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Christmas Tree Trivia And Facts
Christmas trees have been sold commercially in the United States since about 1850.
In 1979, the National Christmas Tree was not lighted except for the top ornament. This was done in honor of the American hostages in Iran.
Between 1887-1933 a fishing schooner called the Christmas Ship would tie up at the Clark Street bridge and sell spruce trees from Michigan to Chicagoans.
The tallest living Christmas tree is believed to be the 122-foot, 91-year-old Douglas fir in the town of Woodinville, Washington.
The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree tradition began in 1933. Franklin Pierce, the 14th president, brought the Christmas tree tradition to the White House.
In 1923, President Calvin Coolidge started the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony now held every year on the White House lawn.
Since 1966, the National Christmas Tree Association has given a Christmas tree to the President and first family.
Most Christmas trees are cut weeks before they get to a retail outlet.
In 1912, the first community Christmas tree in the United States was erected in New York City.
Christmas trees generally take six to eight years to mature.
Christmas trees are grown in all 50 states including Hawaii and Alaska.
Ninety-eight percent of all Christmas trees are grown on farms.
More than 1,000,000 acres of land have been planted with Christmas trees.
On average, over 2,000 Christmas trees are planted per acre.
Thomas Edisons assistants came up with the idea of electric lights for Christmas trees.
Bespoke Christmas Decorating Services For Your Home Or Business
We provide a first class service to our customers. Our aim is to become the preferred Christmas design installation company, serving the needs of small to medium sized businesses and private homes.
Since our beginnings in 2007 we have been dedicated to ensuring your experience of working with us exceeds all expectations and we are delighted to be your chosen Christmas Decorating provider.
They succeeded in delivering a Wow factor! My guests were most impressed best of all I didnt have the awful job of taking them down after the holidays. They did it all, it was Great!
Mrs Whale in Warwickshire
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History Of Christmas Trees
The history of Christmas trees goes back to the symbolic use of evergreens in ancient Egypt and Rome and continues with the German tradition of candlelit Christmas trees first brought to America in the 1800s. Discover the history of the Christmas tree, from the earliest winter solstice celebrations to Queen Victorias decorating habits and the annual lighting of the Rockefeller Center tree in New York City.
Watch Christmas documentaries on HISTORY Vault
This Is Why I Decorate For Christmas Before Thanksgiving
Theres a group of people in this world who acknowledge Christmas before Thanksgiving. There are lots of us and we cant help it as soon as Halloween is over we declare its the Christmas season and its time to bust out the garlands, stocking, and bows. This really pisses people off.
But I am not one of those people.
As a little girl, my parents didnt get our tree until the second week in December. Then on New Years Eve it came down and for me, it was always the worst day of the year. I would be filled with sadness as I striped our dead tree that was drier than my hair after a bad bleach job of its ornaments and watch my dad take it outback and burn it.
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Christmas Today And Luxury Decorations
However, Christmas today means a lot more than it used to mean back in the day. Christmas today is all about lights, baubles, chocolates, wafers, candles, giftsand the Christmas tree is the biggest attraction of the day.
Christmas trees today can cost a fortune and people are more than ready to spend massive amounts of money on getting the most visually aesthetic tree to their place.
The Emirates Palace Hotel Christmas Tree, priced at $11.4 million, is still the frontrunner when it comes to the most expensive Christmas Tree.
The Emirates Palace Hotel Christmas Tree, Dubai
However, not everyone can !) lay their hands on a tree as expensive as that. But, we can certainly take a look at some of the most expensive Christmas trees and decorations and get some ideas for Christmas decor.
Diamond-Studded Christmas Star
The diamond-studded Christmas Star is what you need to decorate the top of your Christmas tree. More than 280 diamonds along with a 5 carat D flawless rare diamond in its center embellish this gold star. However, it would also be accompanied by a hefty price tag of $950,000.
A Swarovski Tree Stand
If youve got a highly expensive Christmas tree in your home, complementing it with a gold-plated Swarovski tree stand seems quite reasonable. Combining your Christmas tree with the Swarovski tree stand would make it a super expensive Christmas tree as this tree stand costs about $14,000.
Belsnickles Father Christmas Figurine
Life-Size Talking Nordic Reindeer
The Origins Of Christmas Trees
Records of using greenery to celebrate the holidays predate widespread use of the phrase Christmas tree. Rural English church records from the 15th and 16th centuries indicate that holly and ivy were bought in the winter hence the British carol The Holly and the Ivy. Private houses and streets were also decorated with greenery at this time, according to Judith FlandersChristmas: A Biography. Flanders posits that a precursor to the Christmas tree can be seen in the pole that parishes would decorate with holly and ivy, like a winter Maypole one account describes a storm in London that knocked over a poll thats described as for disport of Christmas to the people.
