National Christmas Tree Association- For Eco-friendly celebration

From the middle age tradition to White House Christmas lighting, the evolution of the indoor and outdoor Christmas trees has been a long journey all through the years. Christmas tree is largely accepted as a symbol of festive Christmas season. Families form special memories as they adorn the tree together.

The Christmas tree tradition is an interesting mix of historical facts and stories. When looking at Christmas traditions, a person can initiate back at the celebrations from Garden of Eden. During the middle ages, trees were decked with red apples to commemorate the feast of Adam and Eve.

From the traditions of middle age, evergreen Christmas tree moves from being decorated outside to the indoor pre lit trees. The first trees indoors were also hung upside down. 16th-century Germany fir trees were decorated, indoors and out, with apples, roses, gilded candies, and colored paper.

It is not apparent who should be attributed to the decoration of indoor tree, but there are several stories credited to Martin Luther initiating indoor lit tree. The most established version of the story goes when Martin Luther wanted to cherish the experience of a winter evening with his family walking by evergreen trees dazzling from starlight. To make it more real, he placed lightning on the indoor tree, to show his family the beauty of trees in the starlight.

In the 17th century, the custom of decorating Christmas trees began to extend throughout Europe. They were adorned with nuts, apples and red paper strips. Today people celebrate the festival by beautifying trees with various types of ornaments like ribbons, flowers and lights.

Today people also have options to choose from a real or artificial tree, pre lit tree etc. There are trees that look and feel very real and one may have to wear gloves to place them together.

According to National Christmas Tree Association, the most eco friendly thing is to buy a real tree that has its roots and can be replanted it in your back yard once the holiday season is over. Unfortunately, this can get tricky, because if a tree has to be replanted, it can be only done indoors for a week. Therefore, recycled Christmas tree might be a better option for those who persist on setting Christmas tree for Halloween, and bringing it down in February.

Whichever way you may choose to adorn the Christmas tree, most important thing is that you have a great time making memories with your loved ones this season.