Christmas Tree Screensavers

Download a few Christmas tree screensavers and enjoy one of the most beautiful sights of the season right on your desktop. From the grandeur of the national tree in Washington D.C. to the scraggly charm of the last one left at the lot on Christmas Eve, Christmas trees are potent symbols as well as focal points for holiday festivities. Whether it's stylized aluminum or fragrant fir, a Christmas tree carries a load of meaning along with its decorations.

The custom of decorating a tree for a midwinter celebration predates Christmas. The evergreen has always been a symbol of continuing life in the depths of winter. It was the Roman custom to decorate evergreen trees with silver coins to celebrate Saturnalia, which was celebrated at the winter solstice in late December.

In Europe, Christmas trees were most popular in England and Germany, the Mediterranean countries preferring to display Nativity scenes. In pre-Victorian England, each member of the family had a small tabletop tree. At one point, it was the custom to hang trees upside down from the ceiling! Christmas trees were brought to America by Hessian troops during the Revolutionary War.

Two Types of Christmas Tree Screensavers

Today we have a wide variety of Christmas trees, including the virtual evergreens found in Christmas tree screensavers. There are two types of Christmas tree screensavers. The slide show displays an ever-changing series of still images of trees. Animated Christmas tree screensavers usually begin with an image of a bare tree and gradually add decorations and lights. Whichever type you choose, you can bring the beauty and fun of ancient tradition to the contemporary context of your computer monitor.