A long time ago, while a mother was busily cleaning house in preparation for Christmas, the spiders that usually stayed in the living room corner fled upstairs to the attic to escape her broom. From the attic they could hear all the excitement as decorations were being made to celebrate the coming of the Christ child on Christmas Eve.

Frantic to see the decorated tree, the spiders slowly crept downstairs for a peak. Oh, what a beautiful tree! In their excitement, they scurried up the trunk and out along each branch. They were filled with happiness as they climbed all through the tree to see all its splendor! But alas! By the time they were through climbing all over the tree, it was completely shrouded in their dusty-grey spiderweb.

When the Christ child came, He smiled as He saw how happy the spiders were. However, He knew how heartbroken the mother would be if she saw the tree covered with the dusty webs. So He reached out and touched the webs, blessing them and turning them to silver! The tree sparkled and shimmered even more beautiful than before.

According to legend, ever since this happened, people have hung tinsel on their Christmas trees! And the custom to have a spider ornament amongst all other decorations on the Christmas tree was born!


An old German Legend


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