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1.  Lightstock – the Poor Man’s Christmas Tree!
In the Middle Ages woodcarvers in Germany fashioned the first lightstock.  A pyramid-shaped stand made from 2-5 wooden rods and 3 shelves holding candles and Christmas related figurines. Sometime later they attached a pinwheel to the top of the central rod. As the heat from the candles rose it would rotate the pinwheel and the shelves making a delightful display.  Small lightstocks were soon seen to be placed beside Christmas trees.  However many poor woodcarvers could not afford Christmas trees and thus the lightstock came to be known as the poor man’s Christmas tree. Lightstocks or pyramids as they are also now known, are a tradition in Dresden, Germany that continues to this day.

2.  First Artificial Trees made of Green Goose Feathers!
Originating in Germany in the 1880’s, green dyed goose feather trees are considered to be the first artificial Christmas tree in the modern world. The reason for the creation of feather trees, made with wire branches, was because the Germans were concerned regarding deforestation associated with the harvest of Christmas trees. These trees become popular in the USA early in the 20th century.  Branches were widely spaced so that candles on trees (which was popular before the electric lights were created) had enough space so not to create a fire.  Fires were a big problem with early Christmas trees with candles placed on them. Often artificial red berries were placed throughout the feathered branches, which acted as candle holders.  Tree sizes varied from 2 inches to 98 inches in department stores.  Today many of these trees are now valuable antique collectibles. 

3.  Christmas Trees made from Animal Hair – Brush Bristle

The first artificial tree made from animal hair bristles was made in 1930 in the USA.  The bristles were dyed green and these trees became popular not just in the USA but in Britain too.  They soon replaced the feather trees as these trees were not as flammable and could hold heavier ornaments.

4.  Aluminium Christmas Trees
In the USA in 1958 the first aluminium trees were created.  They became very popular right up to the 1970’s.   There was a negative portrayal of these trees in 1965 when ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ aired for the first time, which is believed to be credited with the decline in aluminium Christmas tree sales.
5.  Plastic Christmas Trees

Mostly made from PVC plastic, they are fire-retardant but not fire-resistant and most of these trees are made in China.  The PVC used can be a potential source of hazardous lead – labels need to be read carefully.  The Addis Brush Company (who made toilet bowl brushes) made the first fake plastic Christmas trees.  Some say the first plastic trees were giant green toilet brushes!

6.  Fiber Optic Cable Christmas Trees
These are a new designer breed of Christmas tree.  Optic fiber trees are made from a flexible, transparent fiber made from glass (silica) shaped into various size strands the size of human hair.  These fibers transmit light between the two ends of the fiber creating a magical array of white or colored light.  Some optic fiber trees resemble a traditional Christmas tree while others appear completely in light.

Many people find, set up and decorate the tree right after Thanksgiving.
Every year when we would decorate the tree we would use a theme of color
such as red and gold.  My favorite was the year we had a white tree with blue
and purple ornaments. 
We have always had to use the synthetic trees since I had allergies.  I always liked
The smell of the real trees, but could not have them.

When I was a young girl we would not only decorate our tree but one
my grandparents had as well. We for some reason no longer do that.

Christmas was always a fun time when the kids were little we would open all
of our gifts on Christmas Eve. Then,  on Christmas Morning they would open
the gifts from Santa. 

Another tradition I enjoyed was going to my Aunt’s house where my cousins and
I would help make Christmas cookies.  As, my cousins and I are now grown up
It is nice to see that our children have maintained this tradition.

We would usually have a family dinner on Christmas Eve and the kids would
get gifts from the family.  We used to draw names for the adults and have one
man’s gift and one women’s gift. The kids would usually get more than one gift
Depending on the ages.

On Christmas Day we would usually go to my Grandparents house for Christmas
dinner.  The one thing about my family they are alll great cooks. Unfortunately, my
Grandfather passed away a few years ago and my Grandma is in a nursinghome.

Some days I really miss the old days.

What are some of your family traditions, I would be interested to know.

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1.   One of the most popular Christmas songs, “Jingle Bells” was actually written for Thanksgiving.

2.   More than three billion greeting cards are sent annually in the United States alone.

3.   In the Ukraine, if you find a spider web in the house on Christmas morning, it is believed to be a harbinger of good luck.

4.   The common abbreviation for Christmas to Xmas is derived from the Greek alphabet. X is letter Chi, which is the first letter of Christ’s name in the Greek alphabet.

