A long time ago , a mother prepared for Christmas Eve. 
She cleaned and scrubbed her home, chasing the spiders 
from the living room with her broom. The spiders fled to 
the attic and listened to the excitement below as the 
Christmas tree was put up and decorated. When all was quiet 
again, the little spiders crept back downstairs to see the
beautiful tree. They were filled with happiness as they 
crawled along every branch, admiring the glittering beauty of 
each ornament. But alas, by the time they had finished climbing 
through the tree, it was completely draped with their dusty, 
gray cobwebs.

When the Christ child came, He smiled as He looked upon the 
happy little spiders, however, He knew the mother would be 
heartbroken when she saw the shrouded tree. So He reached out 
and touched the webs and, blessing them, turned them into silver 
and gold. Now the Christmas tree sparkled and shimmered and was 
even more beautiful than before. Thus the custom to have tinsel 
of silver and gold and a spider ornament amongst the other 
decorations on the Christmas tree was born. 

~Author Unknown