It's that time again when sounds of jingle bells blare over Mall loudspeakers, discount signs beg for your money, and we all realize that we're one year older and deeper in debt. Oh yeah, it's Christmas Time too!

Why do we drag some poor severed evergreen into our living rooms and lovingly decorate it - only to toss it out a week or two later?

Even the Christmas Tree has a history.

Thank Thuringia (a German State) for the Christmas Tree! During the 7th century, a monk from Devonshire spent time there preaching the word of God. Like any good instructor, he used props. The story goes that he used the triangular shape of the Fir tree to describe the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that makes up the Holy Trinity. By the 12th century, the Fir tree was being hung upside down from ceilings in Central Europe as a symbol of christianity at Christmas time.

The first decorated tree was reported in 1510 at Riga, Latvia. By the next century, Martin Luther had decorated a small tree with candles signifying to his children the twinkling of stars on a dark night. In Strasbourg, in 1601, a tree was reported to be decorated with "wafers and golden sugar-twists and paper flowers of all colours".

By the mid 16th century, German towns had Christmas markets where you purchased food and gifts and bakers created wax ornaments and gingerbreads to buy as souvenirs or to hang on the tree at home.

During the 17th century, real silver was used for Tinsel. Machines ripped the silver into thin strips and this lasted into the mid 20th century even though alloy substitutes were tried but failed.

By the 18th century, trees were introduced into America by the Hessian soldiers and the Pennsylvanian German settlements had community trees in 1747, but it didn't catch on for another hundred years

In England, each member of the family had a small tree with gifts under each and decorated with silver wire ornaments, candles and small beads. By 1846, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert appeared in the Illustrated London News standing with their children around a Christmas Tree. Victoria, being very popular with her subjects, made the tree immediately fashionable. The fashion-conscious High Society in America caught the wave too.

Garlands and tin angels were introduced in the 1850's while small toys were hung on the branches of English trees during the 1860's. By the 1870's, Glass ornaments were being imported into Britain and it became a status symbol to have them on the tree.

Glass ornaments were imported into America too. Soon, electric lights (1882), and metal hooks for safe hanging of decorations (1892) appeared, and you could go down to the local Woolworth to get them. The Victorian era also saw the rise of large trees right up to the ceilings and fully loaded with ornaments.

And that brings us to good old American capitalism. Christmas was banned by the Puritans in 1659 as a menace, and it took the likes of FW Woolworth and R.H. Macy to make it a cash cow years later.

Santa Claus was already popular thanks to cartoonist Thomas Nast, who painted a series of drawings in Harper's Weekly in 1863. But, on December 24, 1867, the first Christmas Eve was celebrated when Macy's stayed open till midnight and set a one day sales record of $6000. By 1874, Macy offered the first promotional Window display that featured Christmas themes only. FW Woolworth was soon selling 25 million dollars of Christmas supplies, and by 1899, he introduced the first Christmas bonus (to avert a strike).

Yet, it still is the Christmas Tree that makes the holiday special. In 1923, it was officially recognized when President Harding started the practice of lighting the tree on the White House Lawn.

Then it happened! The Addis Brush Company created the first brush artificial tree in the 1930's, using the same machinery that made their toilet brushes!

In the 1950's, the 'Silver Pine' tree appeared, complete with a revolving light under it shining through colored gelatine windows. No decorations (or taste) required.

In the mid-1960's, Silver aluminum trees were in vogue.

By the 1970's, you could have a 14 foot artificial Spruce in your living room, without dropping a single needle. Spray a little pine scent and who could tell it wasn't real.

My family has its own tradition. We make a habit to go out and find the homeliest, loneliest, most deformed tree we can find and bring it home. By the time we decorate it with homemade decorations, lights, tinsel, balls, and garland, it's the most beautiful Christmas tree in the world.