The decorating of trees is an old custom, going as far back as Old Testament times. During the Roman celebration of the feast of Saturnalia, pagans decorated their houses with clippings of evergreen shrubs. They also decorated living trees with bits of metal and replicas of their god, Bacchus. Tertullian (circa 160-230), an early Christian leader and prolific writer, complained that too many fellow-Christians had copied the ancient pagan custom of adorning their houses with lamps and laurel wreaths at Christmas time.

Nowadays people use mainly artificial trees, which have greatly improved in quality and selection, with some coming complete with LED lights and themed decorations. Real trees have also improved with modern farming methods, and traditional pines and balsams have given way to leaders such as the Douglas fir, the Noble fir and the Fraser fir.

Custom Christmas Trees

Want a white Christmas tree that floats upright in your swimming pool? How about a turquoise tree that hangs from your ceiling and spins? Or a tree decorated with live birds in cages? You can have somebody trim your tree almost any way you'd like, with one phone call and with a fee varying anywhere from $500 to $15,000. Each Christmas it's busy season for fashionable florists and catering consultants who decorate both real and artificial Christmas trees for private homes, parties and corporations.

Outdoor White Wire Christmas Trees

By night, your white wire Christmas trees fill the sky with bright lights, by day: the trees are nowhere to be seen. To make wire trees, hammer a 9' angle iron at least 1' into the ground to secure it. Saw evenly spaced slots about ½ inch deep around one end of an 8' length of 2” PVC pipe and place over the angle iron. Pound 8 evenly spaced tent stakes in a circle around the pipe. Secure one end of a short length of fine wire to one of the tent stakes, pull it up to the top of the pipe, through two of the opposing slits, and down the other side to the opposing stake. Repeat with the remaining stakes. Wrap light strands around the wires until the entire tree is covered.

Metal wire trees originated in Germany towards the end of the 1800s. These trees were covered with goose, turkey, ostrich or swan feathers. The feathers were often dyed green to imitate pine needles. Using the same equipment that made their toilet brushes, the Addis Brush Company created the first artificial brush trees in the 1930s. The Addis “Silver Pine” tree was patented in 1950.