Just Call Me The Tinsel Fairy!

There is nothing as beautiful then a tree that is covered in tinsel. One of my favorite things to do for Christmas time is tinsel the tree. My family thinks I go a little overboard sometimes, but I absolutist love it. Tinsel is sometimes also called icicles because they are suppose to mimic the effects of ice or icicles. Modern tinsel was invented in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1610, and was originally made of shredded silver. Because silver tarnishes quickly, they started substituting other shiny metals. By the early 20th century, they started manufacturing cheap aluminum-based tinsel. During the 1950s, tinsel and tinsel garlands were so popular that they frequently were used more heavily than Christmas lights because tinsel was much less of a fire hazard than lights were for the then-popular aluminum Christmas trees A drawback of the aluminized paper is that it is flammable. Early Christmas tree lights were quite hot and could start fires, especially when the aluminized paper tinsel got near a hot Christmas tree bulb. Newer Christmas lights are cooler and pose less fire hazard. Modern tinsel is typically made from polyvinyl chloride film coated with a metallic finish and sliced into thin strips. Coated mylar film also has been used. These plastic forms of tinsel do not hang as well as tinsel made from heavy metals such as silver and lead.