Deck the Halls??

Hebrew texts condemn the "heathens" for cutting down trees, brining them indoors and "deck[ing] it with silver and gold." (Jerimiah 10:2-4 King James)
In its early days, the Christian Church forbade any decorating with evergreen boughs or trees because of its "heathen" roots (no pun inteded!) "Learn not the way of the heathen... for one cutteth a tree out of the forest .." Cutting down and decorating trees is not a Pagan ritual either. To CUT anything from Nature is far too destructive! They did however, decorate LIVING trees with bits of metal and small replicas of their god Bacchus. And, during Saturnalia, a Roman celebration feast, Pagans would decorate their homes with clippings of evergreens. It was not until the 19th Century that evergreens became a holiday decorating staple.