Editing Christmas tree (section)

====Adoption by country or region====
=====''Germany''=====
[[File:Die Gartenlaube (1871) 109.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|A German Christmas tree in a room at Versailles turned into a military hospital]]

By the early 18th century, the custom had become common in towns of the upper Rhineland, but it had not yet spread to rural areas. Wax candles, expensive items at the time, are found in attestations from the late 18th century.

Along the [[Lower Rhine region|Lower Rhine]], an area of Roman Catholic majority, the Christmas tree was largely regarded as a Protestant custom. As a result, it remained confined to the upper Rhineland for a relatively long period of time. The custom did eventually gain wider acceptance beginning around 1815 by way of [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussian]] officials who emigrated there following the [[Congress of Vienna]].

In the 19th century, the Christmas tree was taken to be an expression of [[Culture of Germany|German culture]] and of {{lang|de|[[Gemütlichkeit]]}}, especially among emigrants overseas.<ref>{{cite book |first=Johannes |last=Marbach |title=Die heilige Weihnachtszeit nach Bedeutung, Geschichte, Sitten und Symbolen|language=de |trans-title=The holy Christmas season for meaning, history, customs and symbols |year=1859 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FXhEAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA416 |page=416 |quote=Was ist auch eine deutsche Christenfamilie am Christabend ohne Christbäumchen? Zumal in der Fremde, unter kaltherzigen Engländern und frivolen Franzosen, unter den amerikanischen Indianern und den Papuas von Australien. Entbehren doch die nichtdeutschen Christen neben dem Christbäumchen noch so viele Züge deutscher Gemüthlichkeit. [English: What would a German Christian family do on Christmas Eve without a Christmas tree? Especially in foreign lands, among cold-hearted Englishmen and frivolous Frenchmen, among the American Indians and the Papua of Australia. Apart from the Christmas tree, the non-German Christians suffer from a lack of a great many traits of German 'Gemütlichkeit'.] }}</ref>

A decisive factor in winning general popularity was the German army's decision to place Christmas trees in its barracks and military hospitals during the [[Franco-Prussian War]]. Only at the start of the 20th century did Christmas trees appear inside churches, this time in a new brightly lit form.<ref name="Hermelink">{{cite book |first=Jan |last=Hermelink |chapter=Weihnachtsgottesdienst |trans-chapter=Christmas worship |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WOrt4xXGSKcC&pg=PA290 |editor-first=Christian |editor-last=Grethlein |editor-first2=Günter |editor-last2=Ruddat |title=Liturgisches Kompendium|language=de |publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht |year=2003 |isbn=978-3-525-57211-5 |page=290 }}</ref>

=====''Slovenia''=====
Early Slovenian custom, dating back to around the 17th century, was to suspend the tree either upright or upside-down above the well, a corner of the dinner table, in the backyard, or from the fences, modestly decorated with fruits or not decorated at all. German brewer Peter Luelsdorf brought the first Christmas tree of the current tradition to [[Slovenia]] in 1845. He set it up in his small brewery [[inn]] in [[Ljubljana]], the Slovenian capital. German officials, craftsmen and merchants quickly spread the tradition among the bourgeois population. The trees were typically decorated with [[walnuts]], golden apples, [[carobs]], and candles. At first, the Catholic majority rejected this custom because they considered it a typical Protestant tradition. However, this tradition was almost unknown to the rural population until [[World War I]], after which the decorating of trees became common. The first decorated Christmas market was organized in Ljubljana in 1859.

