Did you or your children ever wonder where the custom of
putting up a Christmas tree originated? Trees were first
sold commercially in the U.S. around 1850, but the custom
of a decorated tree actually dates back to ancient Rome,
when the Romans decorated their outdoor trees with bits of
metal to mark the winter solstice. Martin Luther is
credited with being the first person to decorate an indoor
tree (sixteenth century). The custom was introduced into
the United States around the turn of the nineteenth
century, and by 1850, the idea had become very fashionable.
- Joan McKim
Take a large nail (with a head) and tie a red ribbon around
the bottom of head to make a loop to hang it on the
Christmas tree. Print the following on a card, roll it
into a scroll, or cross stitch it onto linen, and attach it
to the nail:
This is the Christmas Nail.
. It is to be hung on a sturdy branch, a branch near the
trunk, a branch that will hold such a spike without
being noticed by well-wishers dropping by to admire
one's tinseled tree.
. The nail is known only to the home that hangs it,
understood only by the heart that knows its
significance.
. It is hung with the thought: The Christmas tree but
foreshadows the Christ tree which only He could decorate
for us by offering us salvation through His crucifixion
On the first Christmas Eve
all the living creatures of the earth
and all the trees of the forest came to Bethlehem
to honor the Christ Child.
Many brought gifts.
The date palm offered its sweet fruit.
The sandalwood brought nuts and fragrant flowers.
And the olive tree's gift was its richest oils.
The little fir tree was unadorned and had nothing to give.
An angel, feeling sorry for the sad tree,
asked the stars to dance upon its boughs.
They twinkled and sparkled and lit up
the branches of the little, humble fir
with a wondrous light.
The beauty of the first Christmas tree brought
a smile of delight to the infant Jesus.
To this day, the brightly lit Christmas tree
continues to delight children of all ages
all over the world.
A candy cane is more meaningful
than just a sweet at Christmas...
- It can remind us of Jesus.
- Its shape is like a shepherd's staff.
- Its wide red stripes remind us that
Jesus shed his blood for our sins.
- Its narrow red stripes reminds us that
"by Hi stripe we are healed"
(Isaiah 53:5).
- Its white stripes stands for purity -
by his death we were made pure.
- The peppermint flavor is similar to hyssop,
which was used in Biblical times for purification.
(Psalms 51:7)
- Its taste is sweet, as it is sweet to walk with Jesus.
- Turn the candy cane upside down --
it becomes "J" for Jesus.
Christmas Carols were banned by Oliver Cromwell, in England between 1649 and 1660. Cromwell thought that Christmas should be a very solemn day
so he banned carols and parties.
The only celebration was by a sermon and a prayer service.
In 1643, the British Parliament officially abolishes the celebration of Christmas.
The Puritans in America tried to make Thanksgiving Day the most important annual festival instead of Christmas.
Silent Night was written in 1818, by an Austrian priest Joseph Mohr. He was told the day before Christmas that the church organ was broken and would not be prepared in time for Christmas Eve. He was saddened by this and could not think of Christmas without music, so he wanted to write a carol that could be sung by choir to guitar music. He sat down and wrote three stanzas. Later that night the people in the little Austrian Church sang "Stille Nacht" for the first time.
St Francis of Assisi introduced Christmas Carols to formal church services.
Telesphorus, the second Bishop of Rome (125-136 AD) declared that public Church services should be held to celebrate "The Nativity of our Lord and Savior." In 320 AD, Pope Julius I and other religious leaders specified 25 December as the official date of the birth of Jesus Christ.
December 26 was traditionally known as St Stephen's Day, but is more commonly known as Boxing Day. This expression came about because money was collected in alms-boxes placed in churches during the festive season. This money was then distributed during to the poor and needy after Christmas.
Melbourne, Australia has a sporting Boxing Day tradition. The Melbourne Cricket Ground hosts a Cricket test match. Sometimes this attracts 90, 000 spectators. Cricket is Australia's premier Summer sport.
The first printed reference to Christmas trees
appeared in Germany in 1531.
In 1836, Alabama is the first state in the USA to declare Christmas a legal holiday.
In 1843, the first Christmas card was printed in England for Sir Henry Cole. He was busy man who wanted to save time nhis own Christmas letters, but was also interested in encouraging the expansion of the postal system. 1000 copies of the card were sold at one shilling each. It was not until the 1860s that the production of cards accelerated, with cheaper printing methods. Then in 1870, the Post Office introduced a half pennty stamp for sending cards.
In 1856, President Franklin Pierce
decorates the first White House Christmas tree.
In 1907, Oklahoma became the last USA state to declare Christmas a legal holiday.
At midnight on Christmas Eve 1914 firing from the German trenches suddenly stopped. A German brass band began playing Christmas carols. Early, Christmas morning, the German soldiers came out of their trenches, approaching the allied lines, calling "Merry Christmas". At first the allied soldiers thought it was a trick, but they soon climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the German soldiers. The truce lasted a few days, and the men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings, sang carols and songs. They even played a game of Soccer.
In 1937, the first postage stamp to commemorate Christmas was issued in Austria.
In 1834, Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert brought the first Christas tree to Windsor Castle for the Royal family.