5.   In 1907, Oklahoma became the last USA state to declare Christmas a legal holiday.

6.   At midnight on Christmas Eve 1914 firing from the German trenches suddenly stopped. A German brass band began playing Christmas carols. Early, Christmas morning, the German soldiers came out of their trenches, approaching the allied lines, calling “Merry Christmas”. At first the allied soldiers thought it was a trick, but they soon climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the German soldiers. The truce lasted a few days, and the men exchanged presents and sang carols and songs.

7.   Candy canes began as straight white sticks of sugar candy used to decorate the Christmas trees. A choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral decided to have the ends bent to depict a shepherd’s crook and he would pass them out to the children to keep them quiet during the services. It wasn’t until about the 20th century that candy canes acquired their red stripes.

8.   In America, the weeks leading up to Christmas are the biggest shopping weeks of the year. Many retailers make up to 70% of their annual revenue in the month preceding Christmas.

9.   Santa Claus traces back to Saint Nicholas, a priest who lived 1600 years ago. Legend tells us that one of his miracles was bringing three lost children back to life, thus becoming the patron saint of children.

10.                 Real Christmas trees are involved in less than one-tenth of one percent of residential fires and only when ignited by some external ignition sources.

Yes all I wrote are question about what about you on Christmas day, those are typical question we need to know & answer for us to know if we are a typical Christmas person. Copy & Answer the above question & re-post is on the comments for me to know, response to you,

My own version:

• What do you want in Christmas day

-                     I want on Christmas Day to have all my family & Friends what they wish for.

-                     For me I love to have Christmas Eve Dinner with the whole & Carolers around the neighborhood.

• What do you care on Christmas day

-                     I care about the presents as I always love to receive too J, we have traditional exchange gift & Christ cringles for me that adds the smile to everyone

-                     I care about the happiness of the people around me

• What do you need on Christmas day

-                     I need peace of mind, small craziness with family & friends

-                     I need to be ready for the traditional Christmas eve Dinner

-                     I need Ham Turkey our Family dinner!

-                     Most of all what is inside the heart of everyone around the table

• What do you like on Christmas day

-                     I like Christmas tress, the lights & Christmas carols 

-                     I like the cool winter breeze of the air

-                     I like to think that we come to another Christmas time of the year

-                     I like to think what happen last year

-                      

• What do you have on Christmas day

-                     I have several Christmas card that I made for my family & friends

-                     I have a several games to introduce to them to enjoy while we are all together

-                     I prepare a special song that all of them didn’t know that I can sing along with media com

-                     Some surprises

• What do you do during  Christmas day

-                     I bring my food specialty to share along with some gifts for the family & friend

• What do you wish for Christmas day

-                     I wish for the health & happiness that money cannot bring for my family & friends

• What do you plan on Christmas day

-                     Spend the whole day having fun &thanking that it is a good life & hoping to have more & better

• What do you cook on Christmas day

-                     Still on the big plan, still to decide as per the budget & guest invited

• What do you buy on Christmas day

-                     This year no new clothes for Christmas , no shoes or jewelry, just working on my big project, a gifts for my parents- renovating our small house      

• What do you bring on Christmas day

-                     Usually we decorated our house with Christmas lights & trees, gifts under the tree, but this time we need to cost cut, so we prepare a small dinner only

• What do you expect on Christmas day

-                     A merry Christmas & prosperous New Year!

Although most people think that the Christmas tree tradition has a pagan origin the story that St Boniface suggests a Christian origin. St Boniface wanted to convert the Chatti tribe of Germans to Christianity. He decided to cut down their sacred tree, the Thor’s Oak. He found a fir tree growing in the roots and described it as a symbol of Jesus Christ. 

With an axe in one hand, Winfrid (later Saint Boniface) holds a white crucifix over the fallen Thor’s Oak while one of his attendants pray and the other solemnly holds an axe. The Chatti, a Germanic tribe, look on. Source: Wikipedia

We know that Christmas trrees were in use in Germany in the 16th century. There are records of a tree in the Cathedral of Strasbourg in 1539. The trade guilds routinely put up trees in from of their guildhalls.

For a long time the tree was only found in towns within the Rhineland. It was seen as a Protestant tradition and not taken up by the Catholics of the lower Rhine. When Prussian officials settled in the Rhineland after the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the practice began to spread.

