Christmas Tree

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A Christmas tree, Yule tree or Tannenbaum (German: fir tree) is one of the most popular traditions associated with the celebration of Christmas. It is normally an evergreen Pinophyta tree that is brought into a home or used in the open, and is decorated with Christmas lights and colourful ornaments during the days around Christmas. An angel or star is often placed at the top of the tree, representing the host of angels or the Star of Bethlehem from the Nativity story.

History With likely origins in European pre-Christian cultures, the Christmas tree has gained an extensive history and become a common sight during the winter season in various cultures.

from the Ockelbo Runestone, Sweden. Germanic tribes Patron trees (for example, the Irminsul, Thor's Oak and the figurative Yggdrasil) held special significance for the ancient Germanic peoples, appearing throughout historic accounts as sacred symbols and objects. According to Adam of Bremen, in Scandinavia the germanic paganism kings sacrificed nine males (the number nine is a Numbers in Norse mythology) of each species at the sacred groves every ninth year.Tshan, Francis J. Adam of Breman

According to Church records, Saint Boniface (who, also according to Church records, had felled the Thor's Oak) attempted to introduce Germanic Christianity the indigenous Germanic tribes by introducing the notion of trinity by using the cone-shaped evergreen trees because of their triangular appearance.

in his Triumphant Return; behind the god, Victoria (mythology) holds an evergreen.

Rome Ancient Rome mosaics from what is today Tunisia, showing the mythic triumphant return from India of the Greek mythology god of wine and male fertility, Dionysus (dubbed by some modern scholars as a life-death-rebirth deity), the god carries a tapering coniferous tree.

Mediaeval Mediaeval legends tended to concentrate more on the miraculous "flowering" of trees at Christmas time. A branch of flowering Glastonbury thorn is still sent annually for the Queen's Christmas table in the United Kingdom.

Modern The modern custom cannot be proved to be directly descended from pagan tradition. It can, however, be traced to 16th century Germany; Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann (Marburg professor of European ethnology) identified as the earliest reference a Bremen (city) guild chronicle of 1570 which reports how a small fir was decorated with apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers, and erected in the guild-house, for the benefit of the guild members' children, who collected the dainties on Christmas day. Another early reference is from Basel, where the tailor apprentices carried around town a tree decorated with apples and cheese in 1597.

The city of Riga, Latvia, claims to be home of the first Christmas tree; an octagonal plaque in the town square reads "The First New Year's Tree in Riga in 1510", in eight languages. Around this same time period, and subject to much debate as to whether the event occurred before the Riga holiday tree, Martin Luther is said to have decorated a small tree in house to symbolise the way the stars shined at night. During the 17th century, the custom entered family homes. One Strasbourg priest, Johann Konrad Dannerhauer, complains about the custom as distracting from the Bible.

By the early 18th century, the custom had become common in towns of the upper Rhineland, but it had not yet spread to rural areas. Wax candles are attested from the late 18th century. The Christmas tree remained confined to the upper Rhineland for a relatively long time. It was regarded as a Protestant custom by the Catholic majority along the lower Rhine and was spread there only by Kingdom of Prussia officials who were moved there in the wake of the Congress of Vienna in 1815.

In the early 19th century, the custom became popular among the nobility and spread to royal courts as far as Russia. Princess Henrietta von Nassau-Weilburg introduced the Christmas tree to Vienna in 1816, and the custom spread across Austria in the following years. In France, the first Christmas tree was introduced in 1840 by the duchess of Orleans.

. The engraving republished in Godey's Lady's Book, Philadelphia, December 1850

In Britain, the Christmas tree was introduced by King George III's German Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz but did not spread much beyond the royal family. Queen Victoria as a child was familiar with the custom. In her journal for Christmas Eve 1832, the delighted 13-year-old princess wrote, "After dinner...we then went into the drawing-room near the dining-room...There were two large round tables on which were placed two trees hung with lights and sugar ornaments. All the presents being placed round the trees...". After her marriage to her German cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the custom became even more widespread. In 1847, Prince Albert wrote: "I must now seek in the children an echo of what Ernest brother and I were in the old time, of what we felt and thought; and their delight in the Christmas-trees is not less than ours used to be". The generous Prince Albert also presented large numbers of trees to schools and army barracks at Christmas. Images of the royal family with their Christmas tree at Osborne House were illustrated in English magazines, initially as a woodcut in the Illustrated London News of December 1848, and copied in the United States at Christmas 1850 (illustration, left). Such patriotic prints of the British royal family at Christmas celebrations helped popularise the Christmas tree in Britain and among the Anglophile American upper class.

