It’s that time again when most of us haul a tree into our living rooms, decorate it, and then put gifts underneath it. But why do we do this, and when did this tradition start?

An evergreen fir tree has traditionally been used to celebrate winter festivals (pagan and Christian) for thousands of years. Pagans used branches of it to decorate their homes during the winter solstice, as it made them think of the spring to come. The Romans used Fir Trees to decorate their temples at the festival of Saturnalia. Christians use it as a sign of everlasting life with God.

Nobody is really sure when Fir trees were first used as Christmas trees. It probably began about 1000 years ago in Northern Europe. Many early Christmas trees seem to have been hung upside down from the ceiling using chains (hung from chandeliers/lighting hooks).

The first person to bring a Christmas tree into a house, in the way we know it today, may have been the 16th-century German preacher Martin Luther. A story is told that one night before Christmas, he was walking through the forest and looked up to see the stars shining through the tree branches. It was so beautiful, that he went home and told his children that it reminded him of Jesus, who left the stars of heaven to come to earth at Christmas.

I think there are a couple of things we can learn from Christmas trees: be the light in the darkness, sparkle as much as possible, and it’s ok to be a little tilted. I feel Charlie Brown summed up my feelings about Christmas trees perfectly, “It’s not what’s under your tree, but who’s around it.” Indeed.

Happy Christmas!