The tradition of decorating Christmas trees in France goes back to 16th century Alsace, when people would hang apples and nuts from the trees’ branches. However, in 1858, a drought caused the apple harvest to fail, so an enterprising glass blower from Goetzenbruck in Lorraine created apple-shaped baubles from glass for people to hang on their trees instead.
Soon the rest of Europe caught on, and by the end of the 19th century, the Goetzenbruck glass factory was making tens of thousands of the decorations.