Once upon a time, long ago, a mother busied herself cleaning the house for the most wonderful day of the year--the day the Christ child would come to bring gifts and bless the family tree on Christmas Eve. When the mother and her children had finished cleaning, not a speck of dust remained. Even the friendly spiders had scampered from their cozy corner in the ceiling and had fled to the attic.

At last it was Christmas Eve. The tree was beautifully decorated, and the family was asleep. But the poor spiders in the attic were most unhappy, because they couldn't see the tree or be present for the Christ child's visit.

But the eldest and wisest spider found a tiny crack big enough for the spiders to squeeze through. One by one, they crept into the room. The tree towered so high that the spiders could not see the top of it. (In fact, spiders' eyes are so small that they can only see one ornament at a time.) So each spider scurried up the trunk of the tree and out over every bough and branch.

The spiders were filled with happy wonder at the tree's glittering beauty, but when they had finished their happy inspection, the Christmas tree was shrouded in dusty spider webs!

When the Christ child appeared, he smiled as he thought of the spiders seeing his tree. But he also realized how unhappy the family would be about all that dust. He touched the webs as he blessed the tree, and all the trails left by the spiders turned to gold and silver. The tree glistened with greater beauty than ever before!

And so the beginning of a tradition celebrated in many parts of the world was born--the tradition of putting shiny, glistening tinsel upon the branches of the Christmas tree!