Journey Through Christmases Past - Christmas in the United States

 

Welcome to our newest feature, Journey through Christmases Past. This series is a nostalgic celebration of the holidays we all remember...

• The history and traditions of the holiday.
• The décor that filled our homes.
• The toys that defined each decade.
• The television and movie shows that brightened the season.
• The outfits we adored (and the ones we definitely didn’t).

Along the way, I’ll sprinkle in a few of my own Christmas memories. So settle in with a cup of your favorite hot beverage and join me on a journey through Christmases past.

Happy Sunday! Well, at least for the next 45 minutes or so. We are back from our visit to Wilmington, NC. Let me tell you, it is way warmer down there than it is up here. I had to dig out my sleeveless tops and shorts. Here, I was cold in my light jacket.

For this week's Journey through Christmases Past post, I thought it would be neat to chat about Christmas in the United States. What was the first state to recognize it as a legal holiday? How about the last one? Which state banned the holiday? About when was it recognized by all 50 states? And when did Christmas become a federal holiday? 

Somehow, I thought that first question would have an easy answer. Many online sources cite Alabama as being the first state in the Union to declare Christmas a legal holiday. Then I read this article that said there are no records to support that statement. I also discovered this YouTube video debunking that theory. Then this article claimed that Louisiana and Arkansas declared Christmas a legal holiday in 1831. So, while we might not be sure, it happened in some state in the 1830s. 

The last state to recognize Christmas as a legal holiday was Oklahoma, which happened the same year it became a state, 1907. 

My lovely home state of Massachusetts was the one that banned Christmas in 1659. They didn't declare Christmas a legal holiday until 1856.

Then, in 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant declared Christmas a federal holiday, a move that might have been an effort to unite a country still in the midst of Reconstruction after the Civil War. When Alaska and Hawaii joined the nation in 1959, they followed the federal precedent, making Christmas a legal holiday in all 50 states.