During this time-honored season of Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa and other cultural and religious celebrations, it’s good to take time to learn something about these traditions and share those stories with each other. On that note, I decided to do my own research and here’s what I learned about Christmas:

Christmas has been considered to have originated with the Christians, but it has it’s origins in ancient Germanic times, hence the lighted trees “Tannenbaum.”

According to the National Christmas Tree Association, Latvia, along the Baltic Sea, is where the first decorated tree originated in 1510. But once the Germans began immigrating to the states in the 1800′s, trees began to be popularized in homes. This was aided by President Grover Cleveland, who in 1895, set up a candle lit tree in the White House. It was Edward Johnson, an associate of Thomas Edison, that put together the colored string of lights that began the tradition, but Albert Sadacca and his brothers (NOMA Electric Co.), caused them to be a hit in and on homes everywhere.

Maybe it’s time to discover and renew some of the earlier traditions within our families and even at our places of work.

What do you know about the early traditions within your family and in your company that you can talk about or renew at this time of year or at other times?