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Credit for spreading the idea of a Christmas tree as a way to decorate the home during Christmas likely originates with Queen Victoria and German settlers who began to migrate to North America. Queen Victoria married a German husband, Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, had in his traditions the use of Christmas trees during Christmas. As the royal family in Britain began to have a different public role as symbols of the country, people began to mimic their practices. This included Christmas trees, where wealthier classes and up and coming classes began to decorate their homes with Christmas trees in response to the royal family's use of the trees. Soon charities even were established that provided poorer children with access to seeing or having Christmas trees. Thus, many classes soon began adopting Christmas trees and also associating Christmas with children and gift giving, which derived from the Norse tradition used in Germany.
In North America, German soldiers under British command, already by the late 18th century during the American Revolution, began to use Christmas trees in Quebec and perhaps in the Colonies themselves. The first Christmas tree in the United States may have been by a Hessian soldier imprisoned in Connecticut in 1777. By the early 19th century, Christmas trees began to become more common in the United States as more German immigrants migrated to the United States.
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