My Merry Christmas began in 1991 when a newly married man became an instant father to a 5 year old little girl. She did not have the tradition of Santa Claus in her life.
Being a Christmas purist and knowing other children would be coming to their family, the man did what any lover of Christmas would do: he wrote a letter to Santa Claus.
In explaining his dilemma to Santa he was put in contact with an elf at the North Pole who promised to do all he could to convince the little girl that Santa was real and coming to her home that first Christmas together as a new family.
He began to send her a daily “Santa Update” by way of a fax machine every day from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve.
She went from being a skeptic to proselyting her new-found knowledge of Santa and Christmas to her friends.
Parents of those children were soon asking for the Santa Updates, too.
Within a couple of years the Santa Updates were traveling around the world. In 1994, the merry effort was taken online where the updates became interactive.
Folks from all over would write in their Christmas questions and ask for help with homework assignments requiring research about Christmas.
Over time, a website was made to house all this information and to post shared stories and memories that other Christmas enthusiasts would send in.
The effort grew and expanded with each passing season.
By 1999 the domain MyMerryChristmas.com was acquired and the Santa Updates were given a website of their own, at SantaUpdate.com.
Things could get lonely in the off-season and it was evident that this caused many great Christmas websites to fall into disrepair or disappear entirely. Around that time My Merry Christmas formed the Merry Network and began acquiring other Christmas resources online.
In 2004 a forum was added to the site to give Christmas fans and fellow Christmas webmasters a gathering place.
In each successive season more and more resources have been added as the love of Christmas online has expanded internationally.
This community began to celebrate Christmas together. First with an annual Christmas card exchange, then an ornament exchange, and later, even online gatherings.
My Merry Christmas continues to evolve as lovers of the season come here to celebrate and connect.
