The first electric Christmas lights were displayed in the home of Edward Johnson, a colleague of Thomas Edison,

just three years after the light bulb was invented.

Johnson's tree had hand wired lights in the patriotic

colors of red, white and blue. The lights flashed

alternately, and the tree rotated as well.

Early in their history, Christmas lights were so expensive that they were more commonly

rented than sold.

Many of the earliest Christmas lights burned

so hot that they were about as dangerous as the

candles they were advertised to replace.