Christmas Through the Years

Christmas is a sacred, religious holiday that is celebrated by Christians all over the world to celebrate the birth of Christ. Christians gather all over the world to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, who founded Christianity almost 2000 years ago.

Christmas is, also, the biggest commercial holiday of the year, where people go out and buy presents. Exchanging gifts is very popular, along with decorating trees with Christmas ornaments, and placing Christmas presents under them, which is a fun and joyous experience. The Christmas holiday itself became a federal holiday in the United States on June 26, 1870.

Christmas is a time of joyous celebration, charity and good will toward all mankind. Christmas time is exchanging gifts, sharing meals with family and friends, attending church, and waiting for Santa Claus to arrive with his big bag full of presents for all of the children, who have been good. Santa Claus is legendary. Christmas is a joyous holiday and filled with holiday spirit.

Christmas is a joyous holiday, and a time of charity and good will towards all mankind. There are many Christmas movies, but one of the most popular is: "A Christmas Carol", which is a story about a man named, Scrooge, who is a selfish and unkind old man, who is not charitable and doesn't believe in good will or charity. He is haunted by three spirits, who finally convince him to change his ways, before it is too late. Mr. Scrooge finally changes his wicked ways and he becomes charitable and he has good will toward all mankind. The book, "A Christmas Carol" was written by English Author: Charles Dickens. The book and the movie showed how important charity and good will towards all mankind really was. The movie showed how Victorian society benefited from celebrating the Christmas holiday, with singing Christmas Carols, decorating trees, exchanging presents, and the sharing of good food with family and friends. Christmas was important in Victorian times, as it is in modern times.

The red and green poinsettia plant is an important tradition at Christmas time. The poinsettia plant was first brought to the United States by an American minister to Mexico in 1828, The plant was named after the minister, whose name was Joel R. Poinsett. The poinsettia plant is a favorite among many, but is poisonous to cats.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer came about when the Montgomery Ward Department Store needed something that would help to lure customers into their department store.A copywriter named Robert L. Mays came up with an idea about a reindeer with a red-shiny nose, and wrote a poem about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1939. A song was written about the reindeer later, which became popular and was sung by Gene Autry. Rudolph became popular on TV, too.

Santa Claus is one of the most famous of the Christmas traditions. He is the jolly man, who wears the bright red suit that is trimmed with white fur, along with his hat, which is also trimmed with white fur. Santa Claus can be traced all of the way back to a monk named St Nicholas. It is thought that St Nicholas was born in Patara, near Myra in modern day Turkey. St Nicholas was thought to be kind and pious. St Nicholas gave away all of his inherited wealth to travel the countryside to help the poor and the sick. One popular story about St Nicholas is that he saved three sisters, who were poor, from being sold into slavery and prostitution by their father by providing them with a dowry so that they could be married. St Nick's popularity spread. St Nick, also, became known as a protector of children and sailors.

St Nicholas had a dutch name, which is Sinter Klaas. Santa Claus came from Sinter Klaas. Sint Nikolaas is the dutch name for St Nicholas .Santa Claus is thought to live at the North Pole, along with his wife, Mrs. Claus, his elves, and of course, his reindeers, which includes Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Santa has his workshop at the North Pole, where his elves work making toys for children. Gift giving mainly centered on children at the North Pole. According to legend, Santa Claus, always says, "Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas!"