Although modern ornaments often originate from the smog-belching industrial growth-engine that is China and many homes have polyvinyl-chloride-emitting artificial trees, I'm a fan of the real deal - the fragrant, needle-shedding, water-drinking, locally-grown, evergreen tree.

I love the evergreen scent. When you vacuum up spruce or balsam needles, domesticity becomes a multi-sensory event.

I love the green life of a tree in the house, part of an ancient custom of celebrating winter solstice and lengthening hours of sunlight.

The tree is collected, shredded and composted later by the city, meeting criteria for environmental responsibility.

Prince Albert of Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha, Queen Victoria's German husband, popularized Christmas trees in the English-speaking domain. In 1848, a portrait of Victoria and Albert's family posed around the tree was published in a widely-circulated illustrated newspaper.

It influenced Britons to adopt the Christmas tree. The Victoria and Albert Christmas Tree website recounts: "The tree that Prince Albert provided his family in 1841 at Windsor Castle was decorated with the finest of hand-blown glass ornaments from Germany, and with candles and a variety of sweets, fruits and ginger bread ... The generous Prince Albert also presented large numbers of trees to schools and Army barracks at Christmas."

He would decorate the trees himself with sweets, wax dolls, strings of almonds and raisins, and candles.

The candles were lit on Christmas Eve for the distribution of presents, relit on Christmas Day, after which the tree was then moved to another room until Twelfth Night (Jan. 6). The ideal Victorian tree was to be six branches tall, placed on a table covered with a white damask tablecloth.

The Royal Windsor website reports: "The first known Christmas Tree (in England) was erected at Queen's Lodge, Windsor, by Queen Charlotte, the German-born wife of George III, for a party she held on Christmas Day, 1800, for the children of the leading families in Windsor.

Her biographer Dr. John Watkins describes the scene: "In the middle of the room stood an immense tub with a yew tree placed in it, from the branches of which hung bunches of sweetmeats, almonds, and raisins in papers, fruits and toys, most tastefully arranged, and the whole illuminated by small wax candles.

"After the company had walked around and admired the tree, each child obtained a portion of the sweets which it bore together with a toy and then all returned home, quite delighted."

A website called "The German Way" interprets traditional decorations: "The 12 ornaments and their symbolic significance are: angel (God's guidance), bird (joy), fish (Christ's blessing), flower basket (good wishes), fruit basket (generosity), heart (true love), house (protection), pine cone (fruitfulness), rabbit (hope), rose (affection), Santa (goodwill), and teapot (hospitality). "

I have one tiny, hand-painted, glass teapot, once used on Christmas trees (usually Scotch pine) at my grandmother's.

Enthusiastic people and cats plus the unexplained phenomenon of the toppling Christmas tree have claimed many fragile glass inheritances.