Do you love the way poinsettias look around Christmastime, but never put them out around your house? Are you scared your child or pet may take a nibble on this so called poisonous plant? Luckily this is one myth that isn’t true. I found this article on Snopes about how the myth came to be. For more tips on the poinsettias, check out the
Christmas Memories Blog.
The Christmas card is a tradition enjoyed by most everyone. Some, however, theorize that this tradition was dreamed up by the retail industry to further commercialize and thus profit from the holiday. That is not the case.
The first Christmas card was an illustrated Christmas scene commissioned by Sir Henry Cole in 1843. The Londoner was too busy to write personal letters to each of his friends and family, so he had a card created to send to them instead. His idea caught on.
It wasn’t until 1875 that Americans could purchase cards in this country. Louis Prang first introduced the cards to the U.S., but he was later driven out of business by cheaper imitations of his cards.
So the next time someone grumbles about the commercialization of the holiday, remind him or her that the origin of the Christmas card was actually in the sentiment of time savings for sending true holiday greetings.
Ok, sugarplums aren’t a myth, but have you ever eaten one? Most modern-day Americans couldn’t really tell you what a sugarplum is, much less what it would taste like. In this day of pre-packaged, machine made candies and confections; we’ve lost many grand traditions such as homemade sweets at the holidays. So just what are the treats that the children in the famous poem dreamed about? Check out the Christmas Goodies site to find out.
Although the tradition of Christmas caroling is certainly a truth and not a myth, there is a good bit of legend tied up in its history. Where did caroling originate? No one knows for sure, but there are several popular explanations that are often used to explain how Christmas caroling got its start. To find out what they are, visit the Christmas Caroling Blog.
Have you received an e-mail that’s been floating around the internet in recent weeks, telling the story of an artist who always paints an ornament for the annual White House Christmas tree? According to the e-mail, she received a letter this year telling her not to use any religious themes in her ornament. The e-mail also notes that the trees at the White House will be referred to as “Holiday Trees” instead of Christmas Trees this year. Is this rumor true?
According to Snopes.com (always a good mythbusting source), the answer is no. Christians in America can rest assured that the trees at the White House will continue to be called Christmas Trees, and a White House representative says that no such letter went out to anyone.
Perhaps this rumor got its start from a recent controversy surrounding the Capitol Christmas Tree, which is decorated each year with ornaments made by residents from a chosen state. This year, the tree is being decorated with ornaments made by citizens of Arizona, who did receive information that stated no religious or political themes could be used in the ornaments. However, a government spokesperson also says that this information was outdated and has since been corrected. (Although during the last 3 years, religious ornaments have been prohibited from the Capitol Christmas Tree. No one has specified what inspired this change or why President Bush’s administration chose to disallow them.)
Are the religious and secular sides of Christmas really in competition with each other, the way many would have you believe? This video clip from The History Channel show Christmas Unwrapped discusses whether or not the two aspects of the holiday compete with each other or if they actually work together to make the holiday complete.
You hear the warnings every year — don’t let your Christmas tree get too dry or it can catch fire. While this is true, and a dry tree can go up extremely quickly, there first has to be a spark or a flame to ignite it. This spark would have to come from the lights, right? The Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters show once took on this myth to see if ordinary Christmas lights could really spark a fire on a tree. In the end, they had to enlist the fire department’s help and push huge amounts of current through the lights in order to ignite the tree. Check out the details of their experiment at the Annotated Mythbusters site.
Everyone gains weight at the holidays, right? Wrong! It is possible to maintain your weight through the onslaught of food and drink that gets thrown at us between Thanksgiving and Christmas, if you’re mindful of what you put on your plate and how you make your favorite dishes. It’s possible to eat more than 3,000 calories in one large meal at Thanksgiving of Christmas, which equals almost a pound of weight gain. Don’t let those pounds creep up on you. Instead, follow the simple strategies offered at the Christmas Stress blog for keeping holiday pounds off your body.
Hiding the “Christmas Pickle” among the branches of the family Christmas tree is an age-old tradition for many families. It’s generally said that the tradition originated in Germany, but this is a myth–it actually got its start in America. This video explains a bit of the tradition and shows one of the popular ornaments you can buy if you want to start this tradition yourself.
Superstitions can often be amusing, and Christmas superstitions are no different. This funny blog post from the Myth Digger lists many Christmas superstitions from around the world, entailing all of the things you should make sure you do and others you definitely shouldn’t do in order to ensure that your holiday is a great one. Enjoy!