The Christmas tree custom became popular in other parts of Europe. In England Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria made Christmas trees fashionable by decorating the first English Christmas tree at Windsor castle with candles and a variety of sweets, fruits, and gingerbread in 1841. Of course other wealthy English families followed suit, using all kinds of extravagant items as decorations. Charles Dickens described such a tree as being covered with dolls, miniature furniture, tiny musical instruments, costume jewelry, toy guns and swords, fruit and candy, in the 1850's.

  Most nineteenth century Americans found Christmas trees an oddity. The first record of one being on display was in  the 1830's by the German settlers of Pennsylvania. They put on a show to raise money for a local church. In 1851 a tree was set up outside of a church. The people of the parish thought it such an outrage and a return to paganism and asked the minister to take it down.

  By the 1890's Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the U.S. It was noted that Europeans used small trees about four feet in height, while Americans liked their Christmas Trees to reach from floor to ceiling.

  The early twentieth century saw Americans decorating their trees mainly with home made ornaments, while the German-American sect continued to use apples, nuts, and marzipan cookies.  Popcorn joined in after being dyed bright colors and interlaced with berries and nuts. Electricity brought about Christmas lights making it possible for Christmas trees to glow for days on end.

  With this, Christmas trees began to appear in town squares across the country. All important buildings, private and public, signaled the beginning of the Christmas holiday with the tree ceremony.

  Early Christmas trees had, in place of angels, figures of fairies- the good spirits, though horns and bells were once used to frighten off evil spirits.

  In POLAND Christmas trees there were always angels, peacocks and other birds as well as many, many stars. In SWEDEN trees are decorated with brightly painted wooden ornaments and straw figures of animals and children. In DENMARK tiny Danish flags along with mobiles of bells, stars, snowflakes, and hearts are hung on Christmas trees. JAPANESE Christians prefer tiny fans and paper lanterns. LITHUANIANS cover their trees with straw bird cages, stars, and geometric shapes. The straw sends a wish for good crops in the coming year. CZECHOSLOVAKIAN trees display ornaments made from painted egg shells. A UKRAINIAN Christmas tree has a spider and web for good luck. Legend has it that a poor woman with nothing to put on her children's tree woke on Christmas morning to find the branches covered with spider webs turned to silver by the rising sun.

  Many legends exist about the origin of the Christmas tree. One is the story of Saint Boniface, an English monk who organized the Christian Church in France and Germany. One day, as he traveled about, he came upon a group of pagan staggered around a great oak tree about to sacrifice a child to the god Thor. To stop the sacrifice and save the child's life Boniface felled the tree with one mighty blow of his fist. In its place grew a small fir tree. The saint told the pegan worshipers that the tiny fir was the Tree of Life and stood the eternal life of Christ.

  Another legend holds that Martin Luther, a founder of the Protestant faith, was walking through the forest on Christmas Eve. As he walked he was awed by the beauty of millions of stars glimmering through the branches of the evergreen trees. So taken was he by this beautiful sight that he cut a small tree and took it home to his family. To recreate the same starlight beauty he saw in the woods, he placed candles on all its branches.

  Yet another legend tells of a poor woodsman who long ago met a lost and hungry child on Christmas Eve. Though very poor himself, the woodsman gave the child food and shelter for the night. The woodsman woke the next morning to find a beautiful glittering tree outside his door. The hungry child was really the Christ Child in disguise. He created the tree to reward the good man for his charity.

  There is many more legends about the Christmas Tree. But one thing is for sure and that is The Christmas Tree is one of the most used symbols for the Christmas Season.