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Yes

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In some ways, yes. In some ways, no. First we need to consider the origin of the Christmas tree, and there are several legends or stories concerning that.

One legend gives the seventh century (600 to 699 AD) as the origin of the Christmas tree. It seems a monk traveled to Germany specifically to teach the word of God. In an effort to be understandable, he used a fir tree's shape to describe the Trinity; that is, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Five centuries later, the tree was used throughout most of Europe as a symbol of people's Christianity.

One story cites the year 1510 for the first decorated Christmas tree in Latvia.

Germans brought the custom of Christmas trees to the United States during the 18th and 19th centuries. The first White House tree was in 1853. Just thirty years later, in 1883, Sears Roebuck & Company offered artificial Christmas trees for sale. The price was staggering in those days: 33 limbs for fifty cents and 55 limbs for one dollar. In the United States alone, nearly 30 million live Christmas trees are sold annually.

A fir tree stays green all year, perhaps signifying perpetual life. Looking from a Christian perspective, Christ is perpetual (eternal) life. Perhaps that is the reason that the fir tree was chosen as the Christmas tree.

A Christmas tree can be beautiful and there are thousands of different decorating schemes. Some people use cut trees, others use live trees, and other use artificial trees. Some people use only blue ornaments, some use multicolors. Some people use only one color of light, some use two, and others use many. Tinsel is added to numerous trees, except in homes with cats. (Cats tend to eat the tinsel and later leave it on the floor for us to step into.) In my home, I traditionally bought a new ornament for my daughter each year. The premise is that she will have a collection of ornaments when she gets her own home. For now, though, she and her two children live with us, so I buy ornaments for them each year. Someday they will take their memories to their own home and continue or create new traditions.

In those early years, the trees were lit by candles, posing a serious fire hazard. There is no documentation detailing the number of homes burned down, but in today's society, every year we hear about at least one fire caused by a Christmas tree's faulty or overburdened wiring.

The advent of electricity certainly lowered the number of burned homes. In 1882, Edward Johnson (Thomas Edison's assistant) tried out the

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