The man who saw the stars but only had candles

Here’s a story I heard about how we came to have Xmas lights on our Xmas trees:

On Christmas Eve Martin Luther is walking home through the woods and sees stars shining through the trees. He’s moved by this beautiful scenery and wants to recreate it at home for his wife. So he cuts down a fir tree and takes it home. When he gets home he says: “My dear Katharina, I’ve seen the most beautiful stars in the sky and I want to show you. Bring me some candles. I have an idea.” And his Katharina brings him candles, and he puts them on their Christmas tree in the parlor, and then he lights them.

Ok, my first impressions:
1. Was Martin Luther walking around with an axe? I don’t know why but that puts a different light on this story.
2. Why didn’t he take his wife outside to show her the stars?

All this only makes me think of how close we could have come to not have Xmas lights on our Xmas trees. Things would have turned out differently if:

1. His wife Katharina would have acted like the rational person in the house and said: “My dear Luther, are you crazy? You can’t put candles on a tree. You’ll set the house on fire. Let’s go have some mulled wine in the kitchen by the fireplace and you can tell me all about the stars.”
2. It had been a cloudy night and he wouldn’t have seen any stars.
3. He had actually set his house on fire.

On a totally different note, most men bring their wives flowers, Martin Luther brings her a tree. Happy Holidays!

Misty