Several cities in the United States lay claim to that country's first Christmas tree. Windsor Locks, Connecticut, claims that a Hessian soldier put up a Christmas tree in 1777 while imprisoned at the Noden-Reed House, thus making it the home of the first Christmas tree in New England. The "First Christmas Tree in America" is also claimed by Easton, Pennsylvania, where German settlers purportedly erected a Christmas tree in 1816. In his diary, Matthew Zahm of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, recorded the use of a Christmas tree in 1821 -- leading Lancaster to also lay claim to the first Christmas Tree in America. Other accounts credit Charles Follen, a German immigrant to Boston, for being the first to introduce to America the custom of decorating a Christmas tree.http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/1996/12.12/ProfessorBrough.html August Imgard, a German immigrant living in Wooster, Ohio, is the first to popularise the practice of decorating a tree. In 1847, Imgard cut a blue spruce tree from a woods outside town, had the Wooster village tinsmith construct a star, and placed the tree in his house, decorating it with paper ornaments and candy canes. The National Confectioners' Association http://www.candyusa.org/Candy/candycanes.asp officially recognises Imgard as the first ever to put candy canes on a Christmas tree; the canes were all-white, with no red stripes. Imgard is buried in the Wooster Cemetery, and every year, a large pine tree above his grave is lit with Christmas lights.

, tutored by Christian missionaries, celebrate with trees (Cunninghamia) outside their homes.Many cities, towns, and department stores put up public Christmas trees outdoors for everyone to enjoy, such as the Rich's Great Tree in Atlanta, Georgia, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York City and the large Christmas tree at Victoria Square in Adelaide. During most of the 1970s and 1980s, the largest Christmas tree in the world was put up every year on the property of The National Enquirer in Lantana, Florida. This tradition grew into one of the most spectacular and celebrated events in the history of southern Florida, but was discontinued on the death of the paper's founder in the late 1980s.

In some cities Festival of Trees are organised around the decoration and display of multiple trees as charity events. In some cases the trees represent special commemorative gifts, such as in Trafalgar Square in London, where the City of Oslo, Norway presents a tree to the people of London as a token of appreciation for the British support of Norwegian resistance during the World War II; in Boston, Massachusetts, where the tree is a gift from the province of Nova Scotia, in thanks for rapid deployment of supplies and rescuers to the 1917 Halifax Explosion that leveled the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia (former city); and in Newcastle upon Tyne, where the 15metre-tall main civic Christmas tree is an annual gift from the city of Bergen, Norway, Norway, in thanks for the part played by soldiers from Newcastle in liberating Bergen from Nazism occupation.Newcastle City Council Town twinning: Bergen, Norway

The United States' National Christmas Tree is lit each year south of the White House in Washington, D.C. Today, the lighting of the National Tree is part of what has become a major holiday event at the White House. President Jimmy Carter lit only the crowning star atop the Tree in 1979 in honour of the Americans being Iran hostage crisis; in 1980, the tree was fully lit for only 417 seconds, one second for each day the hostages had been in captivity.

The term Charlie Brown Christmas tree is used in the USA to describe any sad-looking, malformed little tree. Some tree buyers intentionally adopt such trees, feeling sympathetic to their plights. The term comes from the appearance of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree in the :Category:Christmas television specials A Charlie Brown Christmas.

In New Zealand, Pōhutukawa trees are described as 'natural Christmas trees', as they bloom at Christmas time, and they look like Christmas trees with their red flowers and green foliage.

Dates It is generally thought that Christmas trees were established in Britain after Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert, brought the custom over from Germany. However, there are records of small fir trees being used to decorate houses before this and sailors used to affix one to the top of the mainmast of their ships.

In Germany and northern Europe, the practice of decorating coniferous trees originated in pagan times, when the trees were seen as phallic symbols representing the fertility of the nature gods. The practice was associated with the Winter Solstice (around December 21) which was seen as the date of the rebirth of the Sun God. Tree decoration was later adopted into Christian practice after the Church set December 25th as the birth of Christ, thereby supplanting the pagan celebration of the solstice. tree.

