Christmas Past

Christmas past is more than just history. It is memories and music and food and style and unique traditions. It is the stuff of legends, too. We grandly embrace the Christmas of the past.

What Christmas was Like 100 Years Ago

We tend to think of Christmas much the same year after year. We listen to many of the same songs, we watch the same movies, we eat the same stuff and we do many of the same things that we have always done. We cling to Christmas traditions faithfully. But…
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Five Things People Get Wrong about The Nativity

I have been on a mission over the course of several Christmas seasons to find a Biblically correct Nativity scene. Like others who celebrate the religious elements of Christmas I am fond of the Nativity story and want it to share space with…
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Reading Dickens

Everyone knows the story of A Christmas Carol backwards and forwards. Pick a version by decade and you're bound to find one you love. Everyone can claim to have seen a big or a small screen version of it. But have you ever read it? I…
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London Christmas of the 1950s

This is a great video showing Christmas in London back in the 1950s -- some things never change. For any Christmas lover in England -- and there are many -- this is must see stuff: For more great images of this time period of Christmas…
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Christmas in July: A Vaudeville Tradition

By Merry Carey Today, Christmas in July is an occasion to enjoy a taste of the Christmas season in the summertime—or in the wintertime, if you live in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s also an occasion for Yule-themed shopping sprees and…
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Kings of Christmas Extravagance

By Jeff Westover The history of Christmas through the ages is written in chapters of contrasting observance. One chapter could speak of the sanctity of the season, observed in hushed commemoration. And yet another chapter could speak of it…
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Christmas Giving: Are you a Spug?

By Merry Carey Are you a Spug? To find out, ask yourself these questions: Do you believe that it is foolish to join in giving Christmas presents to those higher up? Do you believe that it is vulgar to give Christmas presents only because…
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The Halifax Christmas Disaster of 1917

By B. Francis Morlan Editor's Note: Every December the City of Halifax, Nova Scotia sends a Christmas tree to the City of Boston, Massachusetts. This story explains how that came about. December of 1917 was a time when the world was in…
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The Christmas Tree Ship

By B. Francis Morlan The year of 1912 was tough for sailors. Dominating the news was the tragic voyage of the Titanic, which went down in April of that year off the Newfoundland coast. But another maritime tragedy struck in November of 1912.…
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Who Put the X in Christmas?

In recent years many retailers have come under fire for using the word “holiday” in substitution for the word “Christmas” in their advertising. But some have problems with the term “Xmas” as well. Just ask gift shop owner Trent Wilson.…
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The True Story of Santa Claus

Santa Claus is real. And this is his true story. Born nearly 2000 years ago, not too long after the days that Jesus Christ walked the earth, Nicholas was born to wealthy parents in a tiny village in the country we today call Turkey. Though…
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Christmas in the 1930s

By Tomm Larson "Grandpa, why is there an orange in my Christmas stocking?" "Cause when I was a little boy. . ." "You were a little boy? That must have been a loooong time ago." "It was, I was little way back in the thirties." "What's…
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Christmas at the White House

Christmas of 1924 in the White House was a sad and glum affair. The new tradition of lighting the National Christmas Tree, started just a year earlier, was the last thing President Calvin Coolidge wanted to do. Though the event had enjoyed…