Who stands around the tree
Some trees stand alone on a white background with a candy cane. Others are set on a snowy hill, in a forest with a rabbit and a fox, or in a snowy town square beside a carousel.
| Tree | What comes with it |
|---|---|
| Star on top, striped ornaments | Candy canes, snowflakes, wrapped presents at the foot |
| Tiers with swirls and balls | A hanging ornament, a moon, snowflakes |
| Bead garlands | Two tall candy canes, a row of presents |
| Tree with company | A cat in a party hat, a rabbit and a fox, birds, a squirrel and a fawn |
| Everyday scenes | A boy pulling a small tree on a sled, a cottage window at night with a tree inside, a tree farm with a red barn |
One sheet turns a pile of presents into the shape of a tree, with a big bow at the top. The present pages go further with wrapped boxes.
The indoor tree, in three dates
Strasbourg
A chronicle of 1605 describes fir trees set up in homes at Christmas, hung with paper roses, apples, wafers and sugar.
Britain
An 1848 engraving in the Illustrated London News showed Queen Victoria and Prince Albert around a Christmas tree and made the custom popular.
From the mid-19th century, glassblowers of Lauscha, in Thuringia (Germany), made glass ornaments for such trees. The ornament coloring pages look at those shapes up close.
Coloring a tree with depth
- Fill the tree with two greens, a darker one under each tier and a lighter one on top.
- Leave the star and the strands of lights for last, so they do not get lost under the green.
- Choose ornament colors that contrast with the greens, such as red, gold or blue.
- Finish with the presents and a pale shadow on the snow under the lowest branches.
Small trees, such as the one with a smiling face, finish in a single sitting. The large tiered ones with swirls and balls are easier to split over two days.