Gifts for the tree.

Did you know that the first police force ever created was created in the 1820’s at the behest of the New York City Council in response to a particularly raucous Christmas season riot the year before?  Following in the footsteps of early forms of  what would evolve into Christmas celebrations, there was a frenzied, criminal element to the celebration that carried over to the United States.   While that eventually changed, one thing that has remained the same is the iconic Christmas Tree.

With it’s German roots, an engraving that was printed in London in 1847, then reprinted in a Philadelphia publication three years later in 1850 of the Queen, her husband of German ancestry and her children celebrating around a Christmas Tree, set the standard that remains today:

The Royal Family, 1847 that was reprinted in a Philadelphia publication in 1850.

Painting by Viggo Johansen, c. 1891