In the nineteenth century the practice of putting up a Christmas tree became popular among aristrocrats and the Royal Houses of Europe. In 1816 Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Wielburg introduced the Christmas tree to Vienna.  In 1840 the Duchess of Orleans in troduced the first tree to France.

In Britain Queen Charlotte of Mecklenenburg-Strelitz introduced the Court to the first tree in the early 1800s. The early trees entralled the young Queen Victoria.  When Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in 1841 the practice became fashionable. Popular magazines such as the Illustrated London News (1848) and Godey’s Lady Book (1850) promoted a homely family Christmas at the Palace. In Godeys’ the Queen’s crown was removed, and Prince Albert’s moustache trimmed to appeal to an American market. Due to Godey;s the Christmas tree became popular in America. By 1870 the Christmas tree was a commonplace tradition in America.

Osborne House Christmas Tree illus. in Godey’s Lady’s Book” December 1850. Source: Wikipedia

Several towns with Germanic connections lay claim to having the first ‘Christmas tree in North America. : Residents of Windsor Locks, Connecticut believes that their first Christmas tree was erected in 1777. German settlers at Easton, Pennsyvalia are believed to have erected a tree in 1816. Citizens of Lancaster in Pennsylvania put up their first tree in 1821.

Some municipal trees are given as gifts as an expression of friendship. The people of Oslo provide a Christmas tree for Trafalgar Square in London. It is a special gift in recognition of the help given to the Norwegian resistance during the Second World War.  Norway also provides trees to the people of Washington DC, as a recognition of friendship between the people of Norway and the United States. The people of Nova Scotia provide a tree for the citizens of Boston in recognitio of the help offered following the 1917 ammuntion ship explosion that devestated the city of Halifax.

Christmas Tree in Traflgar Square. Source: Wikipedia

Every year (except for one when I couldn’t use my right hand) for the last 30 years, I have made Christmas cards for friends and family.

It gets very difficult to come up with a new idea each time, and last year I was thinking of just buying some cards because it would be so much easier. However, I ended up making cards as usual. When I visited a friend to deliver her card, I was amazed to see that she had saved all the cards I had given her over the years, and had mounted a display of them on her wall! This gave me new motivation to continue making them this year – it was so nice to know that all the time and effort that goes into making them was appreciated.

Over the years, I have done a variety of designs, and used many different techniques for the cards.

The cards I have made this year started off as a collage which I photographed and loaded onto the computer. I used Corel Photopaint to alter the photo for the background, and then found a photo of a tree, which also had to be altered, and positioned that in the foreground. They are printed on photoquality inkjet paper, because printing directly onto card is not clear enough. After they were printed, they were cut to size. I used metallic pen to draw the tinsel, and glued a little star on the top, then each picture had to be stuck onto card.

This is the first batch ready to go

They take so long to make, that I have many more still to make for this Christmas.

This one is for YOU!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TRIOND FRIENDS!

Decorating a room and choosing the right Christmas theme is the fist step. Department stores have many themes to pick from and are a great place for inspiration for your own design. Decorations are fun to do for the entire family during the Christmas holiday.

How to select the proper Christmas tree and matching decorations? To ensure the best arrangement choose a theme that you want to express for Christmas, something warm and inviting for friends and family, displays that are festive and show a jovial spirit of the Christmas holidays. A Christmas tree theme ought to tell your personality, interest, creativity, and traditions. Christmas themes can range from the traditional Christmas designs to modern-magical, visually eye-catching, lights and sounds themes.

Here are some ideas to work with and help get you started:

1. Choose the tree. Artificial Christmas trees are good and can be reused year after year. Trees come in many colors. Red, blue, green, white, and pink. Some can be flocked, topiary, tinsel, and tabletop trees. Real Christmas trees are renewable, grown on tree farms, and new seedlings are replanted. Most importantly, choose a Christmas tree that is the right size for your room.

2. Color theme, red and green, gold and green, silver and blue, white with any color, gold and red, silver and white silver, red and pink, remember that any color combination should reflect your overall theme.

3. Christmas themes. Themes should synchronized with chosen decorations. Angel themes, Santa themes, musical themes, ribbons-garlands themes, snowflakes and icicles, candy themes, sparkling-tinsel themes, stuffed animals and teddy bears themes, Victorian, French, Dutch themes.

