A Special Christmas Package.

• 50 Christmas Children Stories with Private Label Rights!
  Christmas Fun
  35 Christmas tales and stories with complete Private Label Rights!
  Holiday Recipe Book
  Traditional Carols for Cristmas
  Holiday Stress

Read more click here

• Banners
  Bows and Bells
  Candles
  Christmas Trees
  Elves
  Reindeer
  Santa Claus
  Snowman

and more

100 Simple And Delicious Recipes For Your Special Holiday Meals!

• Christmas – Pineapple Cheese Ball
• Vegetable Christmas Tree
• Christmas Cheese Spread
• Christmas Tree Spread
• Christmas Pickles
• Holiday Dip
• Clam Dip
• Christmas Crab Dip
• Holiday Broccoli Dip
• Cranberry Christmas Punch
• Christmas Punch
• Christmas Cider
• Red Christmas

and more

eBook in PDF Format

History of Christmas Traditions

“Discover Where All Our Most Cherished Christmas Traditions Originated From. . .
Where The Holiday We Celebrate In America Started At. . .
And, Why Those Answers May Not Be What You Think!”

Christmas is a time for celebration all across the United States. Families and friends gather together for a day of festive merry-making.

But, do you know where the holiday we traditionally celebrate on December 25th originated at? Think it all began with the birth of Jesus Christ? Then you had better think again!

Christmas has always been believed to be a historical date when we celebrate the greatest gift bestowed onto mankind. Many people believe that this was the day that Jesus Christ came into the world.

Samples:

• New England Christmas Cookies
• Christmas Cookie Slices
• Christmas Cookie Wreaths
• Butter Cookie Christmas Cutouts
• Peanut Butter Bars
• Old Fashioned Butterscotch Cookies
• Christmas Surprise Cookies
• Fruited Shortbread Cookies
• Outrageous Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Date Pinwheels
• Filled Christmas Cookies
• Lemon Snow Bars

Christmas Tree Themes:  Are They Really Worth It?

Do you celebrate Christmas?  If you do, chances are you will celebrate the holidays with a Christmas tree. Each year, the majority of Americans purchase a Christmas tree for their homes. Whether that tree is real or an artificial one, it is often decorated with Christmas decorations. Different individuals decorate their Christmas trees in different ways.  Many choose to theme their Christmas trees.  If you are planning on decorating your Christmas tree this year, you may be wondering whether or not it is really worth it to decorate your Christmas tree with a theme.  In all honesty, it depends.

Before you can start to determine whether or not it would be worth it for you to decorate your Christmas tree with a theme, it is important to note that different individuals have different views on themes.  There are many Christmas tree owners that choose to theme their Christmas trees by having everything a particular color.  For instance, there are some who choose to have a white Christmas tree with gold and red decorations. All of the decorations typically match.  While many take this simple approach, there are others who take it a step further. There are some parents who tend to focus their Christmas tree theme around a cartoon character or something else that their kids enjoy.  The decorations used are all typically associated in one way or another.

The type of theme that you would like to use, if you choose to use one, will help to determine whether or not you should go through the hassle of decorating your Christmas tree with a particular theme.  For example, it was mentioned above that many just theme their Christmas trees with a particular set of colors.  While this can still be difficult to do, it is one of the easier ways to have a Christmas tree theme, especially if the colors are traditional holiday colors. Anything different and you may spend days or even weeks searching for Christmas tree decorations; Christmas tree decorations that may be more than you are willing to pay for.  So, if you are interested in decorating your Christmas tree with a theme, but without having to go through all of the hassle, you are advised to take the simplest approach.

If you do decide to decorate your Christmas tree with a particular theme, you may want to think about shopping for your Christmas tree decorations early. Around the months of October and November, the majority of individuals start shopping for Christmas decorations.  When this occurs, the selection of decorations available drastically decreases.  When you want to theme your Christmas tree, there is a good chance that you will want certain types of Christmas tree decorations, such as lights and ornaments.  If you want to make sure that you get exactly the Christmas tree decorations that you were looking for, you are advised to start purchasing Christmas decorations as soon as they become available or as soon as you make the decision do decorate your Christmas tree a certain way.

