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Our tree
has been up for weeks, (most of) the presents are wrapped, the cards have been
mailed, cookies baked, and this week the parties begin. Our oldest
granddaughter’s birthday is the 23rd, so we have three full days of
gatherings with family and friends.
It is a
busy time of year, and I hope you are all ready for your festivities to begin.
I thought I’d just share a few little facts about this time of the year….
Christmas
trees have been sold in the U.S. since 1850.
Alabama
was the first state to officially recognize Christmas in 1836, however,
Christmas wasn’t declared an official holiday in the United States until 1870
and Oklahoma didn’t declare it as a state holiday until 1907.
Mistletoe
is from the Anglo-Saxon word misteltan, which means “little dung twig”
because the plant spreads though bird droppings.
The
Aztecs called the poinsettia Cuetlaxochitl which means “flower which
wilts”, and the poinsettia is not poisonous.
Some
reports claim that President Franklin Pierce was the first president to have a
Christmas tree in the White house in 1856, and others claim it was President
Benjamin Harrison in 1889, but there is no dispute that President Theodore
Roosevelt banned Christmas trees from the White House in 1901.
President Coolidge
started the lighting ceremony in 1923, copying many small communities. As the
grid had broadened and brought electricity to smaller towns, having tree
lighting ceremonies was a popular community event.
During a
meeting of the New York Historical Society in 1804, a member passed out wooden
cutouts of jolly old St. Nick along with stockings filled with toys, and that
image of St. Nick became the Santa Clause image we know today. However, his clothes were blue, white, and
green. His famous red suit came about in an ad by Coco Cola in 1930.
Washing Irving (the author who created the Headless Horseman) is who created Santa flying in a sleigh in 1819, and Montgomery Ward created Rudolph as a marketing gimmick for a children’s holiday coloring book.
Happy Holidays!
Good post. Most Americans don't realize that their early ancestors in this continent did not believe in celebrating Christmas because of the strong Puritan influence. It was believed by many that it was a pagan celebration, that any recognition of Christmas should be merely worship at church. Unfortunately, that interferes with all the historical Christmas stories we love to read.
ReplyDeleteRobyn Echols w/a Zina Abbott