The birth took place under a palm tree which also provided Mary with food she desperately needed. This account also has noticeable similarity with the tradition of placing presents under the Christmas tree. The latter may be seen as celebrating the sending of Jesus as a present to the world.
🙂 there you go, you must all fly south and decorate a palm tree.
Jesus was born in a cave in Bethlehem (ie. not under a tree), today known as the Nativity Grotto, which is well-attested by the unbroken chain of witness by Palestinian Christians, descendants of the first Christian Jews who accepted Jesus as their Messiah. In AD 135, the Roman Emperor Hadrian had the Christian site above the Grotto converted into a place of worship for Adonis, the Greek god of beauty and desire.
St Jerome, a Doctor of the Church, who lived in the cave adjacent to the Nativity Grotto, noted before his death in AD 420 that the cave was at one point consecrated by the pagans to the worship of Adonis, and that a pleasant sacred grove was planted there in order to wipe out the memory of Jesus.
The antiquity of the association of the site with the birth of Jesus is also attested by the Nablus-born Palestinian Christian apologist Justin Martyr (c. AD 100 – 165), who noted in his Dialogue with Trypho (a Jewish rabbi) that the Holy Family had taken refuge in a cave on the edge of town:
“Joseph took up his quarters in a certain cave near the village; and while they were there Mary brought forth the Christ and placed Him in a manger, and here the Magi who came from Arabia found Him.” (Chapter LXXVIII).
In addition, Origen of Alexandria (AD 185 – circa AD 254) wrote:
“In Bethlehem, the local villagers point out the cave where he was born, and the manger in the cave where he was wrapped in swaddling clothes. And in those places, the rumor among foreigners of the Faith (pagans), is that indeed in this cave, Jesus was born, who is adored and worshipped by the Christians.” (Contra Celsum, book I, chapter LI).