(Editor’s Note: This Thanksgiving story was published sometime in the early 19th century. Like A Visit from St. Nicholas it was published as a tradition year after year in many newspapers. We found it in the Boston Traveler from 1836, though we noted it dating back as far as 1824 in another newspaper. This is […]
Editor’s Note: This Christmas story originally appeared in a Columbus, Ohio newspaper on December 24th, 1887. It was subtitled ‘As Compared to the Ordinary Christmas Day’. It is shared here in its complete form, with punctuation, spelling and vocabulary exactly as it was printed in the original. Such humorous stories were very common in local […]
Thanksgiving and Christmas are seemingly at odds with each other these days. The politically correct thing seems to be “honoring Thanksgiving” by not doing Christmas too early. We must avoid the nefarious thing called “Christmas Creep“. Target made a splash in the news by announcing they were not going to “give in to Christmas Creep” […]
Can you imagine the kinds of messages Santa must get? Calling Santa is easy — and now free. In a new video released today by the North Pole Santa shares a few of the messages he receives on his toll free number. They are, to say the least, adorable: Most published phone numbers you see […]
Bach’s Toccata in D Minor might not be known by name for those who don’t follow classical music but it’s signature sound is recognizable by millions as being associated with suspense, terror and especially Halloween. Here it is in spooky splendor as presented by the great Richard Elliott, famed organist for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. […]
Every third week of October for the past several years Pentatonix has debuted a new Christmas single. This year is no different. But this Christmas single features just four singers — an odd thing for a group whose name is based on “five”. The song is a traditional Christmas carol — Away in a Manger […]
The United States Post Office will officially distribute new Christmas stamps for 2017 on October 5th. Christmas card exchange fans will be pleased with the festive theme celebrating famous Christmas carols in this year’s design. “Jingle Bells”, perhaps the mostly widely heard, sung and known Christmas carol is an all-American creation dating back to the […]
Dickens might be sick. The long awaited first preview of the Charles Dickens biopic awkwardly titled The Man Who Invented Christmas is here and it is as horrid as we feared. The movie hits theaters on November 22nd and it is billed as the big Christmas movie release of 2017. The movie casts Christopher Plummer […]
The humble Christmas ornament rarely gets much thought for its significance and purpose. For many the Christmas ornament is merely decorative, a simple environmental adornment of the season. Most can look at an ornament and see it as nothing really special. Like nearly all things Christmas the history of Christmas ornaments is glossed over by […]
Santa’s Sleigh is an effort of nickels and dimes that we make every Christmas to help a few folks in need. Compared to most high profile charitable campaigns ours pales a little in comparison. But what it lacks in monetary impact it more than makes up for in spirit. Last year I shared the story […]
Few of the songs of Christmas so directly conveys the personal appeal of Jesus Christ like the song Sweet Little Jesus Boy. Mistaken by many to be an old American spiritual sung by slaves of the south in the 19th century the song was actually written in 1934 by white American composer Robert MacGimsey. Born […]