Traditionally, Christmas trees were not brought in and decorated until Christmas Eve (24 December), and then removed the day after Twelfth Night (holiday) (i.e., 6 January); to have a tree up before or after these dates was even considered bad luck. Modern commerce of Christmas has resulted in trees being put up much earlier; in Retailing#Shops and stores often as early as late October (in the UK, Selfridge's Christmas department is up by early September, complete with Christmas trees). A common tradition in U.S. homes is to put the tree up right after Thanksgiving (United States) (the fourth Thursday in November) and to take it down right after the New Year. Some households in the U.S. do not put up the tree until the second week of December, and leave it up until the 6th of January (Epiphany (Christian)). In Germany, traditionally the tree is put up 24th of December and taken down 7th of January, though many start one or two weeks earlier and in Roman-Catholic areas the tree may be kept until late January. In Australia, the Christmas tree is usually put up on the 1st of December, which occurs about a week before the school summer holidays; except for South Australia, where most people put up their tree after the Adelaide Credit Union Christmas Pageant, which is in early November. Some traditions suggest that Christmas trees may be kept up until no later than the 2nd of February, the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Purification of the Virgin), when the Christmas season effectively closes. Superstitions warn of negative consequences if Christmas greenery is not removed by Candlemas Eve.

Types of trees used Both natural and artificial trees are used as Christmas trees.

Natural trees The best species for use are species of fir (Abies), which have the major benefit of not shedding the needles when they dry out, as well as good foliage colour and scent; but species in other genus are also used. Commonly used species in northern Europe are:

Silver Fir Abies alba (the original species)
Nordmann Fir Abies nordmanniana (as in the photo)
Noble Fir Abies procera
Norway Spruce Picea abies (generally the cheapest)
Serbian Spruce Picea omorika
Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris

and in North America and Central America:

Balsam Fir Abies balsamea
Fraser Fir Abies fraseri
Grand Fir Abies grandis
Guatemalan Fir Abies guatemalensis
Noble Fir Abies procera
Red Fir Abies magnifica
Coast Douglas-fir Pseudotsuga menziesii
Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris
Stone Pine Pinus pinea (as small table-top trees)

Several other species are used to a lesser extent. Less-traditional conifers are sometimes used, such as Giant Sequoia, Leyland Cypress and Eastern Juniper. Various types of spruce tree are also used for Christmas trees, and are thought by some to be the most beautiful of all species used for this purpose. But spruce trees (unlike firs) begin to lose their needles rapidly upon being cut, and many spruces, such as the Blue Spruce have very sharp needles, making decorating uncomfortable. Virginia Pine is still available on some tree farms in the southeastern United States, however its winter colour is faded. The long-needled Eastern White Pine is also used there, though it is an unpopular Christmas tree in most parts of the country, owing also to its faded winter coloration and limp branches, making decorating difficult with all but the lightest ornaments. Araucaria heterophylla is sometimes used, particularly in Oceania, and in Australia some species of the genera Casuarina and Allocasuarina are also occasionally used as Christmas trees.

Some trees are sold live with roots and soil, often from a Nursery (horticulture), to be planted later outdoors and enjoyed (and often decorated) for years or decades. However, the combination of root loss on digging, and the indoor environment of high temperature and low humidity is very detrimental to the tree's health, and the survival rate of these trees is low. These trees must be kept inside only for a few days, as the warmth will bring them out of dormancy, leaving them little protection when put back outside into the midwinter cold in most areas. Others are produced in a container and sometimes as topiary for a porch or patio.

European tradition prefers the open aspect of naturally-grown, unsheared trees, while in North America (outside western areas where trees are often wild-harvested on public landsUS Bureau of Land Management: Christmas tree permits) there is a preference for close-sheared trees with denser foliage, but less space to hang decorations. The shearing also damages the highly attractive natural symmetry of unsheared trees. In the past, Christmas trees were often harvested from wild forests, but now almost all are commercially grown on tree farms.

Almost all Christmas trees in the United States are grown on Christmas tree farms where they are cut after about ten years of growth and new trees planted. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) agriculture census for 2002 (the census is done every five years) there were 21,904 farms were producing conifers for the cut Christmas Tree market in America, were planted in Christmas Trees, and 13,849 farms harvested cut trees. The top 5% of the farms (40 ha / 100 acres or more) sold 61% of the trees. The top 26% of the farms (8 ha / 20 acres or more) sold 84 percent of the trees. Farms less than 0.8 ha (two acres) comprised 21% of the farms, and sold an average of 115 trees per farmUS National Christmas Tree Association: Statistics