4. Ornaments. You can match your Christmas lights and ornaments with your color theme. Collectable ornaments of glass balls, reindeer, nutcracker, sports, cartoon characters, pictures of family and friends, birds, elves, snowmen, and religious.

5. Christmas lights. From multicolor lights to white, you will need an extension cord, and correct size and placement upon Christmas tree for a harmonious display.

6. The Christmas mantel. Sparkling up the mantel is a great place to set the holiday spirit of Christmas by adding a touch of glamour. Combining silver candles and white can make a dramatic theme. Various sizes and heights of candles and stands, live plants, and similar color and themes. You can design modern and traditional themes here. Christmas stockings also make a good choice, and can be personalized and can hold all sorts of goodies over the fireplace. Christmas bells and garlands also make perfect staging for a great looking mantel for the holiday season.

7. The banister and doorways or mantels can be use to for decorating with aromatic, natural layers of fresh eucalyptus branches or pine, fills the room with a fresh, clean scent. Smartly placed cinnamon-scented pine cones add a spicy, pleasant holiday fragrance to the rooms for guest. Glass ornaments, gold berries, and a tall, sculptural reindeer can add holiday cheer and elegance to any room in the house.

Welcome family and friends to your home by ostentatiously displaying a holiday wreath for the front door. Wreaths come in many designs and themes. Choose one that shows your individuality and festive nature. With the proper Christmas accessories such as color, garlands, wreaths, lights, and ornaments, you decorate the entire home, any room into a lovely Christmas theme. Decorating both interior and exterior doesn’t have to be complex. Malls and stores have plenty of theme packs and Christmas accessories and staff to help make it easy. Decorating is fun and will be last a lasing Christmas memory for all to enjoy for the holiday season.

T.S.Garp © Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved.

1)      Christmas Caroling- Buy some songbooks, or better yet, print some up, then gather up a bunch of friends, and just go up and down through your neighborhood, knock on people’s doors, and just start belting out a few of those good old holiday classics that everyone loves. Not only will you feel better, but you’ll no doubt help to warm up the hearts of those you visit. Who knows, you may even make some new friends into the bargain.

2)      Bake Some Christmas Cookies- The good thing about this one is, that you either do it by yourself, or get a family member or a close friend to help you.  Just decide beforehand which cookies bring back the best memories for you. Then call up a friend or a relative, tell them what you got planned, and see if they’re game. Put on some Christmas music, get the stuff together and most important of all, make sure you have some cookie cutter patterns that will add to the mood. Christmas trees will work good, or Santa shapes, snowman shapes, or anything like that should work fine.  I guarantee, once you pop them little treats in the oven, and the smell starts working its magic, with the music playing, you’ll feel just like a kid again. It always works for me.

3)      Go See a Christmas Play or Concert- I can tell you from firsthand experience, there’s nothing like seeing and hearing a group of children performing a traditional nativity scene, complete with angels, shepherds, the three wise men, Mary, Joseph, the little baby Jesus of course, and a few dogs dressed up like sheep to give it that extra touch of realism. Now, who wouldn’t be moved by such a scene? But, I have to warn you, you may start out all smiles, but once those little ones start singing, well, let’s just say that it’s best to have a few Kleenex on hand.

4)      Have a Toy Drive For Sick or Needy Children- This one works really well if you have kids of your own, and can get all of your friends involved too. Just go around the house, and collect up all those toys your kids are too old to play with. Wrap them up and take them to a local hospital, church, charity or shelter. You can either drop them off, or place them directly into the little tyke’s hands to see their eyes light right up.  Not only will you be helping others, but this will provide you with an enduring memory of joy that will last you a lifetime.  It doesn’t have to end there of course, make it a yearly thing. After all, that’s what the season is all about right? The spirit of giving? So give to others who cannot give back, and be blessed for touching lives in a special way.

5)      Have a Christmas Get-Together- You’d be quite surprised at how much fun these little social gatherings can be. Call up some friends, and invite them to bring their photo albums. Set out a few snacks, some cookies, chocolates, some peanut brittle, stuff like that for people to nibble on, and put on some holiday music. Then, simply allow your guests to open their photo albums, and share their personal stories and memories of how they celebrated the holidays when they were younger. Some stories will be humorous, others may be sad, and some may even seem miraculous and help to really bring home the meaning of family, like relatives who after being away for years, suddenly show up on Christmas Day. After listening to these holiday tales, you’re bound to get caught up in all the sentiment and actually find yourself enjoying these spur-of-the-moment festivities more than anything else you could imagine.