A lot of myths surround the origins of Christmas trees. One legend says that Martin Luther, who catalyzed the Protestant Reformation, believed that pine trees represented the goodness of God. Another myth popular in the 15th century tells the story of St. Boniface, who in the 8th century thwarted a pagan human sacrifice under an oak tree by cutting down that tree a fir tree grew in its place, with its branches representing Christs eternal truth. Some versions of this St. Boniface legend say he cut down the new fir tree and hung it upside down, which is believed to have led to the tradition of trees being hung upside down to represent the Holy Trinity sometimes with an apple wedged at the point instead of a star. All of these stories may have helped the Christmas tradition spread.
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How Did The Custom Of Decorating Christmas Trees Start
Apart from the candle aesthetic, which had already been established in Europe, homemade decorations like ornaments, garlands, and cookies became much more popular in the late 1800s. With technological advancements throughout the industrial revolution, homespun decorations quickly made room for Christmas lights and synthetic materials like tinsel.
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Who Brought Christmas Trees To America
Most 19th-century Americans found Christmas trees an oddity. The first record of one being on display was in the 1830s by the German settlers of Pennsylvania, although trees had been a tradition in many German homes much earlier. The Pennsylvania German settlements had community trees as early as 1747. But, as late as the 1840s Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans.
It is not surprising that, like many other festive Christmas customs, the tree was adopted so late in America. To the New England Puritans, Christmas was sacred. The pilgrimss second governor, William Bradford, wrote that he tried hard to stamp out pagan mockery of the observance, penalizing any frivolity. The influential Oliver Cromwell preached against the heathen traditions of Christmas carols, decorated trees, and any joyful expression that desecrated that sacred event. In 1659, the General Court of Massachusetts enacted a law making any observance of December 25 a penal offense people were fined for hanging decorations. That stern solemnity continued until the 19th century, when the influx of German and Irish immigrants undermined the Puritan legacy.
An illustration from a December 1848 edition of the Illustrated London News shows Queen Victoria and her family surrounding a Christmas tree.
READ MORE: 25 Christmas Traditions and Their Origins
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Most Read In Lifestyle
But since the success of his Netflix series, Benjamin has fallen in love with his passion project and his decorating skills have been in high demand.
The respondes I get from what we do is amazing, he says.
How greatly Christmas affects people and how tightly they hold certain traditions its incredibly touching.
People are willing to spend an enormous amount of money on having someone else decorate their homes for them.
There was one home here on Long Island, the couple were newlyweds and the husband wanted to have a big Christmas for them.
It was both outside and inside and we had a crew of about 20 people who worked for about three days.
There were at least seven different themed trees in that house.
And people dont realise just how many decorations a tree can absorb but it isnt just all of the products its the labour too and something like that can easily run from about $20,000 upwards.
Mr Christmas believes that oftentimes, people reach out to him because he can offer them a magical experience that is difficult to achieve themselves.
Lots of people become disheartened, they try to create these looks themselves and it doesnt work, he explains.
They want to give their friends and family this memorable experience but they themselves just arent appointed in their own efforts, so they call in someone like myself to make it memorable.
Here he shares his best money-saving tips to make your home look magic.
Psychologists Confirm People Who Decorate For Christmas Early Are Happier So Now You Have Justification
If you were one of those families who had their tree decorated and the Christmas village out and in full swing by Nov. 1, you might be in luck. According to experts, early may make you happier, so you might want to consider pulling your garlands and gigantic Santa statues down from the attic a bit sooner.
“In a world full of stress and anxiety, people like to associate to things that make them happy, and Christmas decorations evoke those strong feelings of the childhood,” psychoanalyst Steve McKeown told Unilad. ” to those old childhood magical emotions of excitement. So putting up those Christmas decorations early extends the excitement!” That seems logical enough!
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Psychotherapist Amy Molin agreed, explaining that Christmas decorations can take you back to a simpler time, at least mentally. “Nostalgia helps link people to their personal past, and it helps people understand their identity. For many, putting up Christmas decorations early is a way for them to reconnect with their childhoods.” She also says that it can help those who have lost someone feel closer to the loved one in question, adding that “decorating early may help them feel more connected with that individual.”
Sounds like it’s time to break out the decorations, queue up the Christmas playlist, and deck those halls.
