Design Crafters

This week I thought I would discuss some Christmas Trivia. I’m sure at some time or another you have wondered about the origin of the Christmas tree, the nativity scene and Christmas stockings as well as Christmas cards.

Have
you ever taken a moment to think about why during Christmas we cut down a tree,
bring it into our house, and decorate it? Although the origins of the Christmas tree date back for many years, it
was not until Queen Victoria’s
husband, the German Prince Albert, brought a pine tree to the Windsor
Palace in 1834 that the tradition
took hold in England.

The United
States was skeptical of this European
tradition at first, and took a while to warm up to the idea of inviting a tree
to spend the holidays inside the living room. The first retail Christmas tree
lot opened in New York in
1851. In 1856 the trend had reached the
American government and President Franklin Pierce became the first president to
decorate a tree in the White House. However,
it wasn’t until 1923 that the first national Christmas tree was lighted on the
White House lawn. During the last
seventy years the Christmas tree has become an endeared part of Christmas
tradition in the United States. Just like sending out Christmas cards, the
picking out and cutting down of a tree has become a staple part of the holiday
season! The fame of the beloved
evergreen will always be associated with Christmas, and many Christmas cards
feature a Christmas tree on their cover. Tomorrow I will discuss the origin of the nativity scene.