Many Christmas observances which we now take for granted are, in fact, not really all that old.
Many Christmas observances which we now take for granted are, in fact, not really all that old. It wasn't until 1923, for instance, that Calvin Coolidge first lit the National Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C. - a ceremony no president has failed to perform at least once since.
A slightly older Christmas practice, but still not really all that old, is that of sending Christmas cards. Historians generally fix l843 as the year the modern Christmas card was invented. It was literally a museum card, artist John Horsely created it for the director of the then brand new Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
But, the idea didn't really catch on in Britain until the l860's and in the US some years later. The father of the America Christmas card is considered to be Bostonian Louis Prang, whose plant in Roxbury. A produced exquisitely lithographed cards using as many as 20 colors. Some of the more ornate cards even had fringed borders.
Examples of Pring's greeting card artistry are included among the 45 antique Christmas and New Years' cards displayed at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. Drawn from the Smithsonian collection of business Americana, the exhibit - which lasts until Jan. 15 - includes rare cards never before displayed.
One of the nation's most elaborate Christmas celebrations takes place in Disney World's Florida magic kingdom and includes the fairy tale traditions of many places. There is a giant Christmas Tree - at 65-feet, it's twice the size of the national one, and has 3000 lights, 5000 ornaments - along with carolers and daily parades featuring elves, reindeer, and Mr. and Mrs. Santa.
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