After [[World War II]], during the [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] period, spruce trees set in the public places (towns, squares, and markets) were, for political reasons, replaced with [[fir]] trees, a symbol of [[socialism]] and [[Slavic mythology]], strongly associated with loyalty, courage, and dignity. However, spruce retained its popularity in Slovenian homes during those years and came back to public places after independence.<ref>{{cite web|title=Zgodovina okraševanja: Božično drevesce ali novoletna jelka|url=https://www.dormeo.net/clanki/razkrivamo-pomen-predpraznicnih-obicajev-3-del|publisher=dormeo.net|date=15 December 2021|language=sl}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Zgodovina okraševanja: Božično drevo s sporočili|url=https://www.vecer.com/vecer-v-nedeljo/zgodovina-okrasevanja-bozicno-drevo-s-sporocili-6364217|publisher=vecer.com|date=10 December 2021|language=sl}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Rojstvo tradicije: od bršljana, bele omele do okraskov polne jelke|url=https://mestnik.si/rojstvo-tradicije-od-brsljana-bele-omele-do-okraskov-polne-jelke/|publisher=mestnik.si|date=4 December 2021|language=sl}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Kako smo nekoč praznovali novo leto|url=https://www.ljubljana.si/sl/mestna-obcina/glasilo-ljubljana/kako-smo-nekoc-praznovali-novo-leto/|publisher=ljubljana.si|date=15 December 2021|language=sl|access-date=15 December 2021|archive-date=15 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211215185225/https://www.ljubljana.si/sl/mestna-obcina/glasilo-ljubljana/kako-smo-nekoc-praznovali-novo-leto/}}</ref>

=====''Italy''=====
{{main|Christmas in Italy}}
[[File:Duomo Milano Natale.jpeg|thumb|Christmas tree in [[Milan]], Italy, in front of the [[Milan Cathedral]]]]
[[File:Sapin Noel Geant Gubbio 2014.jpg|thumb|[[Mount Ingino Christmas Tree]] in [[Gubbio]], Italy, the tallest Christmas tree in the world.<ref name="tripsavvy"/>]]

[[Christmas in Italy]] begins on 8 December with the [[Feast of the Immaculate Conception]], the day on which traditionally Christmas trees are erected, and ends on 6 January of the following year with [[Epiphany (holiday)|Epiphany]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=November 25, 2013|title=The Best Christmas Traditions in Italy|url=https://www.walksofitaly.com/blog/things-to-do/christmas-traditions-in-italy|access-date=January 26, 2021|website=Walks of Italy|language=en-GB}}</ref>

The tradition of the Christmas tree was widely adopted in Italy during the 20th century despite its Germanic origins. It appears that the first Christmas tree in Italy was erected at the [[Quirinal Palace]] towards the end of the 19th century at the behest of [[Queen Margherita]].<ref name=":2" />

During [[Italian fascism|Fascism]], this custom was opposed because it was considered to be an imitation of a foreign tradition, as opposed to the typically Italian nativity scene. In 1991, the [[Gubbio Christmas Tree]], {{Convert|650|m|sp=us}} tall and decorated with over 700 lights, entered the [[Guinness Book of Records]] as the tallest Christmas tree in the world.<ref name="tripsavvy">{{Cite web|title=Celebrate Christmas Italian Styles at These City Events|url=https://www.tripsavvy.com/christmas-traditions-things-to-do-italy-4176880|access-date=January 26, 2021|website=TripSavvy|language=en}}</ref>

=====''Britain''=====
[[File:Christmas Tree 1848.jpg|thumb|An engraving published in the 1840s of [[Queen Victoria]] and [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert]] created a craze for Christmas trees.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/12068658/Queens-Christmas-Day-message-Monarch-quotes-from-Bible-to-address-a-nation-shaken-by-year-of-atrocities.html |title=Queen's Christmas Day message: Monarch quotes from Bible to address a nation shaken by year of atrocities |last=Bingham |first=John |date=25 December 2016 |website=[[telegraph.co.uk]] |access-date=25 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171227124150/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/12068658/Queens-Christmas-Day-message-Monarch-quotes-from-Bible-to-address-a-nation-shaken-by-year-of-atrocities.html |archive-date=27 December 2017 }}</ref>]]

