Read Online The Everything Family Christmas Book by Yvonne Jeffrey - Free Book Online

of a village, decorated with ivy. The popular consensus, however, is that the Christmas tree originated in Germany.
According to one legend, St. Boniface, who helped organize the Christian church in France and Germany during the mid-700s, was responsible for the first Christmas tree. One Christmas Eve, St. Boniface was traveling through the forest and happened upon a group of people gathered around an oak tree preparing to sacrifice a child to the god Thor. In protest of this act, St. Boniface destroyed the oak, either with an ax or a single blow from his fist. When the oak was felled, a fir tree appeared in its place. St. Boniface informed the people that this was the Tree of Life, representing Christ.

One of the most popular Christmas-tree legends concerns Martin Luther. One Christmas Eve, as Luther was ambling through the forest, he became enraptured by the beauty of the starlight playing off the evergreen branches. Luther chopped down a tree and brought it home, where he lit it with candles in an effort to duplicate the scene for his family. Though Luther himself never mentioned this event, the legend spread throughout the land.
Another familiar legend holds that when Christ was born, all the animals received the power to speak, and the trees bloomed and brought forth fruit, despite the harsh winter. All the grand trees came forth to pay homage to the Lord, except one tiny fir tree, embarrassed by her stature. But then the Lord came down and lighted the fir tree’s branches, making her sparkle, and she was no longer ashamed.
In yet another legend, a poor man gave shelter and food to a needy child one Christmas Eve; the child turned out to be the Christ Child. In return for the man’s generosity, the Child created a small, lighted fir tree that grew outside the house.

Because of Martin Luther’s supposed association with the Christmas tree, strictly Roman Catholic inhabitants of southern Germany would not have trees in their homes until the nineteenth century, when news of the custom’s popularity in America traveled overseas.
The Paradise Tree
Though these legends are entertaining, most experts believe that the truth behind the Christmas tree is much less spectacular. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, pine trees were used in Europe as part of the miracle plays performed in front of cathedrals at Christmas time. The plays detailed the birth and fall of humanity, its salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ, and Christ’s promise of redemption. The pine trees, decorated with apples, symbolized the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden.
Though such plays were later banned by the church, the tradition of this Paradise Tree, or Paradeisbaum, was kept alive in individual homes. People began decorating the trees with wafers to represent the Eucharist; later, these wafers evolved into cookies, cakes, fruit, and other goodies. At first, these foods were shaped to represent some aspect of the Nativity, but in time they came to depict anything the decorator’s heart desired.

To this day, the Christmas tree enjoys incredible popularity in Germany. The decorating of the tree is one of the most anticipated events of the holiday, and in some homes each family member has his or her own tree. So beloved is the Christmas tree there that the most popular carol in Germany after “Silent Night” is “O Tannenbaum” (“Oh, Christmas Tree”).
By the 1800s, the Christmas tree had spread to Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Austria. In Scandinavia, fishermen trimmed trees with fish nets and flags. Today, it is more common in those countries to decorate with cookies, candy, fruit, and flags.
The most famous tree in Great Britain is a gift each year from Norway, in appreciation for Britain’s help during World War II. When Norway was occupied by the Nazis, King Haakan set up a free Norwegian government in London. Since 1947, each year Norway has presented the people of Britain with an enormous tree at least