If you are unable to find the Christmas tree decorations that you were looking for in one of your local retail stores, you are advised to give online shopping some thought. In fact, if you are planning on having a somewhat unique Christmas tree theme, you will find it easier to find what you are looking for online. When searching for themed Christmas tree decorations online, you will want to perform a standard internet search.  For instance, if you were planning on having the theme of your Christmas tree be a popular cartoon character or a well-known Christmas symbol, such as an angel, you will want to tailor your search to exactly what you are looking for.

In addition to everything that was mentioned above, it is also important to examine the time that it will take to theme a Christmas tree. When it comes to themed Christmas trees, most tree owners want to get their Christmas trees exactly as they envisioned it in their minds. Unfortunately, that can take a lot of time and experimenting. It does not mean that you shouldn’t theme your Christmas tree this year, it just means that you many want to examine whether or not you really have the time to do so.

During the weeks leading up to Christmas many families celebrate the anticipation of the holiday with an Advent Calendar. There are many ways to make your own Advent Calendar and it is a fun family project designing and putting it together. Here are some simple calendar ideas to get your started.

The word advent means “arrival” and the calendar is a good way for families to count down the days until the big celebration day arrives. There are many ways to make an advent calendar each having its own special way of rewarding little ones for their patience.

There are many printable templates that you can find online to guide you in your calendar design. You can make an advent wreath made with handprints, or make an advent jar or tree.

Construction Paper
Glue
Markers, crayons or paint
Paper Plate

Pencil

What to do:

Step #1 – Make a wreath out of the paper plate by cutting out the center of the plate.

Step #2 – Have your child put a hand on a green piece of construction paper and trace his entire hand and fingers with a pencil.

Step #3 – Cut out the hand and then use it to trace 23 more on green construction paper so you have 24 hands alltogether.

Step #4 – Now with a dark colored marker write a good deed on each handprint. (if young children will be participating make sure the deeds are within their ability to complete).

Step #5 – Starting on December 1st., pick one cut-out hand for the entire family to do that day. Example: the good deed is to say something nice about someone else. Each family member needs to do this at least once that day.

At the end of the day a family member will glue the handprint onto the wreath

When all 24 handprints are on the wreath you will have something to be proud of and a beautiful decoration for your home.

Advent Jar – (Special Blessings)

Supplies you will need:

Large Jar (glass or plastic)

Christmas themed stickers or other decorations

Construction Paper

Markers or Crayons

Use 24 themed stickers or other holiday small decorations, or you can have your little ones make some of their own decorations. You can do a combination of these suggestions too. Just make sure that you end up with 24 all together.

What to do:

Step #1 – Take a black marker and write a one-word blessing on each decoration. You an go round-robin with family members (the ones old enough) for blessing suggestions. You can also add one person’s name on each decoration.

Step #2 – Place all 24 decoration inside of the jar.

Step #3 – On December 1st a lucky family member gets to draw a decoration out of the jar and glue it to the outside of the jar. What ever one word blessing is written on the paper is what family members will be giving thanks for that day. If you chose to write a person’s name on the decoration, than each family member should think good thoughts about that person all day.

Step #4 – On Christmas eve the jar will be empty but the outside will be decorated with blessings and family members will be rewarded for their good thoughts when someone fills the empty jar with yummy holiday treats.

Advent Christmas Tree

Supplies you will need:

Felt – green

Felt – Assortment of brightly colored

Tracing Paper

Self-adhesive Velcro Circles

What you need to do:

Step #1 – Draw a Christmas Tree on thin tracing paper or use a pattern from the internet or a book you might find on Christmas crafts.

Step #2 – Pin the tracing paper onto the felt (green), and cut out the shape of the tree.

Step #3 – Cut out ornament shapes out of the brightly colored felt (freehand or use a pattern from the internet or a Christmas craft book). You will need 24 ornaments.

Step #4 – Stick the prickly half of the Velcro circles all over the tree where you will be placing the ornaments.

Step #5 – Now, stick the other half of each Velcro circle on each of the ornaments.

Step #6 – Starting with December 1, you “hang” an ornament on your advent tree by sticking an ornament onto the tree where you placed the prickly parts of the Velcro circles. Hang one ornament each day. They will all be hung by Christmas Eve and you will have a beautifully decorated felt advent tree.

