Christmas Tree Trivia
The Christmas tree has a long history so of course a lot of interesting things have accumilated about it. Here are some trivia tidbits about the Christmas tree for you.
Evergreens were once thought to have magical powers.
Evergreens are a symbol of life.
Using Evergreens to celebrate the winter holidays started centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ.
The first electrically lit Christmas tree was invented by Edward Johnson, an assistant of Thomas Edison in 1882.
Edison General Electric Company made the first mass produced Christmas lights for sale in 1901.
The best smelling Christmas trees are Balsam Firs.
A large part of the world’s Christmas trees are grown in the US Northwest with over 112,000 acres are planted with 11,000,000 trees. They are shipped to other areas such as Samoa, Puerto Rico, Japan, Mexico, Guam, Homg Kong, China and of course all over the US.
Even though all 50 US states grow Christmas trees, the top producing states are California, Oregon, Illinois, Michigan, Washington, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina.
Between 30-35 million live trees are sold in the US each year.
Nova Scotia also exports millions of Christmas trees.
Most trees now a days are topped with an Angel or Star. In earlier centuries it was a small doll of the Baby Jesus that topped trees.
In earlier centuries, Christmas trees were decorated with candles, paper ribbons, paper or fabric roses, gilded nuts, and apples.
It takes 7-10 years before a Christmas tree is ready to be harvested.
Every time a Christmas tree is harvested, 2 to 3 seedlings are planted.
Approximately 73 million Christmas trees will be planted this year.
Some people believe it’s bad luck to put your tree up before December 1st.
January 6th is the official end to the Christmas holiday and all trees should be taken down by then. Of course in the US, most people take down their Christmas decorations on New Years Day.
A favorite decoration among people in the Ukraine, is having a spider ornament hanging from your tree. It’s believed that finding a spider web on your tree Christmas morning will bring your household good luck.
One acre of growing Christmas trees will provide oxygen for 18 humans every day!
One of the “warmest” National Christmas tree lightings happened on December 13, 1984 when temperatures were well in the 70s.
Christmas trees started to make an appearance in large department stores around 1900.
Westminster England receives a Christmas tree from the people of Oslo, Norway every year since 1947 as a thank you for Britain’s role in helping Norway during WWII.
93% of live, cut Christmas trees are recycled and there are over 4,000 recycling programs for Christmas trees in the US.
Most live Christmas trees are already cut for the consumer. Only 16% are the “Cut your own” variety.
Which is better? A live tree or artificial? A live tree is a living thing that dies for our enjoyment but an artificial tree will last for centuries in the landfills. It does have an average use of 6 years before it is thrown away.
21% of US homes had a real tree in 2002 and 48% had a fake tree. The rest had no tree at all.
Don’t burn your Christmas tree in the fireplace due to creosote buildup.
The National Christmas tree was not lit in 1963 until December 22nd due to the 30 day mourning of the death of President Kennedy.
Christmas trees need a lot of water. During the first week, a tree in your home “drinks” about a quart of water a day.
The National Tree Lighting Ceremony was started in 1923 by President Coolidge.
Set Of 3 Pre-Lit Downswept Alpine Artificial Christmas Trees 3′ 4′ 5′
Tinsel is beautiful but used to be quite dangerous as it was made of lead. It was banned by the government until a safer alternative made of plastic was available.
Less than 1/10th of residential fires are cause by Christmas trees.
Christmas trees help the economy. Over 100,000 are employed in the Christmas tree industry.
The first community Christmas tree was put up in New York City in 1912.
Woodinville Washington’s claim to fame is that they have the tallest living Christmas tree at 122 feet. It’s old too at 91 years and is a Douglas fir. Out of every 2,000 trees planted, only 1,000-1,500 will survive. The survival rate goes down the further north you go. It can go as low as 750 in the North.
In 1979, due to the hostage situation in Iran, only the top ornament of the National Christmas tree was lit.
You can have your real Christmas tree shipped to you. About 175,000 are sold through the internet or mail order catalogs.
The average price of a Christmas tree in 2007 was $41.50.
Christmas trees can be recycled by being put in ponds for a shelter for fish. They also make great soil and sand erosion barriers.
Christmas trees can help us breathe better by removing pollen and dust from the air.
Helicopters are used to help lift cut trees from Christmas tree farms.
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April 12th, 2010 at 5:49 pm
[...] Christmas Tree Trivia [...]
October 27th, 2010 at 8:58 am
Thanks for the Trivia! Christmas Trees nowadays come in different forms as influenced by the vast development of technology but an authentic and real Christmas Tree still has greater impact to most people.
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October 28th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
Cool information. I used to mock pre-lit Christmas trees but now that life is so much busier I “get it” now.
November 8th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
It is amazing that the technology of artificial trees just keeps getting better. I had my first one about 12 years ago and it looked fake. Now they are so real looking, its great. The best part is the lights are already on the tree. Thats always been a pain to try to do. Now its solved. I am all for saving real trees for the forest. Thanks for the great information.
November 12th, 2010 at 6:30 am
Those tree’s look very real indeed, it is amazing how life like they are managing to make artificial trees these days. I think I will consider buying one of these this year.
January 17th, 2011 at 7:01 pm
Wow so much christmas tree trivia! Im going to try to digest some of this so I can bore all my family next year at christmas haha!
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March 3rd, 2011 at 9:58 am
Yeah well said! we should go with artificial trees , so that we can maintain greenery on earth. We should spread this message to every where and thanks for this kind a article.
March 15th, 2011 at 5:40 am
Is there any photos of the Christmas tree in New York 1912?