           You can find many ways to chase away those holiday doldrums. Get your friends involved and allow them to help pick up your spirits, look around in the newspaper and see what kind of holiday happenings are going on around town. Help someone who is less fortunate than you, or just use your imagination and come up with your own little way of keeping the blues at bay. This time more than any is when most people are filled with goodwill towards their fellow man. So get out there, see what you can find, and who knows, you may even have a chance encounter with some stranger, and together you can create your own special brand of Mistletoe magic. Just remember, you don’t have to be alone or feel depressed around the holidays. Life is a very special gift, and it was meant to be shared with others, so get out there and start sharing, and you may just help to make someone else happy too.

• Valentines Day-each year the market profits off of cards,candies,teddy bears, and flowers. It is a celebration of love and a big dent in the pocket book. In the third century, wolves were said to wonder around Rome. The roman God Lupercus was said to watch over the shepard’s flocks so that the wolves would not harm them. Every February, a feast was held to honor this god and during the feast all of the names of women were put in a box and names would be drawn to be matched with men and each couple were to be matched together for the entire year.The Catholic church actually changed this pagan religion by changing the name to St. Valentine’s Day.The priests would then put saints names into a box and young adults would draw from the box and have to act like the saint that they drew for that entire year.One of the men’s names who were in the box contributed greatly to what we celebrate now days.One of them “Valentine” was around during a time of war when many men would rather stay home with their wives instead of fight. As a result, the emperor of the time declared that no more marriages could be performed.Now there are two different versions of this next bit. One is that Valentine secretly performed marriages and was thrown in jail and died, the other is that he was arrested for helping Christians and was thrown in jail and cured a guards daughter.From this came the notion that he fell in love with the girl and would  write her lover letters ending with “from your Valentine”.  Valentine is the patron saint of lovers and engaged couples.
• Easter is such a fun holiday, you get to paint eggs, hide and seek them, get a basket full of goodies and visit the Easter Bunny at your local mall with your little ones. This holiday does in fact come from an ancient Babylonian belief 2000 years before Christ was ever born.It is from the belief that a god was resurrected from the underworld and a celebration (Easter) was held in honor of this.The holiday then became known from the Bible, -from the tradition of the Passover. To us(originally, before the candy,eggs, and Easter Bunny) represents the birth,death, and resurrection of the Lord.You may be surprised to learn that Easter did not in fact become popular until after the Civil War! The Easter egg originally represented spring and then Christians interpreted it to mean the tomb of which Jesus sprung from.The Easter Bunny represents fertility and guess what bunnies do not lay eggs. The Easter Bunny has never been connected with any Christian meaning.
• Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I am a grown woman and I’m not going to lie, I still love to dress up in costumes.Originally the Celts celebrated the end of harvest and the awakening of winter on October 31. This is also the day they believed that dead spirits would rise from the dead. A celebration would take place where they would all dress in costumes and slaughter animals and burn crops and then they would try to tell their fortunes.Since religious Puritans immigrated to America, Halloween was a very limited and scarce holiday, however a few colonies would celebrate the holiday. They would not wear costumes until later when the Irish immigrated to America, however they would tell each other stories of the dead, tell each others fortunes and dance around.After the Irish immigrated the two traditions merged and resulted in people dressing up and going house to house begging for money. People would also place bowls of food outside there doors in hopes of keeping the ghosts away- this along with the begging turned into trick or treat.

• Christmas is probably my favorite holiday. All of the lights, the tree, decorating,shopping, and Santa Clause. It has a little something for everyone. The first “Christmas” ever celebrated was two centuries after Jesus birth where a celebration would be held in the name of winter solstice and the sun. Years and years later, after Christianity was a wide spread the celebration of this turned to the celebration of Christ. He was in fact not even born in December but said to be born in the fall-interesting huh. Santa was actually a nickname for a fire god who was said to crawl down chimneys and give gifts and who people would burn children and eat them in honor of this god. Now to us, this tradition of Santa comes from a man named Saint Nick; you may be interested in the fact that “old Nick” is actually a term that has been used to refer to the devil.Christmas trees were actually widely brought in the home and decorated in ancient cultures but not for decoration but as a way of ensuring a good crop for the upcoming year.

As with most, the origins of this holiday are in fact from pagan roots and it is the church who have shaped it somewhat into what we celebrate now. 

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