Showing posts with label happy holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label happy holidays. Show all posts

16 December 2024

America's First Christmas (and Christmas Floral Paintings)

Some historians believe the first Christmas in the United States was celebrated in 1539 by Hernando de Soto, a dozen Catholic priests, and around 600 Spanish explorers. The settlers held a Christmas Mass in Anhaica, an Indigenous village now known as Tallahassee, Florida.

Christmas


The first clearly recorded Christmas in the South was in 1607 at Jamestown, Virginia. This is if you exclude a celebration in 1604 by French settlers when they tried to establish a colony on St. Croix Island off the coast of Maine.

Some call 1776 the first "American" Christmas because the Declaration of Independence was created the previous summer.

Alabama was the first state to officially recognize Christmas as a legal holiday in 1836. Oklahoma was the last state to recognize Christmas as a legal holiday in 1907.

By 1860, 14 states, including several in New England, had adopted Christmas as a legal holiday.

Christmas was not a holiday in early America. From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was outlawed in Boston. It wasn't until the 1800s that Americans began to embrace Christmas.

In the United States, Christmas was established as a federal holiday on June 26, 1870.
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(Content generated using Google develop generative AI in Search)

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In the holiday spirit? ~ Lift your spirits!
Floral paintings always lift my spirit.
Adorn any room with these art prints!













REFERENCES:

Contreras, Russell. “Hispanics Led First U.S. Christmas Celebrations.” Axios. Axios, December 21, 2021. https://www.axios.com/2021/12/21/hispanics-first-christmas-celebrations-us.

Celebrating Holidays. “History of Christmas in America,” 2023. https://www.celebratingholidays.com/?page_id=1046.

billpetro. “History of the First American Christmas: 1776.” Bill Petro. The BPC Group, November 29, 2023. https://billpetro.com/history-of-the-first-american-christmas-1776/.

Bhagat, Dhruti. “Boston Public Library.” Bpl.org, December 21, 2018. https://www.bpl.org/blogs/post/the-origins-and-practices-of-holidays-christmas/.

HISTORY. “History of Christmas - Origins, Traditions & Facts | HISTORY,” October 27, 2009. https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas.

Dallascitynews.net. “Ten Interesting Facts about Christmas - Dallas City News,” 2023. https://www.dallascitynews.net/ten-interesting-facts-about-christmas.

Wikipedia Contributors. “Christmas.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, December 19, 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas.


27 November 2020

Do You Know The Rules for the White Elephant Gift Exchange?

In the USA, typically, for the holidays, often at the office Christmas party, or other social gatherings we will have a white elephant gift exchange (also called Secret Santa.). Each person has to bring in one gift. They usually limit the price to $5 or $10. Nothing expensive. Something nice. Then we play the white elephant game where people exchange the gifts. It's pure wholesome happy holiday fun! (See link below.)

When you have a family you don't usually do a gift exchange. However, if you have a large family, buying gifts for everyone can be quite expensive. Imagine me. I had a family of 7 brothers and 1 sister. Some of my brothers were married with kids. I also was married with kids. Shopping for that many people without breaking your bank was a real challenge. I managed somehow. But it wasn't easy!

But then I thought of the idea of doing a white elephant gift exchange for the family when we got together to enjoy the holiday meal. I figured it would cut down on the expense of having to buy several gifts. I tried to sell this idea to family members but they wouldn't buy it.


  • Do you participate in the gift exchange at social gatherings?
  • What do you think of the idea of a gift exchange for the extended family?  Sometimes it's very expensive buying for lots of family members.  But perhaps if you did the white elephant exchange for the family get-together, it would be less expensive and probably more fun!
P.S.  Sometimes the White Elephant gift exchange is called Secret Santa.
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13 December 2014

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Receive these updates via eMail. If you don’t subscribe to Mother Nature Network please consider getting on their mailing list. They are a consistent reminder of the celebration of life on this wonderful planet that we take for granted. Seems we would rather spend our energy, money, etc. on trying to colonize Mars instead of maintaining Earth. (Don’t want to go on a rant. But it’s one of my pet peeves! GRRR …!!) :) Here’s what came in the mail this morning!

Happy Saturday! For my cat-loving family and friends,

Happy Caturday!!

Stay safe and enjoy the holiday season!



snow pic

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! And indeed, what would the holidays be without snow? It’s what gives Frosty his bulk and what makes Christmases white, putting the “wonder” in winter wonderland. But for all its bright sparkly beauty, snow has a dark side, too. Like when there’s too much of it! And you’re in the thick of it. And you can’t get out! Would you know what to do if you were stranded in the snow?

More interesting and informative reading:
10 vivid maps that show Earth in a whole new light
Why countries with the nicest people are the greenest
7 things to know before you buy a fitness tracker



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