Timeline of American Christmas Lighting
http://www.oldchristmaslights.com/timeline.htm

SIC Description for 3999
http://www.eiolca.net/cgi-bin/msin/display_desc.pl?EIOLCA_NO=641200