New to Carroll Gardens for the 2007 Christmas season are beautiful additions our Old German Christmas Ornament Collection. Made by the Hausdorfer family of Thuringia Germany, these are authentic, heirloom-quality ornaments produced and finished with incredible detail. We were able to acquire them through direct purchase from the Hausdorfer family, without any middleman. This enables you to purchase them at surprisingly affordable prices - about a third less than you will find authentic German ornaments offered elsewhere.

Since the late 1800's, the Germans have been known for making beautiful ornaments of the highest quality. In fact, they invented the glass Christmas tree ornament. The tradition actually began in the Thuringian mountains of central Germany by peasant families. Typically, the father heated glass and blew the glass into different shapes. The other family members applied silver to the inside of the ornaments to help reflect the light. After drying overnight by being hung from the cottage ceiling, the ornaments were decorated with lacquer and other accents such as feathers, glitter and ‘'snow'' sparkles. The process was further refined to include the use of molds to help shape the hot glass into various figures. These antique figural glass ornaments achieved their height of popularity about 100 years ago and are the most sought after of all the antique German glass tree ornaments.

German immigrants coming to America brought with them their glass ornaments and cherished them as part of their heritage. The ornaments from our Old German Christmas Collection are made from mouth blown and hand-painted glass in keeping with the age-old, family-craft traditions. Perhaps you remember them from your grandmother's tree, or you're lucky enough to have a few treasured survivors passed along to you. Now you too can add cherished, heirloom quality ornaments to your collection at very affordable prices. They are great for gifts too!

Click here to view the ornaments in the Old German Christmas Collection.