Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree, how real are your branches?

The famous Rockefeller Tree Lighting ceremony

Grace Fendrick
Features and Web Editor

​      The holiday season has begun, and decorations are everywhere you look. Candy canes and light-up reindeer in yards and wreaths, stockings, and bows on everything they can be hung on. You name it, and it is all there. However, the most iconic decoration of all is the Christmas tree, and just like people, Christmas trees come in a variety of ways. Some are big, some are small, some are real, and some are fake. Which brings about the great question: Is your Christmas tree real or fake? After polling 242 people on Twitter, the results are in.

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Festive Fun Facts

• According to the Guinness world records, the tallest Christmas tree ever cut was a 221-foot Douglas fir that was displayed in 1950 at the Northgate Shopping Center in Seattle, Washington.

                                               Click "Read More" for more fantastic facts!​

• The Germans made the first artificial Christmas trees out of dyed goose feathers.
• Christmas trees usually grow for about fifteen years before they are sold.
• There are two competing claims as to which president was the first to place a Christmas tree in the White House. Some scholars say President Franklin Pierce did in 1856; others say President Benjamin Harrison brought in the first tree in 1889.
• President Coolidge started the White House lighting ceremony in 1923.
• President Teddy Roosevelt, an environmentalist, banned Christmas trees from the White House in 1901.
• The first person to decorate a Christmas tree was reportedly the Protestant reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546). According to legend, he was so moved by the beauty of the stars shining between the branches of a fir tree, he brought home an evergreen tree and decorated it with candles to share the image with his children.
• Approximately thirty to thirty-five million real (living) Christmas trees are sold each year in the U.S.
• The top six Christmas tree producing states Oregon, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Washington & Wisconsin.
• In 1963, the National Christmas Tree was not lit until December 22nd because of a national thirty-day period of mourning following the assassination of President Kennedy.
• In 1979, the National Christmas Tree was not lit except for the top ornament. This was done in honor of the American hostages in Iran.

Sources: 
​http://www.pickyourownchristmastree.org/facts.php#mQZ5mEz5wLlXrGLD.99 http://facts.randomhistory.com/christmas-facts.html