Editing Christmas tree (section)

===Decorations===
{{main|Christmas ornament}}
[[File:Christmas market, Strasbourg (5226805005).jpg|thumb|Christmas ornaments at the [[Christmas market]], Strasbourg]]

Christmas ornaments are decorations (usually made of glass, metal, wood, or ceramics) that are used to decorate a Christmas tree. The first decorated trees were adorned with apples, white [[candy canes]] and pastries in the shapes of stars, hearts and flowers. [[Glass]] baubles were first made in [[Lauscha]], [[Germany]] in 1847,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://christmasinteriordecorating.com/2023/11/23/silent-night-lauscha-glass-ornaments/|title= Silent Night: A Celebration of UNESCO World Heritage Ornaments|date=23 November 2023 |publisher=[[Cadeaux Christmas]] |location=United States |language=en-US|access-date=23 June 2024}}</ref> and also garlands of glass beads and tin figures that could be hung on trees. The popularity of these decorations fueled the production of glass figures made by highly skilled [[artisan]]s with [[clay]] molds.

[[Tinsel]] and several types of garland or ribbon are commonly used as Christmas tree decorations. Silvered [[saran (plastic)|saran]]-based tinsel was introduced later. Delicate mold-blown and painted colored glass Christmas ornaments were a specialty of the glass factories in the [[Thuringian Forest]], especially in Lauscha in the late 19th century, and have since become a large industry, complete with famous-name designers. Baubles are another common decoration, consisting of small hollow glass or plastic spheres coated with a thin metallic layer to make them reflective, with a further coating of a thin pigmented polymer in order to provide coloration.

Lighting with electric lights (Christmas lights or, in the United Kingdom, fairy lights) is commonly done. A [[tree-topper]], typically an angel or star, completes the decoration.

In the late 1800s, home-made white Christmas trees were made by wrapping strips of cotton batting around leafless branches creating the appearance of a snow-laden tree.

In the 1940s and 1950s, popularized by Hollywood films in the late 1930s, [[flocking (texture)|flocking]] was very popular on the [[West Coast of the United States]]. There were home flocking kits that could be used with vacuum cleaners. In the 1980s, some trees were sprayed with fluffy white flocking to simulate snow.

<gallery class="center" widths="200px" heights="200px" caption="Types of ornaments">
File:Christmas tree bauble.jpg|Golden glass ball/bauble
File:A baseball-shaped snowman decoration.jpg|Snowman/baseball novelty ornament
File:Christmas Tree Bear Decoration.png|Toy bear decoration
File:Christmas baubles 08 - 01.JPG|Egg shaped glass ornament
File:Christmas baubles 08 - 12.JPG|Cloth cotton batting ornament
File:2006 Blue Room Christmas tree - closeup of ornamentation.jpg|Imitation tree snow
File:Christmas tree decorations, Brisbane, 2020, 02.jpg|Straw ornaments
File:Crochet Xmas ornaments.jpg|[[Crochet]] ornaments
File:Bombki ze wstazek.jpg|Polish {{lang|pl|{{ill|bombka|pl|bombki}}}} baubles
File:Ornament, Christmas Tree (USA), 1850–99 (CH 18409303).jpg|Swaddled babies, 1850–1899
File:Nostalgischer Weihnachtsbaumschmuck Pappmaché Weihnachtsmann (cropped).jpg|Papier-mâché ornament
File:Weihnachten 2020 Christbaumschmuck 10.jpg|Faceted indented glass ornament
File:Weihnachten 2020 Christbaumschmuck 28.jpg|Ceramic ornament
File:Weihnachten 2020 Christbaumschmuck 22.jpg|[[:c:Category:Gablonz Christmas tree decoration|Gablonz]] ornament
File:Glass icicle ornaments - clear and blue.jpg|Glass icicle ornaments
File:String of tinsel on Christmas tree.jpg|String of tinsel
File:Stringing lights on Christmas tree.jpg|Stringing lights on tree
File:Squirrel eating popcorn and cranberry garland off Christmas tree.jpg|Squirrel eating popcorn and cranberry garland off Christmas tree
</gallery>