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====Modern Developments====
[[File:Victoria and Albert Christmas tree.jpg|thumbnail|left|300px|Figure 2. Queen Victoria and her husband helped popularize Christmas in Britain and other countries.]]
Credit for spreading the idea of a Christmas tree as a way to decorate the home during Christmas likely originates with Queen Victoria of Britain and German settlers who began to migrate to North America. Queen Victoria married a German husband, Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who had in his traditions the use of Christmas trees during Christmas. Victoria herself was of German origin and had Christmas trees in her home as she grew up. After she was married, Queen Victoria began to circulate images of her family celebrating Christmas, with the Christmas tree shown, helping to make the imagery popular among the British public (Figure 2). As the royal family in Britain had a 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. As Victoria's children married into other European royal families, this also helped spread the use of Christmas trees.<ref>For more on Victoria and the spread of the Christmas tree tradition, see: Rappaport, H. (2003). <i>Queen Victoria: a biographical companion</i>. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, pg. 91.</ref>
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, although most Revolutionaries would not have decorated their homes with Christmas trees. The first recorded use of a 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 came to the United States. With technology rapidly developing in the late 19th century as the Industrial Revolution developed, electricity became available in many places. This led to the idea of decorating trees with electric lights by Edward H. Johnson, vice president in the Edison Electrical Light Company, where in 1882 he decorated his Christmas tree at home with electrical lights in New York City.<ref>For more on developments of Christmas in North America, see: Baines, D. (1997). <i>Christmas Traditions and Legends</i>. Bookpartners. </ref>
