Victorian Era Snowball fight
Victorian Era Snowball fight
Christmas VideoVintage Christmas

Victorian Era Snowball Fight

A Victorian Era snowball fight is going viral and we just have to pile on. The two videos below show the early technology of film-making met with 21st century technology — and the results are stunning. Take a look, in color, at this everyday snowball fight from 124 years ago: This film has been known about for a long time. The 1896 French short silent film was directed and produced …

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Thanksgiving 2020
Thanksgiving 2020
Christmas NewsThanksgiving

Families Carefully Planning Thanksgiving 2020

Thanksgiving 2020 is going to happen. The annual holidays survey commissioned by MyMerryChristmas.com shows that Thanksgiving has been on the mind of a lot of people nearly all year – and they are not going to skip it. 77 percent of people are expecting a slightly bigger family gathering and a whopping 84% say Covid will not be a factor in celebrating Thanksgiving. ~ Careful with Covid ~ However, that …

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Christmas Trends 2020
Christmas Trends 2020
Christmas NewsChristmas Trends

Christmas Trends Shift for 2020

Christmas trends are shifting significantly for 2020 — to the surprise of almost no one. While nobody saw this coming last Christmas the cold realities of 2020 have spelled for a different Christmas thanks to a variety of factors: a pandemic, widespread unemployment, retail closures and election year politics. For more than two decades MyMerryChristmas.com has conducted an annual survey of Christmas trends. The survey is always conducted offline and …

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Queen Charlotte
Queen Charlotte
Christmas History

Heroes of the 18th Century Christmas

The 18th century Christmas is kind of the ugly step-sister to Christmas of the 19th century. The Victorian Era of Queen Victoria, Charles Dickens and other Christmas superstars seems to hog the holiday limelight. Yet we could not have had the 19th century Christmas without some key movers-and-shakers in the 18th century. It was a critical time in world history. The British Empire had so expanded to nearly every corner …

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Pocketful of Miracles
Pocketful of Miracles
Christmas Movies

Capra’s Other Christmas Movie: Pocketful of Miracles

Pocketful of Miracles is a 1961 Frank Capra movie that is full of Christmas. Like Capra’s other Christmas movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, Pocketful of Miracles is not exactly a Christmas movie but one that enjoys cult status at Christmas time. The movie, after all, has Christmas music, Christmas trees and plenty of Christmas sentiment – just like It’s a Wonderful Life. The movie is actually a remake – Capra …

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Puritan Christmas
Puritan Christmas
Christmas History

Christmas that Came on the Mayflower

The Mayflower came to America 400 years ago. The Mayflower brought pilgrims of a different kind – about 100 people who were committed to living lives of industry and independent thinking. They were mostly Puritans. That made them very different than the rugged pilgrims of Jamestown, a group that had come to the shores of the New World many years before and had settled in the American south. The Puritans …

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Christmas NewsChristmas OnlineChristmas Shopping

New Realities of Christmas Shopping

Covid-19 is rewriting the rules of Christmas shopping. With each passing day the usual reminder of “only X shopping days until Christmas” is more relevant than ever. Let’s face it: there are some new realities of Christmas shopping we need to deal with. Nothing with COVID-19 has been predictable. In early June the common thinking was that most areas of the country were emerging from their quarantine. Restaurants and stores …

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Influencers of Christmas
Influencers of Christmas
Christmas HistoryChristmas Past

The Influencers of Christmas in the 20th Century

Who are the influencers of Christmas? Influencers are people who create a lasting impact. In 21st century terms, influencers are people with a long reach via media that everyone follows what they do. As we go back in history we can see influencers in just about every kind of topic. George Washington was an influencer in liberty. Elvis was an influencer in Rock ‘n Roll. Babe Ruth remains the ultimate …

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Christmas Swap
Christmas Swap
Christmas NewsChristmas Online

Be Careful Joining an Online Christmas Swap

Online Christmas swaps have become a new tradition in the ever-evolving celebration of Christmas. Folks online swap Christmas cards, ornaments, cookies, gifts and other themed elements of the season as a way of extending traditions of old. But there are perils in the practice. ~ A Cautionary Tale ~ Last year Ken Childs of Jackson, Michigan joined a Facebook Christmas group that offered a Christmas card swap. He says they …

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Mistletoe Ghost Story
Mistletoe Ghost Story
Christmas FeaturesChristmas LegendsChristmas Past

The Ghost Story of Mistletoe

The ancient roots of mistletoe have nothing on the 19th century popularity of mistletoe. It was, for all intents and purposes, a great fad of Christmas. It began with a poem, as many things popular with Christmas of the 19th century did. It was 1823 in a book titled “Italy” by Samuel Rogers. The poem was titled “Ginevra”. The poem tells the horrific story of a young bride who got …

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Christmas Fireworks
Christmas Fireworks
Christmas FeaturesChristmas History

Thank Christmas for Your 4th of July Fireworks

Fireworks at Christmas are not a thing many people think about. For many folks, Christmas is long associated with snow, stockings and jingle bells. None of that seems to fit with the colorful summer traditions of fireworks. But the truth is that without Christmas you likely would not celebrate Independence Day with fireworks. For hundreds of years fireworks have had a long association with the celebration of Christmas around the …

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Christmas in July
Christmas in July
Christmas EventsChristmas FeaturesChristmas NewsChristmas Trends

Why Christmas in July is Different This Year

Christmas in July, like nearly everything else in 2020, is going to be different. Traditionally Christmas in July has been a laid back affair. Merchants would drag beat up and shop-worn merchandise on to sidewalks and put them on sale. Amazon, with almost nothing else to do, created Prime Day, an event that in their eyes (an in some in the world), rivaled Black Friday. Hallmark, who for years has …

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