Although the tradition of decorating churches and homes with evergreens at Christmas was long established,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42959/42959-h/42959-h.htm#Footnote_213_213|title=Survey of London|last=Stow|first=John|publisher=John Windet|year=1603|location=London|quote=Against the feast of Christmas every man's house, as also the parish churches, were decked with holm, ivy, bays, and whatsoever the season of the year afforded to be green.|access-date=3 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170816193124/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42959/42959-h/42959-h.htm#Footnote_213_213|archive-date=16 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> the custom of decorating an entire small tree was unknown in Britain until the 19th century. The German-born [[Queen Charlotte]] introduced a Christmas tree at a party she gave for children in 1800.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thamesweb.co.uk/christmas/christmas_tree.html|title=The History of the Christmas Tree at Windsor|access-date=3 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111224161224/http://www.thamesweb.co.uk/christmas/christmas_tree.html|archive-date=24 December 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> The custom did not at first spread much beyond the royal family.{{efn|In 1829 the diarist [[Charles Greville (diarist)|Greville]], visiting [[Panshanger]] country house, describes three small Christmas trees "such as is customary in Germany", which [[Dorothea Lieven|Princess Lieven]] had put up.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hole|first=Christine|title=English Custom and Usage|year=1950|publisher=B. T. Batsford Ltd.|location=London|page=16}}</ref>}} [[Queen Victoria]], as a child, was familiar with it and a tree was placed in her room every Christmas. In her journal for Christmas Eve 1832, the delighted 13-year-old princess wrote:<ref>{{cite book |title=The girlhood of Queen Victoria: a selection from Her Majesty's diaries |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.02324/11132.E13917_The_Girlhood_of_Queen_Victoria_vol_I/page/61/mode/2up |publisher=J. Murray |year=1912 |author=Victoria |author-link=Queen Victoria |editor=Viscount Esher |editor-link=Reginald Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher}}</ref>

{{blockquote|After dinner{{nbsp}}[...] we then went into the drawing room near the dining room{{nbsp}}[...] 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{{nbsp}}[...]}}

In the year following Victoria's marriage to her German cousin [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert]], in 1841, the custom became even more widespread<ref>{{cite book |author=Marie Claire Lejeune |title=Compendium of symbolic and ritual plants in Europe |page=550 |publisher=Man & Culture |isbn=978-90-77135-04-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g5GBAAAAMAAJ |year=2002 }}</ref> as wealthier middle-class families followed the fashion. In 1842, a newspaper advertisement for Christmas trees makes clear their smart cachet, German origins and association with children and gift-giving.<ref>"GERMAN CHRISTMAS TREES. The nobility and gentry are respectfully informed that these handsome JUVENILE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS are supplied and elegantly fitted up{{nbsp}}...":''Times'' [London, England] 20 December 1842, p.&nbsp;1.</ref> An illustrated book, ''The Christmas Tree'', describing their use and origins in detail, was on sale in December 1844.<ref>''The Christmas Tree'': published by Darton and Clark, London. "The ceremony of the Christmas tree, so well known throughout Germany, bids fair to be welcomed among us, with the other festivities of the season, especially now the Queen, within her own little circle, has set the fashion, by introducing it on the Christmas Eve in her own regal palace." Book review of ''The Christmas Tree'' from the Weekly Chronicle, 14 December 1844, quoted in an advert headlined "A new pleasure for Christmas" in ''The Times'', 23 December 1844, p.&nbsp;8.</ref>

On 2{{nbsp}}January 1846, Elizabeth Fielding (née Fox Strangways) wrote from [[Lacock Abbey]] to [[Henry Fox Talbot|William Henry Fox-Talbot]]: "Constance is extremely busy preparing the [[Bohemia]]n Xmas Tree. It is made from Caroline's<ref>Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); William Henry Fox-Talbot's half-sister.</ref> description of those she saw in Germany".<ref>Correspondence of William Henry Fox-Talbot, British Library, London, Manuscripts—Fox Talbot Collection, envelope 20179 [http://foxtalbot.dmu.ac.uk/letters/transcriptName.php?bcode=Talb-WH&pageNumber=5029&pageTotal=10047&referringPage=251] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511191033/http://foxtalbot.dmu.ac.uk/letters/transcriptName.php?bcode=Talb-WH&pageNumber=5029&pageTotal=10047&referringPage=251|date=11 May 2021}}.</ref>