If you do not have the needed supplies you can use construction paper for the tree and ornaments and attach the ornaments to the tree with glue or tape.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Ute Schaedler!

White Christmas in Marne, Germany.

Jingle Bells

1. Dashing through the snow
In a one-horse open sleigh
O’re the fields we go
Laughing all the way.
Bells on bob-tail ring
Making spirits bright
What joy it is to ride and sing
A sleighing song tonight.

Chorus:
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way,
Oh what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh, O
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way,
Oh what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.

2. A day or two ago
I thought I’d take a ride
And soon Miss Fanny Bright
Was seated by my side;
The horse was lean and lank
Misfortune seemed his lot,
We ran into a drifted bank
And there we got upsot. Chorus

3. A day or two ago
The story I must tell
I went out on the snow
And on my back I fell;
A gent was riding by
In a one-horse open sleigh
He laughed at me as I there sprawling laid
But quickly drove away. Chorus

4. Now the ground is white,
Go it while you’re young,
Take the girls along
And sing this sleighing song.
Just bet a bob-tailed bay,
Two-forty as his speed,
Hitch him to an open sleigh
and crack! You’ll take the lead. Chorus

O Christmas Tree

1. O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
How lovely are your branches!
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
How lovely are your branches!
In beauty green will always grow
Through summer sun and winter snow.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
How lovely are your branches!

2. O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
You are the tree most loved!
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
You are the tree most loved!
How often you give us delight
In brightly shining Christmas light!
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
You are the tree most loved!

3. O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
Your beauty green will teach me
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
Your beauty green will teach me
That hope and love will ever be
The way to joy and peace for me.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
Your beauty green will teach me.

WordPress Christmas Theme.

I am  working on a Semiomantics XO Christmas Theme.

Colors: Red, Gold and Green.

Screenshot Header.

Commercial activities during Christmas today are often decried as making the season too materialistic. This has caused comments that the religious aspect of Christmas is so overlooked and overshadowed that its celebration seems to be purely pagan. But today’s comparisons aren’t the first there has been some link between Christmas and pagan celebrations. As a religious, church leaders instituted Christmas during winter because that time of year was a popular for the celebrations of many pagan festivals. The hope was that Christmas would also become a holiday that would gain much popularity.
Long before the birth of Jesus Christ, people in various parts of Europe would celebrate light and birth in the darkest days of winter. The winter solstice, when the harshest part of winter was over, was a time of celebration for many peoples because they would look forward to more hours of sunlight during the longer days ahead.

The Norse in Scandinavia celebrated Yule

from the winter solstice on December 21 through to January. Men brought home logs that were lighted and a feast would take place until the log was completely burned. Each spark from the fire was believed to represent a new pig or calf to be born in the coming new year.
The pagan god Oden was honored by Germans during the mid-winter holiday. Oden inspired great fear in the Germans who believed that Oden traveled at nights through the sky to observe people and make a decision about who would perish or prosper in life. This belief caused most people to stay inside during the period.

In Rome it was the god of agriculture, Saturn, who was honored in a holiday called Saturnalia. It was a holiday that started during the week that led up to the winter solstice and continued for a month with hedonistic celebrations. There was plenty of food and drink and the normal social class rules of who had privilege and power in Roman society were totally disregarded as everyone participated in the festivities. Some Romans also had a feast called Juvenalia to honor children and the birthday of the sun god Mithra was sometimes celebrated by the upper classes.

In the early years of the start of Christianity the main holiday was Easter. It was in the 4th Century that church officials made a decision to have the birth of Jesus celebrated as a holiday and Pope Julius I chose December 25 as the day of Jesus’ birth. The holiday, which was first called the Feast of the Nativity, spread to England by the end of the 6th Century and to Scandinavia by the end of the 8th Century.
Church leaders achieved the goal of having Christmas celebrations, including attendance at church, become popular during the winter solstice, but they were unable to control other pagan-like celebrations during Christmas. Believers would attend church on Christmas and then participate later in raucous and drunken celebrations. But by the Middle Ages, from around the  5th to the 16th Century, Christianity had outgrown paganism as a religion.

