.....Suddenly, the door opened a wee bit, and quickly the spiders sneaked into the room. The tree towered so high they couldn't see the ornaments on top. In fact, their eyes were so small they could see only one ornament at a time. They scurried up the trunk, out along each branch, filled with a happy wonder at the glittering beauty. Every place they went they left a trail of dusty, grey web. When at last they had inspected every fit of the Christmas tree, it was shrouded in a dusty grey of spider webs.

The Christ Child smiled as he thought of the happy spiders seeing His tree. But as he thought of how broken hearted the mother would be over the dusty tree, He reached out His hand and touched the webs and blessed them. They all turned to shimmering, sparkling silver and gold. The tree glistened in greater beauty than ever before.

And so it became a custom to have a spider among other decorations on the Christmas tree.

Author...Unknown