The Top 40 Traditions Of Christmas

Christmas traditions form the foundation of the holiday season—and this book considers the “story behind the story” for 40 favorite customs. Familiar things like Christmas trees, candy canes, Santa Claus, and lighting displays have little-known histories or deeper meanings that make them worthy of contemplation for those of us who celebrate Christmas as the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Top 40 Traditions of Christmas provides that intriguing information for the most beloved songs, movies, articles, characters, and activities of the season.

Here readers will learn how to bring those warm traditions into their own homes, wherever they live. Included are instructions to make mulled wine, homemade peanut brittle, red candied apples, crisp pepparkakor, lightly browned Swedish meatballs, candles, wreaths, and more. Each recipe and project are accompanied by beautiful full-color photographs. From fashioning centerpieces to baking delicious cookies to hand-making Christmas tree ornaments, this book will inspire readers to rediscover the joys of a Scandinavian Christmas.

Grandma’s heirloom ornaments. The family carol singalong. Aunt Millie’s fruitcake. We all have our special holiday traditions we practice year in and year out. This book not only embraces these old standbys, but also explores unique rituals celebrated the world over. This heartwarming collection evokes the memories of Christmas past with such stories as: Holly Berry Dreams, in which a young girl hangs holly leaves above the doorway as a sign of better times to come while waiting for her father to return from war PJ Presents, featuring a single mom who enlists her neighbor to leave new pajamas on the front porch every Christmas Eve to surprise her children Too Much Christmas, in which a young mother buys up all the leftover tags on the Giving Tree, leaving her with too many tags and too little money Christmas Diaries, featuring a Scottish family who exchanges a diary every Christmas with their extended family in Germany that details the highlights of the past year With touching stories like these, this book is the perfect gift to commemorate old traditions and create new traditions—for many Christmases to come.

Examines the stories behind the customs and traditions of Christmas including Advent wreaths, holly, Nativity scenes, Yule logs, caroling, and Santa Claus

Why do we decorate Christmas trees? Do all children receive gifts on the same day? Come find out as Monika Utnik-Strugala captures the smells, tastes, and unforgettable traditions about the most popular, exciting, contemplative, and unique Christmas customs and legends from around the world. Find out why celebrate Christmas on December 25th, who invented the first glass ornament, why people build nativity scenes, and more! A truly international collection of legends and traditions are included in the volume such as - Glögg, Kutia, Lutefisk, Jansson's Temptation, Julskinka, Bûche de Noël, Hallaca, Kourabiedes, Christmas Pudding, Panettone, Christmas carols, talking animals, and The Nutcracker!

Ever wonder where some of our unique and meaningful Christmas traditions come from? Why are red and green popular colors of the season? Why is exchanging gifts a family tradition? Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas reveals the people, places, and events that shaped the best-loved customs of this merriest of holidays and how they all point to Christ. Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas includes insights about: Gift giving Christmas trees Caroling Nativity scenes Yule logs Stockings Advent wreaths Mistletoe Holly, and more! This is the perfect gift to infuse your celebration with spiritual insights, true-life tales, and captivating legends to intrigue you and your family. Bring new luster and depth to your modern traditions while you celebrate Jesus' birth. The traditions of Christmas lend beauty, awe, and hope to the holiday, causing people all over the world to anticipate it with joy. Warm your heart as you rediscover the true and eternal significance of Christmas.

Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan is a study of the history and folklore surrounding Christmas holidays in several countries. It is an amazing collection of Christmas-related traditions from the first introductions of Christianity to the early 20th century. The book covers the history of Christmas as a Christian feast day and how that developed. It also discusses pre-Christian festivals and observances and how a lot of them survived by being given a Christian veneer although the overt paganism disappeared. Clement A. Miles (1881-1918), an author and translator, was a member of the Folk-Lore Society. He had been for many years on T. Fisher Unwin's literary staff and he was the author of an important work: Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. Miles possessed a wide knowledge of European languages, and translated numerous works from French and Italian.

Christmas, as we celebrate it today, is a relatively recent invention. Our Puritan forefathers would not have thought of reveling in the birth of Christ-and frowned, or worse, on those who did. It was only in the nineteenth century, as the United States emerged as a nation, that so many of the traditions we take for granted as "Christmas" established themselves. So many originated in New England that, from sea to sea, American Christmas observances seem to smell of pine and fir, and even some in the South think of snow and sleighs when December 25 comes around. Christmas, writes McGuiggan, "is a cozy living room with a blazing fire, a piping mug of cider or hot chocolate and a plate of warm, spicy gingerbread boys and girls. It is woodlands of fragrant pine and an evening of crystalline air with a hint of wood smoke. It is the quaint, simple beauty of a town green and a white-steepled church aglow with candlelight. It is mittens and scarves, skating, sledding, and sleigh rides. And, most of all, it is snow." That, at least, is America's vision of a New England Christmas today. But how did all this come about? Here are some of the more than fifty holiday traditions traced and described in this fascinating treasury: Charles Follen and the Christmas Tree Church; Flying Santa; Silent Santa; Rudolph, the Most Famous Reindeer; A Magical Ride on the Polar Express; Louis Prang, Father of the American Christmas Card; Candlelight Strolls at Old Sturbridge Village and Strawbery Banke; A Norman Rockwell Christmas; and Captain James Magee's Holiday Party. Over 100 period illustrations, including a 16-page full-color insert, make this joyous book a family keepsake to be treasured by and forgenerations.