The Fatherland, that's where it all began.
A Christmas Market held in 1434.
The town of Dresden, needless to say,
where candles, toys and sweets
and later gingerbreads and roasted almonds,
delicious chestnuts and regional specialties
the custom spread throughout the land,
downhill along the path called the Romantic Road.

And soon it had infected Austria and Switzerland,
and France and Italy, and Denmark, Hungary,
the English could not hold back their embrace,
and then the storm went east to settle in the Baltic,
and all of Eastern Europe, but wait, I need to tell:

'Twas Dr. Martin Luther who, while walking
through the forest in the dark just before Christmas,
he thought it would be festive and could make
a new tradition honouring the Lord. He asked to have
a thousand candles placed upon the trees, to light
and to replace the moon who was right then
taking a nap to gather strength to face the season.
The year was fifteen-ten, and folks became excited,
the first authentic Christmas Tree was born, at last.

Herbert Nehrlich

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/christmas-a-bit-of-history/