In 1847, Prince Albert wrote: "I must now seek in the children an echo of what [[Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|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".<ref>{{cite book |title=The Prince Consort, Man of many Facets: The World and The Age of Prince Albert |author=Godfrey and Margaret Scheele |page=78 |publisher=Oresko Books |year=1977 |isbn=978-0-905368-06-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NcFm-0s54HIC }}</ref>

A boost to the trend was given in 1848<ref>At the beginning of the year the custom was well-enough known for ''The Times'' to compare the January budget of 1848 with gifts handed out beneath "the Christmas tree": ''The Times'' (London, England), 21 January 1848, p.&nbsp;4.</ref> when ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'',<ref>Special Christmas supplement edition, published 23 December 1848.</ref> in a report picked up by other papers,<ref>''The Times'' (London, England), 27 December 1848. p. 7</ref> described the trees in [[Windsor Castle]] in detail and showed the main tree, surrounded by the royal family, on its cover. In fewer than ten years, the adoption of the tradition in middle and upper-class homes was widespread. By 1856, a northern provincial newspaper contained an advert alluding casually to them,<ref>"Now the best Christmas box / You can give to the young / Is not toys, nor fine playthings, / Nor trees gaily hung{{nbsp}}...": Manchester Guardian, Saturday, 5{{nbsp}}January 1856, p.&nbsp;6.</ref> as well as reporting the accidental death of a woman whose dress caught fire as she lit the tapers on a Christmas tree.<ref>''Manchester Guardian'', 24 January 1856, p.&nbsp;3: the death of Caroline Luttrell of [[Kilve Court]], Somerset.</ref> They had not yet spread down the social scale though, as a report from Berlin in 1858 contrasts the situation there where "Every family has its own" with that of Britain, where Christmas trees were still the preserve of the wealthy or the "romantic".<ref>''The Times'' (London, England), 28 December 1858, p. 8.</ref>

Their use at public entertainments, charity bazaars and in hospitals made them increasingly familiar however, and in 1906 a charity was set up specifically to ensure even poor children in London slums "who had never seen a Christmas tree" would enjoy one that year.<ref>The Poor Children's Yuletide Association. ''The Times'' (London, England), 20 December 1906, p.&nbsp;2. "The association sent 71 trees 'bearing thousands of toys' to the poorest districts of London."</ref> Anti-German sentiment after World War{{nbsp}}I briefly reduced their popularity<ref>"A Merry Christmas": ''The Times'' (London, England), 27 December 1918, p.&nbsp;2: "...{{nbsp}}the so-called "Christmas tree" was out of favour. Large stocks of young firs were to be seen at Covent Garden on Christmas Eve, but found few buyers. It was remembered that the 'Christmas tree' has enemy associations."</ref> but the effect was short-lived,<ref>The next year a charity fair in aid of injured soldiers featured 'a huge Christmas-tree'. 'St. Dunstan's Christmas Fair'. ''The Times'' (London, England), 20 December 1919, p.&nbsp;9.</ref> and by the mid-1920s the use of Christmas trees had spread to all classes.<ref>'Poor families in Lewisham and similar districts are just as particular about the shape of their trees as people in Belgravia{{nbsp}}...' 'Shapely Christmas Trees': ''The Times'' (London, England), 17 December 1926, p.&nbsp;11.</ref> In 1933, a restriction on the importation of foreign trees led to the "rapid growth of a new industry" as the growing of Christmas trees within Britain became commercially viable due to the size of demand.<ref>Christmas Tree Plantations. ''The Times'' (London, England), 11 December 1937, p.&nbsp;11.</ref> By 2013, the number of trees grown in Britain for the Christmas market was approximately eight million<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-25117501|title=Christmas tree grower Ivor Dungey gets award|work=BBC News|access-date=21 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731014120/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-25117501|archive-date=31 July 2018|url-status=live|date=27 November 2013}}</ref> and their display in homes, shops and public spaces a normal part of the Christmas season.

