Best New Christmas Music from The Cooter Boys

Jeff Westover Christmas Music, Christmas News November 24, 2018November 25, 2018new christmas music 2018, the cooter boys 0 Comment

I’m sitting here very early in the morning of Black Friday doing what I’m always doing the day after Thanksgiving: working on Christmas. In those dark, still, productive moments a notification pops up telling me I’ve got mail. Who could that be at 1:30am? Well, it’s The Cooter Boys and they have a new song the email tells me. I’m not gonna lie. What kind of music can a group calling themselves The Cooter Boys contribute to Christmas? Then it dawned on me. I’m not the only one working on Christmas stuff. This email wasn’t from a publicist. It wasRead more

Best New Christmas Music from Caleb and Kelsey

Jeff Westover Christmas Music, Christmas News November 24, 2018November 23, 2018christmas music 2018 0 Comment

Today is the single biggest selling day for Christmas trees of the entire year. Thanksgiving weekend is filled with a great many traditions that get a lot of notice: the turkey, football and Black Friday just being the most talked about. But aside from eating turkey there is no bigger tradition than getting the family Christmas tree. For some that means pulling it out of a box that was stored in the attic. For others it means heading to a tree lot or out to a farm to cut one down and bring it home. It is the beginning forRead more

Best of New Christmas Music 2018

Jeff Westover Christmas Music, Christmas News November 23, 2018November 23, 2018Christmas music 0 Comment

We have to smile each year as we count the many radio stations claiming to be the first who switch to all Christmas music. Or for those stations who pop up on cable, satellite, and associated websites claiming to be the end-all-be-all of Christmas music. We laugh because since our first radio stream launched in 2006 we have never stopped the music. On our sites, our podcasts and our radio streams the music goes 24/7 all year long (just like the rest of our Christmas). We just don’t believe in the part time or seasonal Christmas. For us, it’s everyday.Read more

A Prediction of Christmas Future from 1896

Jeff Westover Christmas History, Christmas Opinion, Christmas Past November 17, 2018November 17, 2018Christmas future, Christmas past, Christmas tree fires 1 Comment

In preparing for another episode of the Merry Podcast I came across an editorial from a New York newspaper published in 1896. It contains an amazing prediction of Christmas-yet-to-come. It is interesting to contemplate this being written considering how Christmas was celebrated in 1896 in America. By the end of the 19th century Christmas had become the near all-encompassing celebration it is today of all things seasonally sacred and secular. Then, like now, nobody could escape it. It was embedded everywhere. But it is safe to say that it was still a different Christmas than what we see now. ThereRead more

How Thanksgiving Became Thanksgiving

Jeff Westover Thanksgiving November 11, 2018November 10, 2018Abraham Lincoln, John Alden, Longfellow, Lydia Maria Child, Miles Standish, Thanksgiving, William Bradford 0 Comment

Like Christmas, the origins of Thanksgiving are hotly debated. Like Christmas, we can thank stories of Thanksgiving passed down through generations by word of mouth, in letters and documents, period media reports, and great literary works for the making of all that we celebrate of the holiday today. Historians these days love to deconstruct “the facts” surrounding Thanksgiving. They tell us we are wrong to think of it as we do. They say the “first Thanksgiving” celebrated in grade school plays likely never happened. But facts are stubborn things, noted President John Adams. Here are some stubborn facts about ThanksgivingRead more

Finding Christmas in Thanksgiving

Jeff Westover Christmas News, Christmas Opinion, Thanksgiving November 4, 2018November 4, 2018Christmas, festivus, Thanksgiving 0 Comment

A recent survey revealed sharp divisions in when the celebration of Christmas begins. Nearly a third said Christmas begins right after Halloween, a third said Christmas begins right after Thanksgiving and for another third the celebration of Christmas is something done every day. In recent years many have insisted that Christmas so overpowers the calendar that holidays such as Thanksgiving and Veteran’s Day are entirely forgotten. Those making the argument are also those who claim Christmas celebration comes in the form of broadcast music, seasonal Starbucks cups and decorations sold in stores. There are even those who blanch and takeRead more

What Sears Meant to Christmas

Jeff Westover Christmas News, Christmas Shopping October 19, 2018October 19, 2018Christmas history, Christmas shopping 8 Comments

The news has been decades in the making: iconic retailer Sears is closing its doors for good this year. The effect of their loss, like that of Toys R Us, will not matter one bit to consumers. But the loss of Sears to Christmas history is worthy of note. Once upon a time Sears was the yearly watch-word for Christmas shoppers and Santa dreamers coast to coast. Kids everywhere marked the day when the Sears Christmas Wishbook would show up in the mail. Generations took their children to Sears to have their pictures taken with Santa. It was the placeRead more

Christmas at Valley Forge

Jeff Westover Christmas at War, Christmas History September 1, 2018September 1, 2018George Washington, Valley Forge 2 Comments

Picture it: George Washington leads his army of 11,000 men – a third of which he estimated did not even have shoes – into Valley Forge just before Christmas 1777. There, just days before Christmas on the 19th of December, the Continental Army and George Washington himself would find a way to reverse the course of the war. That Christmas was just the beginning of both an incredible tale of survival and redemption. Valley Forge was so named thanks to an iron forge owned by a family named Potts. It had been in their family for years. Washington selected theRead more

The History of Pumpkin and Christmas

Jeff Westover Christmas Foods, Christmas History August 14, 2018August 13, 2018Christmas pumpkin pie 0 Comment

When it comes to Christmas the United States can lay claim to few traditional elements of the season. Christmas trees came from Germany, Santa Claus came from Turkey, while Christmas pudding, eggnog and mistletoe all came from various places in Europe. America just adopted them all. Except for pumpkin. Pumpkin is one of America’s greatest contributions to Christmas. Wait, you say – pumpkin has nothing to do with Christmas in America? Well, hold on there, pilgrim. The pumpkin was, from the very beginning, a festive element in the Puritan Christmas. Wait, again, you say – the Puritans didn’t celebrate Christmas,Read more