People have decorated their homes with green plants at Christmas time for centuries. Trees are prevalent, but wreaths, holly, and mistletoe are also used. However, bringing in trees and bits of plants seems strange, so why do we do it?
 
The first person to bring a Christmas Tree into a house, in the way we know it today, was Martin Luther. One night before Christmas, Luther walked through the forest and looked up to see the stars shining through the tree branches. It was so beautiful that he went home and told his children that it reminded him of Jesus, who left the stars of heaven to come to earth at Christmas. So he brought a tree into his house and decorated it with candles to represent the stars.

At first, a figure of the Baby Jesus was put on the top of the tree. Over time, it became a star like the Wise Men saw or an angel/fairy that told the shepherds about Jesus. 

Lead and glass decorations started being made in the 1860s and 1870s. Some of the first glass decorations were apples, and that's where round, red baubles on Christmas Trees come from. Frank Woolworth started selling glass ornaments in the USA in 1880.

The first "tinsel" garlands were sold in the 1890s from silver-plated copper wire. But when plastic/man-made tinsel was invented, it became prevalent as it was much cheaper and lighter for the tree than metal tinsel.

A legend from Germany tells the tale of where tinsel was created. It came from the Christmas Spider.

There was a poor family who couldn't afford to decorate their tree for Christmas. When the children slept on Christmas Eve, a spider covered the tree with cobwebs. Then, on Christmas morning, when the sun rose, the cobwebs were magically turned into silver and gold strands to decorate the tree.

Finding a spider or spider's web on your Christmas Tree is good luck, and we hope this colorful Christmas puzzle from David Galchutt with its magical trees brings you lots of luck this holiday season.

The perfect gift for Christmas wooden puzzlers, Santa fans, and Christmas Wooden Puzzle enthusiasts, this traditional Christmas wooden puzzle can be done time and again. Our Christmas wooden puzzle artists have included many whimsy shaped Christmas wooden puzzle pieces that match the theme of the painting, and we have integrated them in ways that will delight and surprise you as you put the Christmas wooden puzzle together.