"O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree"

Trees are a symbol of life. They give us oxygen to breathe, insulate us from the cold, and protect us from the heat with their green boughs. They have helped us to build buildings, furniture, bridges, ships and even the aircraft to fly the skies. We use their paper to write and draw on, and trees are also a source of perfumes, medicine, solvents and polymers. And because trees are a symbol of life, we use them as a part of our holiday tradition.

The Egyptians brought green palm branches into their homes on the shortest day of the year as a symbol of life's triumph over death. Romans adorned their homes with evergreen during Saturnalia, a winter festival. Druid priests decorated oak trees with golden apples for their winter solstice festivities. And in the middle ages, an evergreen hung with red apples, was the symbol of the feast of Adam and Eve held on December 24th, and was called the paradise tree.

This paradise tree, hung with apples, is connected to our present day Christmas traditions. Eventually candies and confections were added, and it is believed that Martin Luther first added lighted candles to a tree. Pennsylvania Germans initiated the Christmas tree custom in America in the 17th century. Electric candles were first introduced in Finland in 1906, and in New York City in 1912. A man named Mark Carr hauled two ox sleds loaded with Christmas trees from the Catskills to the streets of New York and opened the first retail lot in the United States.

Before the Civil War, the North and South were divided on the issue of Christmas, as well. Northerners saw sin in the celebration of Christmas. But in the South, Christmas was an important part of the social season. The first states to make Christmas a legal holiday were Alabama in 1836, and Louisiana and Arkansas in 1838. But after the Civil War, Christmas traditions spread across the country, especially the tradition of trimmed Christmas trees.

It was our 14th President, Franklin Pierce, who brought the Christmas tree tradition to the White House. President Calvin Coolidge started the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on the White House lawn in 1923. And since 1966, members of the National Christmas Tree Association have presented a beautiful, fresh Christmas tree to the President and first family every year. But the trees that grace our homes each year at Christmas are, of course, not newcomers to the planet earth. Most have been our neighbors for centuries, being there even before the first Christmas.

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