Gifts under a Christmas tree are synonymous with Christmas.
This tradition of having a decorated tree has been part of Christmas in millions of homes for many years.
The website www.history.com says long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remain green all year round had a special meaning for people in the winter.
In many countries it was believed that these evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness.
Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, the ancient people hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows.
In the northern hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year or solstice falls around December 21 and December 22.
Many ancient people believed that the sun was a god and that winter came every year because the sun god had become sick and weak.
They celebrated the solstice because it meant that at last the sun god would begin to get well.
Evergreen boughs reminded them of all the green plants that would grow again when the sun god was strong and summer would return.
From the Egyptians, early Romans to Druids (the priests of the ancient Celts) and the Vikings in Scandinavia, they all thought that evergreens were a special plant.
The website states that Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it.
It happened in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes.
Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated it with evergreens and candles.
It is also widely-held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree.
Candles were replaced with Christmas lights after the advent of electrification.
In 1846, the English royals, Queen Victoria and her German Prince, Albert, were sketched in the Illustrated London News standing with their children around a Christmas tree.
When the Americans started upholding this tradition in the early 20th century they were decorating their trees with homemade ornaments, while the German-Americans continued to use apples, nuts, and marzipan cookies.
The website en.wikipedia.org also says the Christmas tree was traditionally decorated with edibles and different types of food.
It also says today, there are a wide variety of traditional ornaments for Christmas trees, such as garlands, tinsel and an angel or star might to be placed at the top of the tree.
The angel represents the angel Gabriel and the star, the star of Bethlehem from the nativity story from the Bible.
