Author Archive for: Editor
Entries by Jeff Westover
Christmas at Valley Forge
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 […]
The History of Pumpkin and Christmas
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 […]
Mourning Dickens and Recognizing Christmas
June of 1870 is a month of incredible Christmas history. It was during this month that the Congress of the United States passed a blandly worded law making Christmas a legal national holiday and it was the time that the world mourned the passing of Charles Dickens. Christmas in America was an ancient tradition. Contrary […]
The Next Really Bad Nutcracker Movie
Sad to say this but our tradition of bashing yet-to-be-released movies of a Christmas theme continues. You could say we are compelled to put the screws to the new Nutcracker coming out this fall. Hollywood just gives us no choice. This time, as other times in the past, the maker of a holiday stinker is […]
Bruce, how could you?
Bruce Willis is all over the news this week after he declared that Die Hard, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, is not a Christmas movie. This has roiled the ranks of movie fans everywhere because it is one of the classic debates of both Christmas and movies. Let me share with you a true […]
Tis the Season for Christmas Weirdos
Once upon a time The Atlantic wrote of our merry website “they’re weirdos”. It was a swipe at the year round celebration of Christmas and of those who “took Christmas to the hobbyist” level. What other holiday, they asked, has such a following? Indeed. The groupies of Christmas are many: there are the Christmas light […]
The Story of Porky Pig, Blue Christmas and a Dude Named Seymour Swine
For many years we have been asked for the back story of Porky Pig’s Blue Christmas. In case you haven’t seen this masterpiece, here it is: Editor’s Disclaimer: It seems that no matter what we post we receive contrary opinions and plenty of emails of complaint about the politically correct this or that of Christmas. […]
O Holy Incredible
We have discussed the classic Christmas song O Holy Night before. We rarely feature it because it represents one of the most difficult of all Christmas songs to sing. It remains beyond the range of many contemporary artists. But what happens when you mash-up O Holy Night with Ave Maria? Any accomplished singer would call […]
