History of Christmas

• "Jesus Christ is the reason for the season." No, this isn't some trite old adage, it's the truth. The origin of Christmas stems all the way back to the precious baby boy's birth in Bethlehem. Hence, the word Christmas comes from the old English "Cristes maesse" meaning Christ's Mass. The actual birthday of Jesus is not known, but early Church Fathers in the 4th century fixed his birthday around the old Roman Saturnalia festival (17 - 21 December), a traditional pagan festivity.

  The first mention of the birthday of Jesus is from the year 354 AD, and it took many moons after that for Christmas to earn proper recognition. Eventually, all Christian churches accepted the date of December 25th as the birthdate although there was no evidence.

  An interesting fact about the history of Christmas...? It wasn't declared a federal holiday until June 26, 1870! Although traditionally a Christian holiday, Christmas is also now observed as a cultural holiday by many non-Christians.

Christmas Songs

• One of the best ways to get into the holiday spirit is to listen to Christmas music. Whether you're singing Christmas carols to the neighbors, enjoying a Christmas CD while baking those delicious cookies, or tuning into the radio's holiday selection while wrapping presents, Christmas music is infectious. You just can't help but to sing along. However you enjoy your Christmas music, make sure these top Christmas songs are in your repertoire this holiday season:

  1. Deck the Halls (Fa-La-La-La-La)
  2. Jingle Bells
  3. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
  4. The First Noel
  5. Silent Night
  6. O Come all Ye Faithful
  7. Joy to the World
  8. O Christmas Tree
  9. Hark the Herald Angels Sing
  10. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
  11. We Wish You a Merry Christmas
  12. Twelve Days of Christmas
  13. Up on the Housetop

Christmas Crafts

• While you're listening to all those cheerful Christmas songs, why not engage in a little holiday fun and make some Christmas crafts? It's the perfect time of year for making homemade holiday decorations, ornaments and more! Christmas crafts range from simple to elegant, and easy to complicated. Check out www.ChristmasCrafts.com for tons of ideas for a range of talents: beginners to intermediate. Some always-popular Christmas crafts are:

  • the popsicle stick reindeer
  • beaded wreath ornaments
  • a yarn candy cane
  • the beaded snowflake ornament
  • the clothespin reindeer
  • a Christmas candleholder
  • a Christmas cookie gift bag
  • ball ornaments