Eggs on the tree as Christmas tree decorations
If one is honest, one associates eggs more with Easter than with Christmas. Nevertheless, there were and still are individual decorators who hang eggs on the Christmas tree.
However, a truly enduring tradition of eggs as Christmas tree decorations has not developed from this. Why eggs were used as tree decorations is explained in a letter to the editor from 1888. This letter from a reader was sent to the editors of the Dresdner Frauen-Zeitung together with a box of eggs decorated for Christmas. Under the headline "A new splendid Christmas tree decoration", the letter writer recommended to the readers of the newspaper to use eggs to decorate the Christmas tree, just like at Easter. They are cheap, available in every kitchen and children have fun decorating. Instead of using the colours for dyeing eggs, she recommended using the latest best-seller in the shops, so-called 'marbling paper'.
"Quickly, I had some chicken eggs blown out and coloured the same with the help of marbling paper. Then I pulled a coloured woollen thread through each egg and tied a knot at one end to hold it in place. To top it off, I covered the dyed eggshells [sic!] with some damar varnish with the help of a brush and have now indeed achieved a Christmas tree ornament such as I have not yet seen in such original beauty, even here in Berlin."[i]
[i] From: Dresdner Frauen-Zeitung J. 1888, Nr. 22 (27. Oktober), p. 234.