December 6 is St Nicholas's Day - the first of the gift giving days, especially in Holland and Belgium.
Some priests in Australia advise you to say "Happy Christmas", not "Merry Christmas", because Merry has connotations of getting drunk - which brings its own problems. One should say "Happy" instead.
The actual gift givers are different in various countries:
Spain and South America: The Three Kings
Italy: La Befana (a kindly old witch)
England: Father Christmas
France: Pere Noel (Father Christmas)
Russia: In some parts - Babouschka (a grandmotherly figure)
Other parts it is Grandfather Frost.
Germany: Christkind (angelic messenger from Jesus)
She is a beautiful fair haired girl
with a shining crown of candles.
Scandinavia: a variety of Christmas gnomes.
One is called Julenisse
Holland: St Nicholas.
Every year since 1947 the people in Oslo have given a Christmas tree to the city of Westminster. The gift is an expression of goodwill and gratitude for Britain's help to Norway in the 1939-1945 war.
The first American Christmas carol was written in 1649
by a minister named John de Brebeur and is called
"Jesus is Born".
Mexicans call the pointsettia "Flower of the Holy Night" - the Holy Night is the Mexican way of saying
"Christmas Eve".
Tom Smith who owned a sweet shop in London was the originator of the cracker. In the 1840s Tom found that people like sugar almonds, but while he was in France he discovered a variety of sweets wrapped up in a twist of paper. These bonbons were popular, so Tom decided to copy them. When Tom noticed that young men were buying them to give to their sweethearts he began to place "love mottoes"
on small slips of paper inside the sweet wrapping.
In 1846 Tom's thoughts turned towards Christmas - instead of sweets he thought he would place toys and novelties inside the twisted wrapping. He experimented with this and the idea of producing a wrapping that could be pulled apart -
just like the cracker as we know it today.
The word carol is derived from the old French word caroler, which derives from the Latin choraula.
This itself was derived from the Greek choraules.
Births on 25 December:
W C Field (1946)
Alice Cooper (1945)
Pricess Alexandra (1936)
Paul Borget (1935)
Charles Spencer Chaplin (1889)
Deaths on 25 December:
Conrad Hilton (1979)
Humphrey Bogart (1957)
Dorothy Wordsworth (1855)
Sir Isaac Newton (1727)
The biggest selling Christmas single of all time is
Bing Crosby's White Christmas.
In Switzerland during the Reformation, al instrumental
and choral music was banned from churches.
In Germany, disapproval of carols resulted in
some being converted into hymns.
Tinsel on the Christmas Tree is attributed to a woman whose husband died. She was left to bring up a large family of children herself. She was left to do everything working so hard and she was determined to make a happy time for them at Christmas. She prepared a Christmas Tree to surprise them on Christmas Day. Unfortunately spiders visited the tree, and crawled from branch to branch, making webs all over it.
The Christ Child saw the tree and knew she would be
devestated to find this on Christmas morning.
He changed the spiders' webs to shining silver.
The first church the Dutch built in New York City
was named in St Nicholas' honour -St Nicholas Church.
Many Christmas customs are carryovers from pre-christian celebrations. Hanging gifts on trees is supposed to stem from tree worship of the Druids, and the beief that the tree was the giver of all good things. The Druids are also partly responsible for the use of mistletoe at Christmastime. They regarded the mistletoe as sacred, made certain that it never touched the ground, and dedicated it to the Goddess of Love, which explains the kissing that goes on under it.
Originally, when a boy kissed a girl, he plucked a berry
from the cluster and presented it to her.
When the berries were gone, so were the kisses.
In a certain village in Mexico, many years ago, it was customary on Christmas Eve to take gifts to the church and place them before the crèche. One evening there was a small boy standing outside the church door. How he wished he could enter the church and present the gift to Jesus...
but he was poor. He had nothing to give.
"I can at least pray," he thought to himself.
He knelt silently outside the church window and listened to the voices raised in song. When he rose to
his feet again, he was amazed at what he saw in the spot where he had knelt. It was a beautiful plant with scarlet leaves and a yellow flower in the center. He had never seen anything like it. Realizing it was a miracle,
he carefully plucked it and took it into the church.
As he placed the beautiful flower before the manage,
he whispered, "This is my gift to the Christ Child.
My own precious gift."
The star shone brightly over Bethlehem,guiding the shepherds from the fields and the wise men from
far-off lands to the stable of the newborn King.
But, in the city a small boy - blind and alone -
wandered aimlessly through the streets
hoping someone would lead him to
the Christ Child. Suddenly, through the still night air,
he heard the faint tinkle of a distant bell.
He turned and began walking in the direction of the sound.
Gradually, it's music became louder and clearer
and he heard excited voices..
As he approached the stable, a shepherd took his hand
and led him to the manager.
The shepherd told him that the bell he heard
hung around the neck of a cow watching faithfully
over the sleeping child. The little boy knelt silently
in prayer and thanked God for the Baby Jesus.
And he didn't forget a special prayer for the animal
that had led him out of the darkness.
Since that first Christmas, bells have rung out
the joy of the Birth, and called people to worship and prayer.
