Many times over the last couple of decades, I have encountered a strange argument about Christian Christmas observances. The argument is that Christians adopted pagan customs for their own religious observations. One example that is frequently cited is the Christmas tree. Folks will say that Christmas trees were associated Druids or Egyptians or Roman cultic groups and that the church simply co-opted them. This morning, out of curiosity, I began researching the origin of the Christmas tree. I learned some surprising things. It is true that ancient cultures all over the world used evergreen tre...