Xmas countdown: sept.23

Xmas countdown: sept.23 93 days to go! The first commercial Christmas card was produced and sold in London in 1843.

xmas countdown: Sept.22

xmas countdown: Sept.22: 93 days to go! Few things say Christmas more than those sugary sticks of red and white deliciousness. There was a time, however, when they weren't red and white.(Although we imagine they were still pretty tasty.) The familiar Christmas treats started popping up around the 17th century as Europeans started using trees to celebrate the Christian holiday season and made special foods to decorate them with. Candy canes first appeared around 1670 when a cathedral choirmaster would hand out the all-white confections to children to keep them occupied during Christmas mass. While no one knows exactly who gave candy canes their stripes, one (unproven) theory has it that the "J" shape was once meant to stand for Jesus and the three stripes represent the Holy Trinity. (Red is meant to represent the blood of Christ. Chew over that the next time you bite into a tasty candy cane.)

Xmas countdown: sept 20

Xmas countdown: sept 20: 96 days to go! The author best known for creating the Headless Horseman also created the iconic image of Santa flying in a sleigh. In his 1819 series of short stories The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, New York native Washington Irving described a dream in which St. Nicholas soared across the sky in a weightless wagon. The stories became so popular, they spawned a Christmas revival of sorts in the States, and even Charles Dickens is said to have credited Irving's work for inspiring his classic holiday tale A Christmas Carol.

Xmas countdown: Sept.18:

Xmas countdown: Sept.18: 97 days to go! The common abbreviation of Christmas to "Xmas" is derived from the Greek alphabet. "Chi," the first letter of Christ's name in the Greek alphabet, is written as "X."

Xmas countdown: sept.16

Xmas countdown: sept.16. 99 days to go!

Xmas countdown: Sept.15:

Xmas countdown: Sept.15: 100 DAYS TO GO!!! St. Nicholas was bishop of the Turkish town of Myra in the early 4th century. The Dutch first made him into a Christmas gift-giver, and Dutch settlers brought him to America where his name eventually became the familiar Santa Claus.

Xmas countdown: September 14

Xmas countdown: September 14: 101 days to go! The popular Christmas song “Jingle Bells” was actually written for Thanksgiving. The song was composed in 1857 by James Pierpont, and was originally called “One Horse Open Sleigh”.

Xmas countdown: September 13

Xmas countdown: September 13: 102 days to go! The poinsettia, a traditional Christmas flower, originally grew in Mexico, where it is also known as the ‘Flower of the Holy Night’. Joel Poinsett first brought it to America in 1829.

Xmas countdown: Sept.12:

Xmas countdown: Sept.12: 103 days to go! Ever wondered where the idea of elves came from? They are actually modern day versions of “Nature folk” described in Pagan religions of the past.

Xmas countdown: September 10

Xmas countdown: September 10: 105 days to go! The words of "Joy to the World" are by English hymn writer Isaac Watts, based on Psalm 98 in the Bible. The song was first published in 1719 in Watts' collection; The Psalms of David: Imitated in the language of the New Testament, and applied to the Christian state and worship. Watts wrote the words of "Joy to the World" as a hymn glorifying Christ's triumphant return at the end of the age, rather than a song celebrating His first coming. Only the second half of Watts' lyrics are still used today. The music was adapted and arranged to Watts' lyrics by Lowell Mason in 1839 from an older melody which was then believed to have originated from Handel, not least because the theme of the refrain (And heaven and nature sing...) appears in the orchestra opening and accompaniment of the recitative Comfort ye from Handel's Messiah, and the first four notes match the beginning of the choruses Lift up your heads and Glory to God from the same oratorio. However, Handel did not compose the entire tune. The name "Antioch" is generally used for the tune.