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How Christmas Trees Got Popular In Us
References to Christmas trees in private homes or establishments in North America date back to the late 18th century and early 19th century. Flanders mentions a reference to a pine tree in North Carolina in 1786. In 1805, a school for American Indians run by Moravian missionaries sent students to fetch a small green tree for Christmas. Similar examples pop up in the first half of the 19th century in the Midwest and further West, such as the German immigrants in Texas who decorated trees with moss, cotton, pecans, red pepper swags and popcorn.
But the image of a decorated Christmas tree with presents underneath has a very specific origin: an engraving of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and their children gathering around a Christmas tree, eyeing the presents underneath, published in the Illustrated London News in 1848. The premier womens magazine in America back then, Godeys Ladys Book, reprinted a version of the image a couple of years later as The Christmas Tree.
This single image cemented the Christmas tree in the popular consciousness, so much so that by 1861, the year of Alberts death, it was firmly believed that this German prince had transplanted the custom to England with him when he married, writes Flanders.
Baby Jesus In The Manger
We have all seen a Nativity play or a big manger scene in outdoor settings or shopping centres, however, Spanish people have smaller versions they use to decorate their home. They include the traditional characters from the Bible Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, the Three Wise Men, the angel, the shepherds, etc. but also other original additions, such as tradesmen, Roman soldiers, and in some places, a man pooping. That last one doesnt seem very festive, but its a very popular figure in Catalonia, Valencia and neighbouring areas.
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Christmas Trees Around The World
Christmas Trees in CanadaGerman settlers migrated to Canada from the United States in the 1700s. They brought with them many of the things associated with Christmas we cherish todayAdvent calendars, gingerbread houses, cookiesand Christmas trees. When Queen Victorias German husband, Prince Albert, put up a Christmas tree at Windsor Castle in 1848, the Christmas tree became a tradition throughout England, the United States, and Canada.
Christmas Trees in MexicoIn most Mexican homes the principal holiday adornment is el Nacimiento . However, a decorated Christmas tree may be incorporated in the Nacimiento or set up elsewhere in the home. As purchase of a natural pine represents a luxury commodity to most Mexican families, the typical arbolito is often an artificial one, a bare branch cut from a copal tree or some type of shrub collected from the countryside.
Christmas Trees in Great BritainThe Norway spruce is the traditional species used to decorate homes in Britain. The Norway spruce was a native species in the British Isles before the last Ice Age, and was reintroduced here before the 1500s.
Christmas Trees in GreenlandChristmas trees are imported, as no trees live this far north. They are decorated with candles and bright ornaments.
Christmas Trees in BrazilAlthough Christmas falls during the summer in Brazil, sometimes pine trees are decorated with little pieces of cotton that represent falling snow.
Get Creative With Cardboard
We all have dozens of cardboard boxes scattered around the house and Christmas presents the perfect opportunity to use them.
Simply pick up some inexpensive wrapping paper from Poundland and wrap up the empty boxes to decorate the bottom of the tree, it will have a dramatic effect on your living space.
Just some colourful boxes tied with ribbons will bring a bare space to life.
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What Christmas Looks Like In A Spanish Household
Generally speaking, most European homes will have similar decorations for Christmas however, Spanish people use a few items to decorate their household that maybe youve never considered. Discover some of them with AEDAS Homes, and perhaps the Iberian style can give you an idea that will give a different twist to your ornaments this year.
How Did Christmas Trees Start
Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness.
Did you know? Christmas trees are grown in all 50 states including Hawaii and Alaska.
In the Northern hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year falls on December 21 or December 22 and is called the winter solstice. Many ancient people believed that the sun was a god and that winter came every year because the sun god had become sick and weak. They celebrated the solstice because it meant that at last the sun god would begin to get well. Evergreen boughs reminded them of all the green plants that would grow again when the sun god was strong and summer would return.
The ancient Egyptians worshipped a god called Ra, who had the head of a hawk and wore the sun as a blazing disk in his crown. At the solstice, when Ra began to recover from his illness, the Egyptians filled their homes with green palm rushes, which symbolized for them the triumph of life over death.
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How People From Other Countries Decorate Their Christmas Trees
Curious How People from Other Countries Decorate Their Christmas Trees? Each year, people all over the world festively decorate evergreen trees with ornaments for Christmas. Many believe that this tradition began with Martin Luther in Germany in the 1600s, but decorating trees in the wintertime was actually a pagan tradition before being associated with Christmas. Today, the tradition has grown, and ornaments are just as much a part of the Christmas season as the trees themselves. In fact, people from all over the world decorate their trees a little differently. Here are some of the common ways people in other countries decorate their Christmas trees.
