by Annette Bromley

Created on: December 20, 2010   Last Updated: December 22, 2010

Oh Christmas tree

So lovely is the Christmas tree
shimmering with light,
filling our hearts with gladness
on this cold, dark winter night;
decked with angels and with garland
and bobbles that softly glow,
and holly and the ivy,
and there are gifts below
the fragrant branches;
Oh Christmas tree of everlasting hope.

Trees of evergreen, usually balsam, spruce or pine that is often lavishly decorated with glittering lights and bobbles and strings of garland.  Fir trees remain green all year ‘round, the green reminding us of eternity and our everlasting hope.  The needles on the evergreen bough point toward the sky, they point toward heaven and symbolize the glory in which our hope is found, they turn our thoughts to Heaven and God through which all hope comes.  In history, according to legend the Christmas tree was representative of the tree of paradise in the Garden of Eden, the tree of eternal life, the tree that would never die but there are many legends that surround the evergreen fir tree we call the Christmas tree.  It is not only symbolic in Christian belief but in other religions as well.

The Christmas tree is traditionally brought into the home about eight days before Christmas (some do it much earlier) but eight days represents the length of time it took Mary and Joseph to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem where Jesus was born.

These trees are decorated with strings of lights (though they were once lighted with candles) that represent and remind us the Jesus is the light of the world.  Angels commonly decorate the tree reminding us of the heavenly host that announced the birth of the Savior bring peace on Earth and good will toward men.  The various ornaments, garland tinsel and holly, the candy canes and the barley sugar and ginger cookies all represent different things and are reminders of why Jesus was born and why we celebrate Christmas; but it wasn’t always this way and the Fir tree, the evergreen tree, the Christmas tree is symbolic in other ways in other faiths.

Many native cultures around the world believed and some still do believe that evergreen hung around your home and over your doorway will ward off evil spirits and that the smoke that rises from a smoldering evergreen branch when waved over an ill person and around the room that person is in will drive the evil sickness from the body.  Evergreen is often presented to the parents of a newborn child as a gift representing the wish for a long life for

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