Celebrating the Christmas tree's colorful history

1561 An ordinance posted in Alsace, Germany, limiting each household to one Christmas tree is the earliest historical reference.

1605 A traveler to Strasbourg, Germany, describes fir trees in drawing rooms decorated with apples, wafers, paper roses, gilt, and sugar ornaments.

1840 British Queen Victoria and her German-born consort, Prince Albert, celebrate with a decorated tree, launching a fashionable new addition to the English Christmas.

1845 A children's book called "Kriss Kringle's Christmas Tree" helps popularize the practice in America.

1851 The first Christmas tree lot in this country opens on New York City.

1856 The first decorated Christmas tree in the White House.

1880s Gifts, previously hung from the tree by thread, become more substantial with the advent of wrapping paper and are now placed under the tree.

1900 President Theodore Roosevelt, concerned about deforestation, discontinues Christmas trees in the White House. It doesn't stick. His sons sneak one in.

1913 First national Christmas tree ceremony.

1917 Bostonians aid the citizens of Nova Scotia after an explosion in Halifax Harbor, and are rewarded with the gift of a large Christmas tree from Canada each year thereafter.

1930s A toilet brush manufacturer produces the first commercial artificial Christmas trees, made of bent wire and dyed feathers.

1950s The Silver Pine, an aluminum cone illuminated by a rotating colored disk over a projected light, epitomizes cool modernity.

1960s Plastic trees gain a foothold.

1980s Artificial trees boast more natural-looking polyvinyl needles. Artificial trees also stay up longer, lengthening the Christmas season.

1990s Tree farmers counterattack by promoting cut-your-own tree operations, often with petting zoos and wagon rides, as a family experience. Shoppers become choppers.

2002 Folding "pre-lit" Christmas trees are marketed with lighting attached. Just "open and fluff" approach becomes an instant hit with time-crunched Americans.

Sources: "Encyclopedia of Christmas & New Year's Celebrations" by Tanya Gulevich (Omnigraphics), the National Christmas Tree Association, and wire stories.