Christmas Trees- Traditions in our Homes

Our first tradition we thought of is the Christmas Tree.   Some of us went out this past weekend and picked a special tree from the tree farm on Choose and Cut Day and tied them to the top of our cars to haul home. Some of these trips involved sleigh rides /hayrides to the mountains.  Some were nearer to us in the Piedmont.    Some of us stopped at a local tree lot set up on a corner near our home and picked one and tied it on top.  Others of us get the tree out of the attic or garage and put it in our house already with lights on it.   They are not real.   They don’t need water.  They don’t smell good.

Then it’s time to decorate our trees.  Some of us have more than one tree in our house.  Some of us have none because we don’t celebrate Christmas.   Some of us have only one in the family room.   We put on lights, we add ornaments some of them favorites from many years of collecting just right ones.   Some belonged to our parents when they were little.   A few came from grandmas/grandpas.  Some came from special trips we made.  We added tinsel and some added popcorn or berry garland we made.   Some put angels on top and some put stars on top.  Some had white lights, some red or green or blue lights.  Some had multi-colored on the same tree.  They are tiny little lights.

There are many kinds of trees used in America but these are common ones.

•  What kind of tree/plants do you use?  Do you see the same types in homes in your country?
• What is your favorite ornament for the tree?

History of Christmas Tree—Early British settlers to North American colonies rarely observed Christmas and did not cut down or decorate trees.  Pennsylvanian German settlements had community trees as early as 1747.  Germany is credited  for the decorated Christmas Tree as we know it.

Decorations were still of a ‘home-made’ variety in 1747  . Young Ladies spent hours at Christmas Crafts, quilling snowflakes and stars, sewing little pouches for secret gifts and paper baskets with sugared almonds in them. Small bead decorations, fine drawn out silver tinsel came from Germany together with beautiful Angels to sit at the top of the tree. Candles were often placed into wooden hoops for safety.  Decorations today have changed from ‘home made’ to store bought in many homes.

In early America, Christmas trees were considered a quaint foreign custom.  America was so geographically large, that it tended to have ‘pockets’ of customs relating to the immigrants who had settled in a particular area. It was not until the telegraph communications really got going in the 19th century, that such customs began to spread.  Thus references to decorated trees in America before about the middle of the 19th century are very rare. But by 1850, the Decorative Christmas trees came forth.   They were embellished with fruits, nuts, tiny wafers, paper cuttings and small candles.  Christmas tree had become fashionable in the eastern states.

Before the war the tree lost popularity then after World War II, the Christmas tree again became popular!

The first national American Christmas Tree was lighted in the year 1923 on the White House lawn by President Calvin Coolidge. A tree from the National Christmas Tree Association has been displayed in the Blue Room of the White House since 1966.

In 2002, 21% of United States households had a real tree, 48% had an artificial tree and 32% had no tree.  There are many debates about whether you should buy a real tree or an artificial tree.

What is your opinion and why?