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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Coronavirus Christmas Story
Coronavirus Christmas Story
Christmas News

A Coronavirus Christmas Story

(Special to MyMerryChristmas.com) – America can be a place of fences. Not so much “back East” (as they call it). But “out west” (as they also call it) where the suburbs that sprawled during the 1940s through the 1980s it is not uncommon to find what they call “tract homes” on quarter acre lots — all fenced in. Such is the case in a neighborhood in Fontana, California where a …

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Find Christmas
Find Christmas
Christmas NewsChristmas OpinionThanksgiving

Finding Christmas in Thanksgiving

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 …

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Christmas HistoryChristmas NewsSacred Christmas

Understand Easter to Understand Christmas

In a world growing more secular by the day there seems to be a serious decline in the understanding of what makes Easter so significant. A quick Google search about the “facts” of Easter reveals stunning statistics on how many chocolate eggs are consumed, how much fake grass is purchased and how many dollars are spent on baskets and bunnies. But hiding behind the commercialized accounting of Easter are real …

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Christmas and death
Christmas and death
Sacred Christmas

Christmas Connection with the Dead

Many limit the Christmas connection with the dead as merely something from the imagination of Charles Dickens. As Scrooge is haunted by Marley he encounters many of the dead from his family and youth – and that has a huge connection to all that was sacred to those who celebrated the ancient Christmas. Halloween in many parts of the world is actually a celebration of two or three days. There …

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Christmas
Christmas
Christmas Opinion

Christmas in a Political Year

I recently engaged in conversation with one of our international members who observed, “You Americans ruin Christmas every four years”. Her reference, of course, was to the rancor of this particular election and how divisive it has been for everyone – even those out of the country. I had to laugh but she had a point. It does seem that the conversation shifts greatly around the cycles of American politics. …

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Christmas FeaturesChristmas News

More than a Half Million Lights on One Tree

Australia isn’t to be outdone by anyone in the world when it comes to Christmas. There’s no snow, few natural Christmas trees, and little that actually originates in Australia when it comes to Christmas. But they celebrate it big time and they want the world to know it. From their Lego trees to their floating trees to this new Christmas tree — a monster with a Guinness world record breaking …

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Christmas FeaturesChristmas HistoryChristmas NewsThanksgiving

Ancient Connections of Thanksgiving and Christmas

Here is some fodder for your Thanksgiving day discussions around the turkey — which is the more sacred holiday in America, Thanksgiving or Christmas? Check your learning of history at the door. This history of both holidays goes back further than you know — and both are related to each other in significant ways. Watch this video: Christmas, while constantly under a cloud in regular debates of what is politically …

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Christmas FeaturesChristmas Memories

Christmas in Billings, Montana 1954

Early last week, James Carroll of Tyler, Texas, came to Billings for the second time in his life. It was an enjoyable visit, but it was hard to top that first one, on Christmas Eve 1954. Carroll was a 23-year-old Army private at the time, just out of basic training at Fort Bliss, Texas, on his way to Seattle on a troop train. From Seattle he shipped out to Alaska, …

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Christmas FeaturesChristmas News

Racism and Christmas

Christmas has endured many controversies over the course of its history. Most usually center on religious disputes or how much Christmas imposes of itself on parts of society that do not want it. But in recent years Christmas has seemingly become embroiled in an important ongoing societal dialogue: racism. The biggest story in Christmas and racism centers in the Netherlands. The United Nations recently again declared the Dutch tradition of …

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Christmas FeaturesChristmas Music

Train to Release a Christmas Album

Train is releasing a Christmas album this year. Frontman Pat Monahan told Billboard that the band is currently recording a Christmas album with the tentative title Christmas in Tahoe. And Monahan promises it will be no ordinary holiday album. “There’s a couple of traditional covers on there, but we tried not to do the same stuff everybody else does,” Monahan said to Billboard, explaining what fans can expect from the …

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