=====''Georgia''=====
[[File:Presidential Chichilaki.jpg|thumb|upright|Decorated [[Chichilaki]] at the [[Orbeliani Palace]]]]

[[Georgians]] have their own traditional Christmas tree called [[Chichilaki]], made from dried up [[hazelnut]] or [[walnut]] branches that are shaped to form a small coniferous tree.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.georgianjournal.ge/discover-georgia/29148-chichilaki-georgian-version-of-christmas-tree.html|title=Chichilaki–Georgian version of Christmas tree|website=Georgian Journal|access-date=31 December 2018}}</ref> These pale-colored ornaments differ in height from {{cvt|20|cm|in}} to {{convert|3|m|ft|sp=us}}. Chichilakis are most common in the [[Guria]] and [[Samegrelo]] regions of Georgia near the [[Black Sea]], but they can also be found in some stores around the capital of [[Tbilisi]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=21 December 2011|title=Georgians rediscover Christmas tree traditions|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-16275554|access-date=3 March 2021}}</ref>

Georgians believe that Chichilaki resembles the famous beard of [[St. Basil the Great]], because [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] commemorates St. Basil on 1 January.

=====''The Bahamas''=====
The earliest reference of Christmas trees being used in [[The Bahamas]] dates to January 1864 and is associated with the [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] Sunday Schools in [[Nassau, Bahamas|Nassau]], New Providence: "After prayers and a sermon from the Rev. R. Swann, the teachers and children of St. Agnes', accompanied by those of St. Mary's, marched to the Parsonage of Rev. J. H. Fisher, in front of which a large Christmas tree had been planted for their gratification. The delighted little ones formed a circle around it singing 'Come follow me to the Christmas tree.'"<ref>13 January 1864 Nassau Guardian</ref> The gifts decorated the trees as ornaments and the children were given tickets with numbers that matched the gifts. This appears to be the typical way of decorating the trees in 1860s Bahamas. In the Christmas of 1864, there was a Christmas tree put up in the Ladies Saloon in the Royal Victoria Hotel for the respectable children of the neighbourhood. The tree was ornamented with gifts for the children who formed a circle about it and sang the song "Oats and Beans". The gifts were later given to the children in the name of [[Santa Claus]].<ref>28 December 1864 Nassau Guardian</ref>

=====''North America''=====
[[File:Riedesel Christmas Tree.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|General and Mrs. Riedesel celebrating Christmas.]]
The tradition was introduced to [[North America]] in the winter of 1781 by [[Germans in the American Revolution|Hessian soldiers]] stationed in the [[Province of Québec (1763–1791)]] to garrison the colony against [[Invasion of Canada (1775)|American attack]]. General [[Friedrich Adolf Riedesel]] and his wife, [[Frederika Charlotte Riedesel|the Baroness von Riedesel]], held a Christmas party for the officers at [[Sorel-Tracy|Sorel]], Quebec, delighting their guests with a fir tree decorated with candles and fruits.<ref name="Werner">{{cite book |title=In Pursuit of Liberty: Coming of Age in the American Revolution |first=Emmy E. |last=Werner |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XyB_tuMV7YMC&pg=PA115 |page=115 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-275-99306-1 }}</ref>