In the United Kingdom, The British Christmas Tree Growers Association represents the interests of all those who grow Christmas trees in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The lifecycle of a Christmas tree from the seed to a tree takes, depending on species and treatment in cultivation, between 8 and 12 years. First, the seed is extracted from cones harvested from older trees. These seeds are then usually grown in nurseries and then sold to Christmas tree farms at an age of 3-4 years. The remaining development of the tree greatly depends on the climate, soil quality, as well as the cultivation and tendance by the Christmas tree farmer. MK Weihnachtsbaumkulturen

Artificial trees , the People's Republic of ChinaArtificial trees have become increasingly popular, as they are considered more convenient and (if used for several years) less expensive than real trees. Trees come in a number of colours and "species", and some come pre-decorated with lights. At the end of the Christmas season artificial trees can be disassembled and stored compactly.

Artificial trees are sometimes even a necessity in some rented homes (especially apartment flats), due to the potential fire danger from a dried-out real tree, leading to their prohibition by some landlords. They may also be necessary for people who have an allergy to conifers, and are increasingly popular in office settings .

Feather trees The first artificial trees were tabletop feather trees, made from green-dyed goose feathers wound onto sticks drilled into a larger one, like the branches on a tree. Originating in Germany in the 19th century to prevent further deforestation, these "minimalism" trees show off small ornaments very well. The first feather trees came to the U.S. in 1913, in the Sears Holdings Corporation mail-order catalog.

Modern trees The first modern artificial Christmas trees were produced by companies which made brushes. They were made the same way, using animal hair (mainly pig bristles) and later plastic bristles, dyed pine-green in colour, inserted between twisted wires that form the branches. The bases of the branches were then twisted together to form a large branch, which was then inserted by the user into a wooden pole (now metal with plastic rings) for a trunk. Each row of branches is a different size, colour-coded at the base with paint or stickers for ease of assembly.

The first trees looked like long-needled pine trees, but later trees use flat Polyvinyl chloride sheets to make the needles. Many also have very short brown "needles" wound in with the longer green ones, to imitate the branch itself or the bases that each group of pine (but not other conifer) needles grows from. These trees have become a little more realistic every year, with a few deluxe trees containing multiple branch styles and newly developed True Needle technology to more closely imitate nature. Many trees now come in "slim" versions, to fit in smaller spaces. Most of the better trees have branches hinged to the pole, though the less-expensive ones generally still come separately. The hinged branched trees just need for the branches to be lowered, but they are a little less compact. Better trees also have more branch tips, the number usually listed on the box.

Around 2003, some trees with moulded plastic branches started selling in the U.S. Now there are also Upside Down Christmas Trees. These Christmas trees are advertised to "Give you more space for presents".

Designer trees The first artificial trees that were not green were the metallic trees, introduced about 1958, and quite popular through the 1960s. These were made of aluminium attached to metal rods, supported on wooden or aluminium central poles. Some were made with aluminium-coated paper, which was flammable. These posed a great fire hazard if lights were put directly on them, particularly the relatively hot bulbs sold in that era; warnings to this effect are still issued with some Christmas tree lights. They were instead lit by a searchlight or floodlight, often with a Electric motorised rotating colour wheel in front of them.

More recent tinsel trees can be used safely with lights, due to the use of flame retardant materials as well as improvements in the safety of the Christmas tree lights themselves.

Other artificial trees may look nothing like a conifer except for the triangular or conical shape. These may be made from Paperboard, glass, plastic, or from stacked items such as ornaments. Such items are often used as tabletop decorations.

Outdoor trees Outdoor branched trees made out of heavy white-enameled wire steel wires have become more popular on U.S. lawns in the 2000s, along with 1990s spiral ones that hang from a central pole, both styles being lighted with standard miniature lights. These lights are usually white, but often are green, red, red/green, blue/white, blue, or multicoloured, and sometimes with a small controller to fade colours back and forth.

A few hotels and other buildings, both public and private, will string lights up from the roof to the top of a small tower on top of the building, so that at night it appears as a lit Christmas tree, often using green or other coloured lights. Some skyscrapers will tell certain offices to leave their lights on (and others off) at night during December, creating a Christmas tree pattern.

Other gimmicks Since the late 1990s, many indoor artificial trees come pre-strung with lights. Some are instead lit partly or completely by fibre optics, with the light in the base, and a rotating colour wheel causing various colours to shimmer across the tree.

