Jody Victor: If you haven't already started a Christmas tradition in your family - get together and decorate your Christmas tree like the Victor family. The evergreen tree is one of the oldest symbols of Christmas and the tradition goes back past recorded history.
First recorded were the Druids in ancient England and Gaul, and the Romans in Europe who used evergreen branches to decorate their homes and public buildings to celebrate the Winter Solstice. In the 1600's trees were used by families in Germany and surrounding countries. They set up these trees in a prominent location of their home and decorated them with colored paper, small toys, food, and sometimes candles. When these people moved or immigrated they brought the tradition with them.
As the world moved into the 1900's new and different things were used to decorate Christmas trees - strings of popcorn, homemade cards and pictures, cotton to immitate snow, candy in all shapes and sizes, and occasionally, fancy store made glass balls and hand blown glass figurines. Due to fires being caused by candles on the trees many different candle holders were devised to try to prevent tree fires. Electric tree light were first used just 3 years after Thomas Edison had his first mass public demonstration of electric lights back in 1879. The early Christmas tree lights were handmade and quite expensive.
Today, Christmas tree ornaments and the trees themselves can be found in nearly every size, color, and shape imaginable. The fun of decorating a Christmas tree is for all ages, young and old!