It is an accepted fact that the Christmas tree tradition is one that was brought to the shores of America by German immigrants who continued a practice that was popular in their former homeland. Today, a Christmas tree is present in just about every home at Christmas time. It is therefore interesting to note some little-know facts about the Christmas Tree and other traditions related to Christmas.

The first interesting fact is the source of real Christmas Trees for some Americans. Trees can be bought at Christmas tree farms, local stores and other places of business in just about every town and city across the country. However, according to the National Christmas Tree Association, in 2008 Americans bought about 330,000 real Christmas trees online and had them shipped to their homes.

During the 1950s Christmas trees were not always green. It was very popular to have artificial trees with other colors such as silver, pink and aqua. The appeal in having these colored Christmas trees may have been due to the fact that they looked shiny and bright and appeared like tinsel instead of green foliage.

An important ceremony related to the Christmas tree that gains national attention during the Christmas season is the lighting of the National Christmas Tree at the White House. This tradition can be credited to President Calvin Coolidge who lit the first decorated Christmas tree outside at the White House in 1923.

The lighting of the National Christmas Tree has also been used to convey some symbolic meaning not related to Christmas. It was not lighted until Dec. 22 in 1963 because of a national mourning period of 30 days for the assassination of President Kennedy. Speaking of Presidents, while Teddy Roosevelt was President he gave an order that banned the Christmas tree from the White House, not for the assassination of President McKinley in 1901, which caused him to become president, but for reasons related to the environment.

Christmas has been celebrated in the United States since the 1600s although it wasn’t always very popular. It took more than two centuries into the mid-late 1860s for Christmas to become a popular holiday season all across America. So maybe the rest of the country owes the holiday of Christmas Day to the state of Alabama, which in 1836 became the first state to declare Dec. 25 a legal holiday. It is interesting to note that on Christmas Day of 1789 Congress was in session. And to show how far ahead of the game Alabama was, it wasn’t until June 26, 1870 that the federal government declared Christmas as a federal holiday.