It wasn’t until the 19th century, when Americans began to celebrate Christmas in the way we think of it today—like decorating trees, sending cards and giving gifts—that it grew into the biggest commercial holiday of the year.
Christmas was first celebrated in the third century A.D. The Roman church officials decided that 25 December was a good date to celebrate the birth of Christ as it fitted in well with other pagan festivals that helped people get through the bleak and cold winter season.
Today, more than 2 billion people in more than 160 countries consider Christmas to be the most important holiday of the year. Even if they’re a Christian or not.
Keeping up with the pace of change in today’s digital world can be a challenge. Yesterday’s smart phone may not be so popular tomorrow. But some things do stick and stay the same, and none more so that at Christmas.
The Image Of Santa Claus
If you ask anybody the question, “Who wears a red suit, black boots and has and white beard?”, you’re going to hear the name of Santa Claus (or Father Christmas as he is known in the UK).
This image of Santa was made popular by Coca-Cola back in 1930. They wanted to use Santa Claus in their winter advertising campaign and they dressed him in the official Coca-Cola colours of red and white. When the campaign was over, this look became popular all over the world and has remained ever since.
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
In 1939 the Montgomery Ward department in Chicago store wanted a Christmas-themed story to bring customers into their store. Robert May, an employee of the company, wrote the story of Rudolph the red nosed reindeer and it was so popular, over 2 million copies of the book were sold.
Are you humming the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer song yet? Here’s some more trivia for you. Robert May’s brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, wrote the song. It was recorded by Gene Autry in 1949 and went on to become one of the best-selling Christmas songs of all time. Bet you’re singing it now.
The Christmas Cracker
An odd novelty tube that, when pulled apart, makes a bang and a party hat, small gift and a festive joke fall out. What’s not to like?
It all started the early 19th century with a London sweet maker called Tom Smith. He saw how the French enjoyed sugared almond bon-bons which were wrapped in coloured tissue paper. He started selling them in his London shop but had little success.
For years he worked on new ideas to make the bon-bon into something more exciting. Then one night, while he was sitting in front of his log fire and watching the sparks and cracks coming from logs, he had an idea. What if his sweets could be opened with a crack when their fancy wrappers were pulled in half? The Christmas cracker was born. He inserted little toys, mottoes and poems into the cracker which children and adults loved. Now a dinner table at Christmas isn’t complete unless there’s a Christmas cracker for every guest.
I think that some of the orginal jokes from the first crackers are still used too…
Lights On The Christmas Tree
In the cold light of day, it is a bit odd to put a tree up in your house for a few weeks. The first person to do this is said to be a 16th century German preacher called Martin Luther. He wanted something in his house after seeing the stars shining through the forest trees which reminded him of how Jesus left the stars of heaven to come to earth at Christmas.
Edward Johnson, an assistant to Thomas Edison, came up with the idea of electric lights for Christmas trees in 1882. Originally people had put candles on their trees but, over the years, the candles often became a fire hazard.
The Addis Brush Company produced the first artificial Christmas tree in 1930. It was made from brush bristles that were originally used to make toilet brushes
Christmas Cards
The first person to send a Christmas card was Sir Henry Cole, the director of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum in 1843. Sir Henry found himself too busy to write individual Christmas greetings for his friends so he hired artist John Calcott Horsley to illustrate a card for him. The picture showed a family enjoying Christmas festivities with the message “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You.” As the printing industry grew the popularity of sending cards at Christmas evolved into a major industry.
However you celebrate the festive season, we send you the very best wishes and look forward to helping you and your business next year.
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AI Studio Team
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