Christmas Trees - Everyone’s Favourite Christmas Decoration

Christmas Trees - Everyone’s Favourite Christmas Decoration

Perhaps the most famous tree of all Christmas trees is the one gifted to the United Kingdom by the people of Norway each year.  At the time of writing this tradition has been upheld for 62 years having started as a token of appreciation for Britain hosting the Norwegian Government ,who were in exile during the German occupation of their Country at the time of the Second World War. The tree is delivered every year and set up in Trafalgar Square in London.

This famous Christmas tree is hand selected each year from the forests around Oslo, having sometimes been earmarked as a possible candidate for selection some years previously. There is a tree cutting ceremony in Norway in November and a tree lighting ceremony, in London, on the first Thursday in December. The tree is transported between the two Countries by road and ferry.

With an increase in awareness of the effects deforestation can possibly have on Global warming, there has been a move away from real Christmas trees in some households, with many families now electing to set up an artificial Christmas tree instead of the real thing. Some artificial trees are so realistic it is difficult to tell from a distance that they are not real. Others, such as the modern fibre optic Christmas tree, are more apparently man-made.

Of course, every well-dressed Christmas tree needs Christmas tree decorations. Whether your preference for Christmas accessories lies with balls or tinsel you would be hard pressed not to find something that satisfies your needs in the almost mind-blowing selection of options we have offered to us today.

The history of decorating Christmas trees appears to date back to the early sixteenth Century in Europe. It seems likely that the tradition was brought over to the United Kingdom by the Georgian Kings who came from Germany, although Christmas trees did not become popular until the Victorian age when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were pictured with their children standing around their tree.

Gone are the days when Christmas tree ornaments consisted of home strung garlands of nuts and fruit or perhaps the odd pinecone attached to a ribbon. Nowadays all manner of trinkets and baubles are available in every conceivable colour.

Christmas trees depicted in old illustrations are shown adorned with candles but we now have Christmas tree lights with which we illuminate our trees. Sometimes called fairy lights, these may be simple strings of white lights or kitted out with a selection of multi coloured bulbs. Some lights flash, some are steady. Once again the choice is huge.

Some people choose to use lights to adorn other parts of their house too; threading them through banisters on staircases or positioning them around mirrors or pictures. Christmas lights do create atmosphere and can make even the starkest of surroundings look welcoming.

Real or artificial, Christmas isn’t Christmas without a Christmas tree.