In 2005 Upside-Down Christmas Trees became popular. They were originally sold as decorations for merchants that allowed customers to get closer to ornaments being sold. Customers then wanted to replicate the inverted tree. Retailers also claimed that the trees were popular because they allowed larger presents to be placed beneath the trees. Upside-down Christmas trees come in three varieties: stand-alone, ceiling, and wall. The stand-alone trees have a flat base. Ceiling trees have a base that can be bolted into a ceiling, and wall trees are generally half of a tree, that are bolted to a wall.

Past gimmicks include small talking or singing trees, and trees which blow "snow" (actually small styrofoam beads) over themselves, collecting them in a decorative Paperboard bin at the bottom and blowing them back up to the top through a tube hidden next to the trunk.

A long-standing and simple gimmick is conifer seedlings sold with cheap decorations attached by soft pipe cleaners. Real potted ones are often sold like this, and artificial ones often come with a "root ball" but only sometimes with decorations.

Environmental issues There is some debate as to whether artificial or real trees are better for the natural environment. Artificial trees are usually made out of Polyvinyl chloride, a toxic material which is often stabilised with lead. Some trees have a warning that dust or leaves from the tree should not be eaten or inhaled. A small amount of real-tree material is used in some artificial trees. For instance, the bark of a real tree can be used to surface an artificial trunk. Polyethylene trees are less toxic, though more expensive, than PVC trees.Grist environmental commentary: Christmas trees

Artificial trees can be used for many years, but are usually non-recyclable, ending up in landfills. Real trees are used only for a short time, but can be recycled and used as mulch or used to prevent erosion.Engineer Update: Old Christmas trees protect town beach Real trees also help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere while growing.

Live trees are typically grown as a Crop (agriculture) and replanted in rotation after cutting, often providing suitable Habitat (ecology) for wildlife. In some cases management of Christmas tree crops can result in poor habitat since it involves heavy input of pesticides. Organic farming Christmas trees are available in some markets, and as with many other crops, are widely held to be better for the environment. Dr. Patrick Moore (environmentalist), a co-founder and former president of Greenpeace, writes:

Whether you choose a cut or growing tree to enjoy this holiday season, I believe that a sensible environmentalist would opt for renewable over non-renewable every timePatrick Moore on Christmas trees

Decoration and ornaments decorating a Christmas treeTinsel and several types of garland (decoration) or ribbon are commonly used to decorate a Christmas tree. Delicate mould-blown and painted coloured glass Christmas ornaments were a specialty of Czech lands and Polish glass factories from the late 19th century, and have since become a large industry, complete with famous-name designers. Lighting with candles or electric lights (fairy lights) is commonly done, and a tree topper completes the ensemble. Strands of tinsel may be hung in groups from longer branches to simulate icicles, though this trend has gradually fallen off since the late 1970s, due primarily to a cessation of the manufacture of metal tinsel because of environmental concerns. This was replaced with silvered saran based tinsel, which many have found to be unsatisfactory, leading to the demise of tinsel in tree decorating in the United States (it remains popular in many European countries). Baubles are another extremely common decoration, and usually consist of a fairly small hollow glass or plastic sphere coated with a thin metallic layer to make them reflective, and then with a further coating of a thin pigmented polymer in order to provide coloration.

Individuals' decorations vary widely, typically being an eclectic mix of family traditions and personal tastes; even a small unattractive ornament, if passed down from a parent or grandparent, may come to carry considerable emotional value and be given pride of place on the tree. Conversely, trees decorated by professional designers for department stores and other institutions will usually have a "theme"; a set of predominant colours, multiple instances of each type of ornament, and larger decorations that may be more complicated to set up correctly. Some churches decorate with Chrismon Trees, which use handmade ornaments depicting various Chrismon symbols.

Many people also decorate outdoor trees with food that birds and other wildlife will enjoy, such as garlands made from unsalted popcorn or cranberry, orange (fruit) halves, and seed-covered suet cakes.

Tree mats and skirts s in San DiegoSince candles were used to light trees until electric bulbs came about, a mat (UK) or "skirt" (US) was often placed on the floor below the tree to protect it by catching the dripping candle wax, and also to collect any needles that fall. Even when dripless candles, electric lights and artificial trees have been used, a skirt is still usually used as a decorative feature: among other things, it hides the tree stand, which may be unsightly but which is an important safety feature of home trees. What began as ordinary cloth has now often become much more ornate, some having embroidery or being put together like a quilt.

