Approximately 30-35 million real (living) Christmas trees are sold each year in the U.S. There are approximately 21,000 Christmas tree farms in the United States. In 2008, nearly 45 million Christmas trees were planted, adding to the existing 400 million trees. It takes about 15 years for the trees to grow mature enough to be cut for sale at Christmas time.
Commissioned by Sir Henry Cole (1808-1883), British illustrator John Callcott Horsley (1817-1903) invented the first Christmas card in 1843. In 1962, the first Christmas postage stamp was issued in the United States.
Because they viewed Christmas as a decadent Catholic holiday, the Puritans in America banned all Christmas celebrations from 1659-1681 with a penalty of five shillings for each offense. Some Puritan leaders condemned those who favored Christmas as enemies of the Christian religion. Alabama was the first state in the United States to officially recognize Christmas in 1836, and Oklahoma was the last U.S. state to declare Christmas a legal holiday, in 1907. Christmas was declared an official holiday, for the whole, of the United States until June 26, 1870.