The Christmas tree became very common in the United States of America in the early 19th century. Dating from late 1812 or early 1813, the watercolor sketchbooks of [[John Lewis Krimmel]] contain perhaps the earliest depictions of a Christmas tree in American art, representing a family celebrating Christmas Eve in the [[Moravians|Moravian]] tradition.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harding |first=Anneliese |url=http://archive.org/details/johnlewiskrimmel0000hard |title=John Lewis Krimmel: Genre Artist of the Early Republic |publisher=Winterthur Publications |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-912724-25-6 |location=Winterthur, DE |pages=44–45 |language=en-US |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> The first published image of a Christmas tree appeared in 1836 as the [[Book frontispiece|frontispiece]] to ''The Stranger's Gift'' by Hermann Bokum. The first mention of the Christmas tree in American literature was in a story in the 1836 edition of ''The Token and Atlantic Souvenir'', titled "New Year's Day", by [[Catherine Maria Sedgwick]], where she tells the story of a German maid decorating her mistress' tree. Also, a [[woodcut]] of the British royal family with their Christmas tree at Windsor Castle, initially published in ''The Illustrated London News'' in December 1848, was copied in the United States at Christmas 1850, in ''[[Godey's Lady's Book]]''. ''Godey's'' copied it exactly, except for the removal of the Queen's tiara and Prince Albert's moustache, to remake the engraving into an American scene.<ref name="AFP">{{cite book |author=Alfred Lewis Shoemaker |orig-date=1959 |title=Christmas in Pennsylvania: a folk-cultural study |pages=52–53 |publisher=Stackpole Books |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-8117-0328-4 }}</ref> The republished ''Godey's'' image became the first widely circulated picture of a decorated evergreen Christmas tree in America. Art historian [[Karal Ann Marling]] called Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, shorn of their royal trappings, "the first influential American Christmas tree".<ref name="ADT">{{cite book |author=Karal Ann Marling |year=2000 |title=Merry Christmas! Celebrating America's greatest holiday |page=[https://archive.org/details/merrychristmas00kara/page/244 244] |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-00318-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/merrychristmas00kara/page/244 }}</ref> Folk-culture historian Alfred Lewis Shoemaker states, "In all of America there was no more important medium in spreading the Christmas tree in the decade 1850–60 than ''Godey's Lady's Book''". The image was reprinted in 1860, and by the 1870s, putting up a Christmas tree had become even more common in America.<ref name="AFP"/>
[[File:Lewis Miller’s drawing showing Christmas tree.jpg|thumb|Drawing depicting family with their Christmas tree in 1809.]]

President [[Benjamin Harrison]] and his wife [[Caroline Harrison|Caroline]] put up the first [[White House Christmas Tree|White House Christmas tree]] in 1889.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/president/holiday/whtree|title=White House Tree|publisher=White House Archives|access-date=December 24, 2022}}</ref>

Several cities in the United States with German connections lay claim to that country's first Christmas tree. [[Windsor Locks, Connecticut]], claims that a Hessian soldier put up a Christmas tree in 1777 while imprisoned at the Noden-Reed House,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wfsb.com/clip/12040705/first-decorated-christmas-tree-in-windsor-locks|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210223922/http://www.wfsb.com/clip/12040705/first-decorated-christmas-tree-in-windsor-locks|archive-date=10 December 2015|title=First Decorated Christmas Tree in Windsor Locks|author=Joseph Wenzel IV|publisher=WFSB|date=30 November 2015|access-date=2 December 2015}}</ref> while the "First Christmas Tree in America" is also claimed by [[Easton, Pennsylvania]], where German settlers purportedly erected a Christmas tree in 1816. In his diary, Matthew Zahm of [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania]], recorded the use of a Christmas tree in 1821, leading Lancaster to also lay claim to the first Christmas tree in America.<ref>{{cite web |title=The History of Christmas |work=Gareth Marples |url=http://www.thehistoryof.net/the-history-of-christmas.html |access-date=2 December 2006 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060628034631/http://www.thehistoryof.net/the-history-of-christmas.html |archive-date=28 June 2006 }}</ref> Other accounts credit [[Charles Follen]], a German immigrant to Boston, for being the first to introduce to America the custom of decorating a Christmas tree.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/1996/12.12/ProfessorBrough.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990823204728/http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1996/12.12/ProfessorBrough.html |archive-date=23 August 1999 |title=Professor Brought Christmas Tree to New England |date=12 December 1996 |access-date=2 December 2012 |work=[[Harvard Gazette|Harvard University Gazette]] }}</ref> In 1847, August Imgard, a German immigrant living in [[Wooster, Ohio]] cut a [[blue spruce]] tree from a woods outside town, had the Wooster village tinsmith construct a star, and placed the tree in his house, decorating it with paper ornaments, gilded nuts and [[Kuchen]].<ref>{{cite web|title=They're Still Cheering Man Who Gave America Christmas Tree|url=http://www.the-daily-record.com/citizen%20news/2007/12/10/they-re-still-cheering-man-who-gave-america-christmas-tree-cleveland-ceremonies-honor-him-august-imgard-of-wooster-ohio|publisher=[[Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune]]|access-date=16 May 2013|date=24 December 1938|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219034027/http://www.the-daily-record.com/citizen%20news/2007/12/10/they-re-still-cheering-man-who-gave-america-christmas-tree-cleveland-ceremonies-honor-him-august-imgard-of-wooster-ohio|archive-date=19 December 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> German immigrant [[Charles Minnigerode]] accepted a position as a professor of humanities at the [[College of William & Mary]] in [[Williamsburg, Virginia]], in 1842, where he taught Latin and Greek. Entering into the social life of the [[Virginia Tidewater]], Minnigerode introduced the German custom of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas at the home of law professor [[St. George Tucker]], thereby becoming another of many influences that prompted Americans to adopt the practice at about that time.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Minnigerode_Charles_1814-1894 |title=Charles Minnigerode (1814–1894) |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Virginia |publisher=[[Virginia Foundation for the Humanities]] |access-date=11 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160801022323/http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Minnigerode_Charles_1814-1894 |archive-date=1 August 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> An 1853 article on Christmas customs in Pennsylvania defines them as mostly "German in origin", including the Christmas tree, which is "planted in a flower pot filled with earth, and its branches are covered with presents, chiefly of confectionary, for the younger members of the family." The article distinguishes between customs in different states, however, claiming that in New England generally "Christmas is not much celebrated", whereas in Pennsylvania and New York it is.<ref>'Notes and Queries', volume{{nbsp}}8 (217), 24 December 1853, p.615</ref>

