By Savva Bournelis, News Editor — It is the time of the year to celebrate Christmas. Family and friends come together to eat, drink and be merry but before any of this happens, several things must be done to make this occasion memorable, and there is nothing like decorating the Christmas tree with ornaments.

The tradition of Christmas trees and Christmas Ornaments and their origin has varied among several people. The most popular theory says that the tradition was started by a monk who came to Germany in the 7th/8th century to preach.

Germans first decorated the Christmas tree with liturgical candles, but this eventually changed over time when ornaments began to be incorporated into the Christmas tree decorations in Germany.

Ornaments are little decorations that many families use to place on their Christmas trees. They can be any kind of decorations arranging from glass ornaments, round ornament balls, candy canes, Disney character ornaments, homemade craft ornaments and Swarovski crystal studded trinkets. These are usually attached with string attached to them so that they can be hung on the Christmas tree and beautify its’ appearance.

Hanging up ornaments or just an ornament itself may not seem as something with too great of a value, but others say this is not the case.

“Ornaments get hung up once a year. People should take this time to do it with respect and great meaning with the mindset that they are doing it to bring awareness of the Christ’s birth and not just a simple tradition people do,” sophomore Nick Boettler said.

When someone looks at a Christmas tree, many are immediately drawn to either the amount of ornaments on it or the bright lights. There are even some that may just look at the general view of the tree but others value some ornaments more than others, and for many specific reasons too.

“When I was 5 – years old, I was given this Harry Potter ornament for Christmas. Back then, I was a major fan of Harry Potter,” junior John Isaac Clark said. “When I opened the wrapping paper and saw that it was something about Harry Potter, I automatically was filled with joy. It was the best Christmas ever I think.”

Mike Dean did a group Christmas theme like project and used ornaments in it to which he believes were one of the reasons he got an A on the project – making these ornaments special.

“We used a Christmas tree to form a pyramid shape. Styrofoam balls had been used to make them look like ornaments on the tree,” Dean said. “There were three levels within the tree and we color coded the styrofoam balls to differentiate each level. We ended up getting an A on the project.”

Whether it be given an ornament to make the best Christmas ever or getting an A on a project that reminds people of the value of ornaments, these ancient decorations certainly have been shown to be more than just a decoration that you hang on a tree every year.

[Updated Aug. 8, 2017: This article has been reformatted for consistency.]