The celebration of Christmas in Europe

changed in the early 17th Century when Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans gained power in England in 1645. To remove decadent behavior from the society, Cromwell cancelled Christmas as the Puritans noted that the Bible doesn’t mention any date for Jesus’ birth. The lack of this information and specific Biblical references to Christmas is also cited by religious groups like Jehovah Witnesses as the reason they don’t observe or participate in Christmas. Christmas celebrations returned in England around 1649 when Charles II was restored to the throne.

Christmas wasn’t a holiday in early America

because the Pilgrims who came to America had even stricter beliefs than Cromwell and the Puritans. Christmas celebrations were even forbidden in Boston from 1659 to 1681. During the same time however, settlers in Jamestown in Virginia were reported to have enjoyed Christmas.

After the American Revolution Christmas again lost popularity and it wasn’t until June 26, 1870 that Christmas was declared a federal holiday. Christmas in the United States gained popularity as a holiday period during the 19th Century. Christmas celebrations also changed at that time to be more family-centered rather than being carnival-like.

As the Christmas holiday season starts to approach, a large number of individuals and families start decorating for Christmas.

While just about anything in the home can be decorated, a large amount of focus is placed on the Christmas tree. Since there is a good chance that you may want to purchase a Christmas tree this year, you may be wondering about your decorating options.

Perhaps, the most common Christmas decoration used on a Christmas tree is lights.

Christmas lights are a small set of lights that tend to be multicolored or white, although different color combinations can be purchased. A large number of Christmas tree owners use Christmas lights to decorate their Christmas trees. What is nice about Christmas lights is that you have options when using them. Depending on the type of Christmas lights you use, if you choose to use them at all, you may be able to set your lights to sing a Christmas tune or flash in a certain pattern.

Aside from Christmas lights, Christmas ornaments are another one of the most commonly used Christmas decorations, for Christmas trees.  Christmas ornaments come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, and styles.  On average, most Christmas ornaments are in the shape of a ball.  They are typically colored red, green, silver, or gold; however, many Christmas ball ornaments also come designed with unique messages or Christmas symbols.  Christmas ornaments are most commonly hung from Christmas tree branches using ornament hooks, yarn, or thread.

Christmas tree toppers are another item that can regularly be found on a Christmas tree. While Christmas tree toppers, like all other Christmas decorations, come in a wide variety of different sizes, shapes, and styles, they are most commonly sold as angels. Despite the fact that most Christmas tree toppers are in the form on an angel, other popular toppers include stars, crosses, and Santas.  In addition to coming in different sizes, you will find that many Christmas tree toppers are designed to light up, with Christmas lights, and some may even play a musical Christmas tune.

In addition to Christmas tree toppers, Christmas lights, and Christmas ornaments, garland is also used on many Christmas trees. In fact, it is sometimes rare to find a decorated Christmas tree that does not have garland on it. Garland, when used to decorate a Christmas tree, is often intertwined with Christmas lights.  Christmas garland also comes in a number of different styles.  Popular garland styles include floral garland and beaded garland.  It is also possible to find pre-light garland. Pre-light garland is garland that has Christmas lights attached to it already.  The main purpose of pre-light garland is to reduce the amount of time it takes to decorate a Christmas tree.

If you are interested in decorating your Christmas tree with Christmas lights, Christmas ornaments, Christmas tree toppers, or garland, you may need to purchase these items, unless you are using your decorations from last Christmas.  Since all of the previously mentioned Christmas decorations are widely used on Christmas trees, you should be able to find these items from a large number of retailers, both on and offline.  For affordable Christmas decorations, you are urged to check your local dollar stores, discount stores, or department stores.  For the largest selection of Christmas tree decorations, you are urged to shop online or at a local specialty Christmas shop.

1. Silent night! Holy night!
All is calm, all is bright.
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child.
Holy Infant, so tender and mild.
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

2. Silent night! Holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight!
Glories stream from heaven afar;
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ, the Savior, is born!
Christ, the Savior, is born!

3. Silent night! Holy night!
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from Thy Holy Face.
With the dawn of redeeming grace.
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth!
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth!

4. Silent night, holy night,
Wondrous star, lend thy light
With the angels let us sing
Alleluia to our King
Christ the Savior is here,
Jesus the Savior is here!