When [[Edward Hibberd Johnson|Edward H. Johnson]] was vice president of the [[Edison Electric Light Company]], a predecessor of [[General Electric]], he created the first known electrically illuminated Christmas tree at his home in New York City in 1882. Johnson became the "Father of Electric Christmas Tree Lights".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oldchristmastreelights.com/history.htm|title=A Brief History of Electric Christmas Lighting in America|website=oldchristmastreelights.com|access-date=19 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219174210/http://www.oldchristmastreelights.com/history.htm|archive-date=19 December 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>

The lyrics sung in the United States to the German tune {{lang|de|[[O Tannenbaum]]}} begin "O Christmas tree...", giving rise to the mistaken idea that the [[German language|German]] word {{lang|de|Tannenbaum}} (fir tree) means "Christmas tree", the German word for which is instead {{lang|de|Weihnachtsbaum}}.

<gallery class="center" heights="caption=" 18th="" to="" early="" 20th="" century="" representations"="">

File:The Christmas Tree - Godey's Lady's Book, December 1850.jpg|Copy of an 1848 engraving of the British royal family with their tree, modified and widely published in American magazine ''[[Godey's Lady's Book]]'', 1850.
File:1836-print-of-american-christmas-tree.jpg|First published image of a Christmas tree, frontispiece to Hermann Bokum's 1836 ''The Stranger's Gift''
File:The Christmas tree (Boston Public Library).jpg|''The Christmas tree'' by Winslow Homer, 1858
File:Gezin bij de kerstboom.jpg|Christmas in the Netherlands, {{c.|1899}}
File:1870 ChristmasTree byEhninger HarpersBazaar.jpeg|Illustration for ''[[Harper's Bazaar]]'', published 1 January 1870
File:Julekort, 1880.jpg|Christmas tree depicted as Christmas card by [[Louis Prang|Prang]] & Co. (Boston) 1880
File:Komissarzhevskaya Nora.jpg|[[Vera Komissarzhevskaya]] as Nora in [[Henrik Ibsen|Ibsen]]'s ''[[A Doll's House]]'' ({{c.|lk=no}} 1904). Photo by [[Elena Mrozovskaya]].
File:Lodovico and Maria Angelica Calderara 12800u original.jpg|An Italian-American family on Christmas, 1924
</gallery>