[Domestic Church]

“What does a pagan symbol like a tree, have to do with Christianity?”

As Christianity spread, it incorporated regional customs into the Christian culture and developed new symbolism for he old pagan festivities that occurred around the Christian ones. The Christmas tree has been an accepted and cherished Christian cultural decoration for well over a thousand years. No Christian has to have one but the kids young and old like it.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

I don't mean to turn this into a Catholic v. Protestant thread, but the celebratory aspect of Christmas and the co-opting of pagan customs is a Catholic tradition. One of which Protestants rebelled against (remember that Cromwell outlawed Christmas). That's not to say that both don't understand its Christian purpose and also enjoy celebrating with family, but speaking for myself, I wouldn't think it was a tragedy if these aspects of Christmas went away. Especially the shop til you drop and build up a mountain of debt aspect of it.