Lighting during the depression years.

Due to the 1929 depression, between 1930 and 1940 few people had enough money to spend on anything unnecessary, and certainly not Christmas lights. Therefore, they used what they had in order to save money. In an effort to relieve some of the effects of the depression, in 1933, President Roosevelt came up with an idea called the National Recovery Act. Any lights that were sold between 1933 and 1935 were required to carry the NRA symbol on the box. (Discussing this era in history sounds a lot like the economic downturn and near-depression of 2008-2009 that we have been experiencing.)

A family tradition for some

Their ritual was to have the children in another room on Christmas while the candles were lighted. Then they would be brought into the room to see the candle and then after just moments they were blown out. Once again in the evening, the children came back in to see the tree lighted once more for a few minutes. At this time, traditionally everyone in the family gathered to make holiday "wishes" for the upcoming year. And then the candles were extinguished again. Even though electricity was available long before, some were using candles on their trees into the 1900's.