The Michael Berry Show is sponsored by the Christmas Tree

The custom of decorating a Christmas tree was developed in the 1500s in Central Europe by Protestant Christians who brought

decorated trees into their homes. The tree was traditionally decorated with roses

made of colored paper, apples, wafers, tinsel, and various confectionaries, which is just a fancy-pants way

of saying sugary sweets.

Early Christmas trees were illuminated with candles.

Martin Luther is said to be the first to add lighted candles to the tree.

This must have drove them OSHA folks crazy.

Thanks to Ben Franklin and his invention of electricity,

Christmas lights have now replaced the Christmas candle.

Yay!

Today there's a wide variety of traditional and modern ornaments such as garlands,

baubles, tinsel, and candy canes.

An angel, or maybe even a star, if that's your thing, might be placed at the top of the tree

to represent the angel Gabriel or the star of Bethlehem.

There is no one set date to put up your Christmas tree, but there are some people

who wait until the first day of Advent, or even some as late as Christmas Eve, depending on the country.

Customs vary, but there are two traditional days when the Christmas decorations are removed

and the tree comes down.

The first is the 12th night.

This is the 12th day of Christmas, the day that is traditionally celebrated as the day the

Magi visited the baby Jesus. If they're not taken down on that day, then the

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