A Tree Decorated Just For Me

The first time in recorded history that a tree was decorated specifically to celebrate the Christmas holiday was in 1510. After that, the tradition quickly gained popularity, and people began to decorate Christmas trees in churches, town squares, and their homes with other natural materials such as fruit and nuts, as well as cookies baked in a variety of shapes.

Often, people would place angels on the very top of their Christmas trees to symbolize the significance of the angels who appeared high above Bethlehem to joyfully announce Jesus' birth on the first Christmas. If they didn't use an angel ornament as a tree topper, they usually used a star, to represent the bright star that appeared in the sky to guide people to Jesus' birthplace.

Streamers and Tinsel: Angels' "Hair"

Soon after people began decorating Christmas trees, they would sometimes pretend that angels were actually decorating the trees, as a way of making the Christmas festivities even more fun for children. They wrapped paper streamers around Christmas trees and told children that the streamers were like pieces of angel hair that had gotten caught in the branches when the angels leaned in too closely to the trees while decorating.

Later, after people figured out how to hammer out silver (and then aluminum) to produce a shiny type of streamer called tinsel, they continued to use it on their Christmas trees to represent angel hair.

Now that’s the history of the tree but last week God spoke to me about the “Real First Christmas Tree”!

It was on a hill called Calvary at the Cruxifiction.

Christ was hung a tree between two thieves. The tree of choice was the Jerusulem “Dogwood tree”.

It was trimmed to the trunk and two trees were placed together to make a cross and taken to Christ so that he would have to carry it to the Mountain called Calvary or Golgotha.

It was known for its strong almost unbreakable wood and it’s tall trunks.

Jesus decorated the tree; He used:

- His body            - As an ornament that hung with dignity and honor as He took on your sins and mine.

- His Hair              - As the tinsel that hung and blew in the wind

- His Wounds     - As the color as his blood made the tree bright red

- His name           - As the lights for He was the light of the world

- His crown          - As the reef that dug into His scull

- His eyes             - As bulbs that showed the reflection of those who looked on.

- His Life               - Which was the gift that was opened by His Father for all the world to enjoy. All we
                               have to do is receive the gift.