Why Christmas Trees?

This is our little fake tree this year. Don't mind the mess around it, this is how we live. Also, you see the ghost hanging to the right? Well instead of telling you that it's a left over Halloween decoration I prefer to call it the Ghost of Christmas past.

When do you put your Christmas tree up or do you even have one?  

Depending on where you live and how you were brought up makes a difference on this holiday tradition.

Up until our son was born I didn't really care with finding out exactly what was with all these traditions.  I just went with the flow.  Growing up we would usually put ours up the weekend after Thanksgiving.  Some years it was a fake tree but mostly it was a real one.  It was a constant mess to try to keep the cats away from knocking down the tree and ensuring they didn't eat any tinsel(for cat owners you know what I mean 😉). We had a lot of Siamese cats growing up, my mother used to breed them.  So we did a lot of wrangling at times.

Ever wonder about the history of the Christmas tree?  Here's some information from one of my favorite sites History.com.

However you do this tradition or don't, I wanted to share with you how as a Christian a simple Christmas Tree or branch can exhibit the characteristics of Christ.


***The following are excerpts(paraphrased) from one of my favorite books: Stories Behind The Great Traditions of Christmas by Ace Collins

Even for those who didn't know about or believe in Jesus, in what is now Scandinavia, the vikings would have brutal winters. They would often bring in evergreen branches as a sign of hope and strength to get them through those harsh times. The evergreens not only survived the winter but also seemed to thrive when times were most bleak.  Many other people groups throughout Europe has somewhat of the same tradition. 

In the seventh century, St Boniface, a monk from Crediton, Devonshire, England constantly traveled across Europe as a missionary. It has been written that on one of his many treks he came across a group of men that were gathered around a huge oak tree. One of them had a small boy with them that had been selected to be given as sacrifice to the god Thor. When Boniface saw what was happening, he demanded that it stop at once. When they refused, he walked up to the huge oak and struck it with his fist. In an act seen as a miracle, the oak shuddered and fell to the ground. As everything settled, a tiny fir tree became visible just behind where the oak tree has stood tall. Boniface pointed out the fir tree, explaining that the evergreen was the Tree of Life. He explained to them that the evergreen tree that even winter couldn't kill, stood for the eternal life offered to them by Christ. Then pointed out the triangle shape of tree and stated that the fir's three points stood for the Holy Trinity of God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Each of those men supposedly gave their lives to Christ right there where that little tree stood.  Five centuries later this story became legend throughout France and Germany, where evergreen trees were hung from ceilings as a symbol of Christianity. No one really knows why they were hung upside down.

In the 1500's Martin Luther was walking home one dark night and noticed how the stars shined brightly through the evergreen trees. He went home and tried to re-create that in his home by attaching candles to a tree. It is believed that this is how adding lights to the Christmas tree became a tradition. 

For what is Christmas if not about a savior being birthed into the world to be the Light of the world.

John 8:12

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”