The word Christmas comes from the words Cristes maesse, or "Christ's Mass." Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus for members of the Christian religion. Most historians peg the first celebration of Christmas to Rome in 336 A.D.

According to Daniel Boorstin in his book The Americans, Christmas was largely a non-event in America until the 1860s. 1867 was the first year that Macy's department store in New York City remained open until midnight on Christmas Eve. 1874 was the year of the first window displays with a Christmas theme at Macy's. It has snowballed from there.

The tradition of gifts seems to have started with the gifts that the wise men (the Magi) brought to Jesus. As recounted in the Bible's book of Matthew, "On coming to the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh."

As mentioned in the previous question, however, no one was really in the habit of exchanging elaborate gifts until late in the 1800s. The Santa Claus story, combined with an amazing retailing phenomenon that has grown since the turn of the century, has made gift giving a central focus of the Christmas tradition.

Is December 25 really the day Jesus was born? No one really knows. What is known is that Christian leaders in 336 A.D. set the date to December 25 in an attempt to eclipse a popular pagan holiday in Rome (Saturnalia) that celebrated the winter solstice. Originally, the celebration of Christmas involved a simple mass, but over time Christmas has replaced a number of other holidays in many other countries, and a large number of traditions have been absorbed into the celebration in the process.

In Victorian times, people had already started decorating trees with candies and cakes hung with ribbon. In 1880, Woolworths first sold manufactured Christmas tree ornaments, and they caught on very quickly. Martin Luther, in the 16th century, is credited as being the first person to put candles on a tree, and the first electrically lighted Christmas tree appeared in 1882. Calvin Coolidge in 1923 ceremoniously lit the first outdoor tree at the White House, starting that long tradition. Fake snow and tinsel... Who knows? It's probably related to the song "White Christmas".

The poinsettia is native to Mexico. It has been associated with the Christmas season because the Mexicans thought the plants were symbolic of the Star of Bethlehem. The plant was brought to America over 100 years ago by Dr. Joel Poinsett, our first ambassador to Mexico.

In Mexico it is an old custom to take flowers to church on Christmas Eve and place them at the altar in honor of the birth of Jesus. The legend of the poinsettia goes like this ...

Each Christmas Eve, the villagers would go to the church and take beautiful flowers to the baby Jesus. Young Mario would only follow the procession and watch because he was too poor to buy flowers for the Christ Child -- this made him very sad. One year he was kneeling outside the church crying because he had no flowers to give. A voice from the stone angel near the church whispered to Mario to pick the weeds and take them inside to Jesus.

When Mario replied he couldn't give the Baby Jesus weeds, the angel told him that the simplest gifts, when given with love, are the most beautiful. Mario picked the weeds and took them into the church. As he placed the weeds into the crib the brown stalks turned green and the dried leaves turned into a beautiful scarlet flower. The Mexicans call this beautiful flower the "Flor de la Noche Buena," or the Flower of the Holy Night.

Bethlehem

A little child,
A shining star,
A stable rude,
The door ajar.

Yet in that place,
So crude, forlorn,
The Hope of all
The world was born.