Christmas in Germany

Be it a few months early, I decided to research some Christmas (Weihnacten) traditions in Germany. While it was all mostly new information to myself, I thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast the traditions of Germany to typical Christmas traditions found in America. While I imagine it might be well known that the "Christmas tree" (Tannenbaum) was started in Germany, I did not. While the tree was traditionally used for religiously symbolic reasons, it was allegedly made popular in England when German Prince Albert married Queen Victoria, and even earlier through the popularity of Goethe's "The Sorrows of Young Werther."
I also did not know of the German tradition of the Christmas tree is not being revealed to the children until Christmas Eve. Although Americans tend to keep up their Christmas trees for a decent amount of time before Christmas day, Germans only set up the tree around Christmas Eve, unlike many Americans. However, German festivities also officially begin on December 6th. On eve of December 6th, Similar to the American tradition of leaving stockings hanging above the fireplace, German children leave out shoes and boots and are "judged" by a "book of sins" rather than a "naughty or nice list", which is far more serious and ominous sounding. Advent calendars are very popular for children as well as advent table wreaths for families. December 26th is St. Stephen's day and also a public holiday in Germany, on this day friends and family often take the time to visit each other if they had not already. It seems like the Germans love to celebrate!