The Story Behind the Christmas Tree

            Today was the day that my family decorated our Christmas tree. It went the same as it always does. My brother took about six ornaments, put them up, and sat down and talked, my mom and I diligently put up ornaments, and my dad left the room to watch the Bears tank yet another game. During this annual process, I started to wonder how the tradition of putting up Christmas trees came into affect, so I decided to do a little bit of research on the subject.

            According to an article I found, many different societies had the same general tradition of putting up some type of greenery during the winter. They believed that the color green was a symbol of the green plants that would eventually come once the winter season was over and spring came. The actual Christmas tree originated in Germany in the 16^th century, during which Christians would bring decorated trees into their homes. These trees were introduced to America in the 19^th century, but were originally frowned upon as “pagan mockery.” However, the tradition eventually caught on, and Christmas trees became what they are today.

            I still want to know, though, why is it that Christians decided to decorate evergreen trees during the Christmas season, instead of just decorating their houses with other greenery. Why go to so much effort on one tree when you are just going to take it down two weeks later. My dad always complains about having a tree, and I many times wonder why we are doing this if we are just going to take it down very shortly? What is the motivation and rationale behind Christmas tree decorating?

Television: Exaggeration at its Finest...

            It’s hard to believe that the finale of The Biggest Loser, one of my favorite shows, is almost here. Yes, I know it’s sort of weird that a weight loss show is what a teenage girl decides to watch on Tuesday nights, but it just stuck for me. I think it’s because of the competitive aspect of the show, being an athlete myself, but it has also given me a lot of insight and motivation to never get to the point that the people on the show had gotten to. However, as many positive things as the show gives me, sometimes I wonder how much it really does for its own contestants.

            I did a little bit of research on the pros and cons of the show and came across a lot of very interesting concepts. According to one article, the show helps people be more accountable to themselves in terms of their workouts and their diets, and sends the message to both the contestants and the viewers that hard work is necessary and fad diets will not work. However, the cons seem to heavily out weigh the pros. One that stood out to me was that the show does not reflect reality.

That’s when it hit me that a lot of shows are completely ignorant of reality. Take House for example. It’s an incredible show, but it’s hard to imagine that some insane man can continuously come up with last minute diagnoses as well as use so many unorthodox methods like he does. So now I wonder, why do so many shows stray so far away from reality? Is it just an effort to entertain us, or is extreme the only thing we respond to?