With a new year beginning, many of us have either bought or received 2019 calendars. These calendars often have themes - whether your favorite sports team, a hobby you enjoy, or pictures of your family (to name a few). The theme of calendars reflects our interests, and the content of the...
People are familiar with the song, “The 12 Days of Christmas,” but have you ever wondered why there are 12 days of Christmas and what is up with the bizarre gifts (do you want a partridge in a pear tree)? 12 Days of Christmastide While we often think of the Christmas season...
People often ask if we know that Jesus was born on December 25. The short answer is that we don’t know, as no one recorded what day he was born and they didn’t have birth certificates back then. The stories of Christ’s birth in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke state that Jesus...
We are explaining the origin of some Christmas traditions and customs. Before diving into the one for this week, I did want to point out a question that sometimes comes up at this time of year - why do people sometimes write Xmas? The origins of that phrase actually comes from the Greek...
Have you ever put up your Christmas tree and wondered, “Who in the world came up with the idea of putting a tree in your house to celebrate the birth of Jesus?” Or maybe you see all the pine needles your tree (real or fake!) is shedding and ask, “Why in the world is it a pine...
The passing of Thanksgiving moves us into the Christmas season, with Advent being the four Sundays preceding Christmas Day. This Jewish festival of Hanukkah typically occurs during this time as well, with December 2-10 the 2018 dates for the holiday. Many people wonder about the origin of this...
I have always found it interesting how quickly our culture moves from Thanksgiving to the Christmas Shopping Season and days like Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. We start by giving thanks for what we have and then almost immediately begin thinking about what we need...
