“Star of wonder, star of light

Star with royal beauty bright

Westward leading, still proceeding

Guide us to thy perfect light”

— “We Three Kings,” John Henry Hopkins Jr.

American clergyman and hymnodist, 1857

It seems hard to believe that for the first two centuries of settlement on this side of the Atlantic, Christmas went largely uncelebrated. Only in the middle of the 19th century did it gain legal recognition as an official public “holiday” here. Americans began to slowly shape Christmas into a “holiday/holy-day”... often decorated with “holiday/holy-day holly” (I couldn’t resist the alliteration).

The Puritans, for instance, attempted to ignore Christmas because the Bible was silent on the topic. Virginia planters took the occasion to feast, dance, gamble, hunt and visit, perpetuating what they believed to be the old Christmas customs in English manors. Even as late as the early 19th century, many Americans hardly took notice of the holiday at all. [History Today]

As an adult I remain entirely enchanted by all the cultural charms of Christmas in America: the twinkling lights, mugs of hot chocolate, cozy snowscapes, and festive music, whether or not the actual date has ever been nailed........

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