New York, Dec 24 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Some people hate tinsel and want a tinsel-free house and some just adore it, and for them Christmas without tinsel is meaningless. So whether you hate it or love it, it is an integral part of Christmas celebrations.

However this Christmas, the fans of tinsel outnumber the foes, by a long margin. As the sales of tinsel icicles and the less-messy tinsel garlands are up by 40% compared to 2008, at Brite Star Manufacturing Co, which is the only major U.S. manufacturer of icicles. Richard Kinderman, Brite Star’s executive vice president and a third-generation tinsel maker, says he has the recession to thank, “Historically, economic downturns result in tinsel upturns because consumers seem more interested in simple and inexpensive traditions. A 1,000-count box of tinsel costs less than $2”.

Tinsel is derived from the old French word estincele, which means sparkle, and it dates by some accounts to the 1600s and by others to the 1840s, when a silversmith started hammering silver, shredding it and putting it on a tree.

Susan Vollenweider says that, “I’m an anti-tinselist. Tinsel, also known as icicles, is full of static”, she says, sticks to everything but the tree, and ends up in little trails around the house. “I burn through enough vacuum cleaners without tinsel,” she says.