LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Christmas Tree: Christmas Trees
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The Christmas tree that adorns Rockefeller Center is typically a Norway Spruce. The minimum requirement is that the tree be 65 feet tall and 35 feet wide... manager of Rockefeller Center gardens prefers the tree be between 75 and 90 feet tall and proportionally wide. Norway Spruce that grow in forests don't typically reach these proportions, so the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree tends to be one that was ornamentally planted in someone's front or back yard. There is no compensation offered in exchange for the tree, other than the pride of having donated the tree that appears in Rockefeller Center.
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The tradition of a Christmas tree spread across America during the 1800s with the arrival of German immigrants. One of the first public displays of a Christmas tree was set up by German settlers in Pennsylvania at a time when many people still considered the tree to be a symbol of pagans. The Germans would bake fancy ornaments for their trees and then consume the decorations when the trees were taken down. After Christmas, these frugal people wouls strip the needles and then wrap the branches in cotton to extend the life of the tree for several Christmases to come. Fruits, nuts, flowers and lighted candles ... adorned the first American Christmas trees, but only the strongest could support such a weight without drooping. Thus, German glassblowers began producing lightweight glass balls to replace heavier, natural decorations.
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In Britain, the Christmas tree was introduced in the time of the personal union with Hanover, Germany, by George III's Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz but the custom did not spread much beyond the royal family. Queen Victoria as a child was familiar with the custom. In her journal for Christmas Eve 1832, the delighted 13-year-old princess wrote, "After dinner...we then went into the drawing-room near the dining-room...There were two large round tables on which were placed two trees hung with lights and sugar ornaments. All the presents being placed round the trees...". After her marriage to her German cousin, Prince Albert, the custom became even more widespread. In 1847, Prince Albert wrote: "I must now seek in the children an echo of what Ernest [his brother] and I were in the old time, of what we felt and thought; and their delight in the Christmas-trees is not less than ours used to be". A woodcut of the royal family with their Christmas tree at Osborne House, initially published in the Illustrated London News of December 1848, was copied in the United States at Christmas 1850 (illustration, left). Such patriotic prints of the British royal family at Christmas celebrations helped popularise the Christmas tree in Britain and among the Anglophile American upper class.
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On Friday evening, November 30, the Williamsburg Inn's unique Christmas tree is officially lit in its traditional location in the elegant Inn lobby. While every year presents a new twist to the festivities, enduring traditions include the re-telling of the story of the first Christmas tree in Williamsburg. An entire year of planning decorations and many days of set-up by the Inn staff appears to come to life in an instant. The tree is hung with delicate white lights and ornaments created by a local miniaturist, then topped with the signature Prince of Wales gold crown.
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A Christmas tree is a very popular form of decoration associated with the holiday “Christmas”. While Christmas is a Christian holiday, it has become the major holiday in the United States as well as being practiced worldwide. The Christmas tree is centerpiece for Christmas and its celebration. Serving as a focal point for gifts and family gatherings the Christmas tree is an essential part of celebration. Equally as important are the decorations that go onto the tree. Lights are an absolute standard in modern America, coming in a wide variety from colored, white, large, small, fiber optic, icicle and more.
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In London, near the statue of Lord Nelson in Trafalgar Square, a giant Christmas tree is set up and decorated with great ceremony each year. The tree is a thank you gift from the people of Oslo, Norway. During the Second World War, King Haakon of Norway was forced into exile in England when the Germans occupied his country. Since 1947, Norway has expressed its thanks for the help of the British people by continuing to send a huge Norwegian spruce to be shared by all.
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