A nativity scene, model train, or Christmas village may be placed on the mat or skirt. As Christmas presents arrive, they are generally placed underneath the tree on the tree skirt (depending on tradition, all Christmas gifts, or those too large to be hung on the tree, as in "presents on the tree" of the song "I'll Be Home for Christmas").

Generally, the difference between a mat and skirt is simply that a mat is placed under the tree stand, while a skirt is placed over it, having a hole in the middle for the trunk, with a slot cut to the outside edge so that it can be placed around the tree (beneath the branches) easily. A plain mat of fabric or plastic may also be placed under the stand and skirt to protect the floor from scratches or water.

Flocking In the 1940s and 1950s flocking was very popular on the West Coast of the United States. There were home flocking kits that could be used with vacuum cleaners. In the 1980s some trees were sprayed with fluffy white Flocking (texture) to simulate snow. Typically it would be sprayed all over the tree from the sides, which produced a look different from real snow, which settles in clumps atop branches. Flocking can be done with a professional sprayer at a tree lot (or the manufacturer if it is artificial), or at home from a spray can, and either can be rather messy. This tradition seems to be limited mostly to the West Coast of the United States.

Controversy The Christmas tree has seen an amount of controversy, mainly involving the secular and non-secular usage of the tree as well as groups who oppose usage of the tree on the grounds of interpretation of scripture and claimed pagan origins and/or pagan character of the custom.There are also those who view it as a Christian symbol.

Christianity in the Bible says the following (NIV):

1 Hear what the LORD says to you, O house of Israel. 2 This is what the LORD says: "Do not learn the ways of Gentiles or be terrified by signs in the sky,though the nations are terrified by them. 3 For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. 4 They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. 5 Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good."

This is interpreted by some Christians as referring to a Christmas tree, and that therefore the Bible would explicitly forbid the practice. However, the more common interpretation is that the passage refers to Idolatry worship, and it is the practice of making an object out of wood, silver, and gold, and then worshipping that idol which is pagan. Thus, as long as you are not planning to worship the Christmas tree per se, there is no issue.

Catholic countries .In some Catholic countries, the tree is seen as a recent Protestant or Cultural colonialism detracting from the Mediterranean traditions of the Christmas crib. However in many Catholic homes, both types of decoration coexist.

Judaism Jewish parents in Christian societies may find that their children feel missing out during the Christmas holidays.This has led to the increasing importance of the Hannukah celebrations, initially a minor Jewish holiday, when children now receive gifts and toys instead of the gelt of Ashkenazi tradition.Some mixed-religion families or those wanting to blend better with their Christian environment use a "Hannukah bush", that is, a Christmas tree with Jewish instead of Christian decorations.

More Orthodox Jews frown upon this Christian influence.

Industry Each year, 33 to 36 million Christmas trees are produced in America, and 50 to 60 million are produced in Europe. In 1998, there were about 15,000 growers in America (a third of them "choose and cut" farms). In that same year, it was estimated that Americans spent $1.5 billion on Christmas trees.

See also

References

External links

British Royal Family Christmas trees
Riga, Latvia purported home of the original Christmas Tree
An iconoclastic look at artificial Christmas trees, at the Gymnosperm Database
The British Christmas Tree Growers Association homepage
Christmas Tree Farmers of Ontario homepage
1777 Christmas tree in Windsor Locks, CT
Christmas Tree Farms in United States

The British Christmas Tree Growers Association
Listing of members who have Christmas trees available retail and wholesale. News, tree care information.

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Fiona Banner Peace on Earth, Fiona Banner, 2007 © the artist. Photo: Sam Drake/Tate Photography enlarge. Fiona Banner Peace on Earth, Fiona Banner, 2007 © the artist.

Real Christmas Trees from The Christmas Tree Farm
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Christmas tree < hardware, jargon > A kind of EIA-232 line tester or breakout box featuring rows of blinking red and green LEDs suggestive of Christmas lights.

Christmas Trees in England
Most houses in England, will have a tree of some sort or other which they will decorate and will place the presents under. The traditional Christmas tree is a fir tree but now-a ...

Christmas Tree Farm come and feed the animals
Christmas tree farm is the ideal place for everyone from children to grandparents. What better way to spend some time than a relaxing visit to Christmas Tree Farm, just outside the ...

Christmas Tree Land :: Christmas tree site for Christmas trees
Suppliers of Christmas Trees direct from the web to your door, also corporate trees to business and local authorities.

National Christmas Tree Association: Home Page
The National Christmas Tree Association represents the growers of trees and greens, and producers who support the holiday season.