15. The Spirit of Christmas

In a wonderful way the legends, customs and traditions of many lands and peoples are combined in our celebration of Christmas. This explains the great variety of its symbols. Stars and angels, trees and wreaths, bells, candles and yule logs mean Christmas in America. Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol is a favorite story of the season. Nearly every child from the cradle onward also hears and loves that most famous of all1 Christmas poems, A Visit from Saint Nicholas, first told by Dr. Clement Clarks Moore to his children in 1822 and first published by The Troy Sentinel on December 23, 1823.

We have borrowed and adopted carols from many lands, especially from France and England. The Christmas tree came first from Germany, the significance of the mistletoe originated in ancient Britain, the reindeer which carry Santa Claus through the sky are from far northern lands.

It is this universality that permits all peoples, all faiths and creeds, to share in the happiness and simple joy of Christmas. A Child was born, a star shone bright, and wise men and shepherds brought gifts and reverence to the Babe in the manger. This fundamental of all Christian faith has for many centuries inspired the true celebration of Christmas. It has set it apart from the rest of the year as a time of giving and goodwill and fellowship among men.

Sometimes it seems that Christmas has become too commercialized, too much a shopping season, too much a time for material things. Yet everyone may find a place in his heart, and in his home, for its true spirit. Love and kindness and the happiness one person may give to another, these are the real objectives of our Christmas festivities. Therefore a card of greeting, a spray of evergreen from one's own garden, a visit to an old friend may bring more happiness than a costly gift.

It is at this season that we may recover a sense of values, so easily lost in the world's daily turmoil. By observing Christmas properly we discover what is precious and what is unimportant. We may learn, too, that happiness is always within our reach, since it depends on that which comes from within and above, not on the things of this world.

All over our country there have grown up new ways and customs of keeping Christmas, founded on those of long ago. At Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a great Christmas star set high on a mountain side is visible for miles around, sparkling with welcome from a city named for the little village where the Christ Child was born. Close by at Allen-town and Nazareth, the Pennsylvania-Germans, more commonly called the Pennsylvania-Dutch, go to infinite pains to set up a Putz or Christmas village, a landscape of buildings, trees and animals. Sometimes a whole room or the main part of the house is occupied by these elaborate displays. Creches or cradles are constructed with the traditional characters in life-size. These also appear in miniature in many homes.

Increasingly the cities and towns of the United States are celebrating Christmas by decorating streets, public buildings and squares. In my opinion displays are usually most attractive, in the small communities, where there is more personal interest and pride in them. It is one of my own Christmas pleasures to journey, when possible, to such towns as Bethlehem, Allentown, Emmaus, Nazareth, York, Lancaster, Reading or Gettysburg, to see the beauty and variety of the decorations.

Yet the proper place for keeping Christmas is in the home. Here each member of the family may contribute something to the celebration and every decoration may be fondly contrived. It is the purpose of this little book to make the decoration of the home for the happiest season of the year a real labor of love.

This calls for originality, patient self-criticism and an open mind for new ideas and fresh material. It means that you will often think of Christmas through the year, while walking, traveling, working in the garden or enjoying the infinite beauties of nature. From the world without, many lovely things may be taken indoors in mid-winter as beautiful and fragrant gifts to the Child whose birth Christmas celebrates.

For a long time I have enjoyed more than any other of my lectures the talks and demonstrations which have supplied the material for this small volume. I hope now that you will find as much delight in carrying out these suggestions as I have had in presenting them. I hope, too, that you will experience real creative joy as each year you MAKE YOUR OWN MERRY CHRISTMAS.