http://www.partyideasforyou.com/celebration-time-song/
Children look forward to Christmas as soon as it is over and see it as a very magical celebration full of presents, baked goodies, and snow. Businessmen look forward to the Yuletide season because it is the time of year when they make the most sales. Most look forward to this time of the year as to get together with family and friends and simply enjoy this time with loved ones.
Yet, though Christmas is an unchanging tradition, many of us don’t know exactly how some Christmas traditions we love so much even got started or what they represent.
Here goes twelve very fascinating did-you-knows about Christmas:
• Did you know that Christmas is an Old English term and a contraction for Christ’s Mass?
• Did you know that Christmas was assigned a fixed day in the 4th century as decreed by Pope Julius I and was intended to replace the pagan celebration for the winter solstice. Before this papal decree, Christmas had no fixed day of celebration and was observed at various times of the year.
• Did you know that the first Christmas cards were designed by J. C. Horsley in 1843 and the first commemorative Christmas stamp was distributed in Austria in 1937?
• Did you know kissing under the mistletoe has a long tradition of having magical properties among the Celtics and Teutonic peoples? They believe that the mistletoe has the capacity for healing wound and improving fertility.
• Did you know the twelve days of Christmas stands for the days between Christmas Day and Epiphany? Christmas season officially starts at sundown of the 24th of December through sundown of the 5th of January.
• Did you know that Christmas trees were a German tradition dating back to the 8th century? It was not only when Prince Albert put up a tree in Windsor Castle coming from a trip in Germany.
• Did you know Jesus Christ was born in a cave and not in a manger, contrary to popular belief? Instead of stables, caves were used to keep animals due to the heat. The nativity scene so common today is the American version rather than the Biblical one.
• Did you know Xmas is a derivation from the Greek alphabet? Chi is a Greek letter written as X in the English alphabet. Xmas was a religious contraction used in tables and charts. Xmas certainly doesn’t mean someone took “Christ” out of Christmas.
• Did you know that the song Jingle Bells was originally entitled One-Horse Open Sleigh by its composer James Pierpont? It was intended to be a song for Thanksgiving but became one of the most popular and beloved Christmas carols.
• Did you know that if you receive all the gifts in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, you will be the very happy recipient of a total of 364 gifts?
• Did you know that St. Nicholas was a simple bishop and it was the Dutch who made him into the beloved Christmas gift-giver? When the Dutch pioneers arrived in the North America they brought this tradition with them and later on became Santa Claus.
• Did you know church bell ringing on Christmas morning has been a tradition dating back to the medieval times? It announced the birth and coming of the Saviour to the world and people in the 18th century wore a small bell to commemorate this very important occasion.
Christmas is such a wonderful time for both children and grown ups. It’s a time for friends and relatives, even people you don’t know, to gather and enjoy this special time together. Giving gifts stand for the appreciation we have for all the good things the people around us have done.
Jo is a content writer for ‘Festive Collection’ (http://www.festivecollection.co.uk), the foremost corporate Christmas card collection of Qubic Print Direct. Festive Collection provides one of the largest selections of custom-made corporate Christmas cards in the UK. If you wish to send your clients and business partners these distinctive and personalized Christmas cards they’ll never forget or if you want to make an extra effort and design a completely customized card, highlight your own company logo, and name at a nominal added cost then you ought to check out Festive Collection.
Kool & The Gang – Celebration
|
|
Celtic Woman: Believe
$12.55 Internationally acclaimed vocal phenomenon Celtic Woman announce their sixth new project, BELIEVE, an enchanting studio album and companion live concert DVD available in stores on January 24. Celtic Woman is the all-femalesinging sensation featuring vocalists Chloë Agnew, Lisa Kelly, Lisa Lambe and Celtic violinist Máiréad Nesbitt performing classic Irish songs ("The Water Is Wide," "GreenGrow ... |
|
|
Celebration
$7.51 The ultimate compilation of Madonna songs in a 2-CD Set. DISC 1 1. Hung Up 2. Music 3. Vogue 4. 4 Minutes - feat. Justin Timberlake and Timbaland 5. Holiday 6. Everybody 7. Like A Virgin 8. Into The Groove 9. Like A Prayer 10. Ray Of Light 11. Sorry 12. Express Yourself 13. Open Your Heart 14. Borderline 15. Secret 16. Erotica 17. Justify My Love 18. Revolver - feat. Lil Wayne DISC 2 1. Dress You ... |
|
|
The Last Waltz (Special Edition)
$7.23 LAST WALTZ SPECIAL EDITION - DVD Movie... |
|
|
Sleeping Beauty (Two-Disc Platinum Edition Blu-ray/DVD Combo + BD Live) [Blu-ray]
$29.49 Disney's 1959 animated effort was the studio's most ambitious to date, a widescreen spectacle boasting a gorgeous waltz-filled score adapting Tchaikovsky. In the 14th century, the malevolent Maleficent (not dissimilar to the wicked Queen in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs taunts a king that his infant Aurora will fatally prick her finger on a spinning wheel before sundown on her 16th birt... |
|
|
Gael Force - An Irish Celebration of Song [VHS]
$3.98 Filmed at Dublin's Point Theatre in 1997, Live Concert of the Greatest Irish Artists: Gaelforce features Ireland's best performers in front of an enthusiastic audience. Paced for variety, the show mixes traditional acts such as the Chieftains and Christy Moore with contemporary acts such as Clannad and Sinead O'Connor. Other top artists include Frances Black, De Dannan, Altan, and Clannad. There's... |
|
|
Les Miserables
$9.39 Fifteen years after the historic 10th anniversary concert, the international musical sensation Les Misérables returned for a 25th anniversary concert at London's O2 Arena in October 2010. Like the previous concert, it presents an all-star cast, this time taken from two different 2010 London productions as well as the original 1985 cast. The singers stand at microphones wearing costumes, backed b... |
|
|
Les Miserables: The 25th Anniversary Concert [Blu-ray]
$18.56 Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 02/22/2011 Run time: 170 minutes Rating: Nr... |
|
|
Poetry Speaks to Children (Book & CD) (Read & Hear)
$10.44 In the tradition of Poetry Speaks, the anthology named a Best Book of 2002 by School Library Journal, and praised by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer as "a volume to delight longtime lovers of poetry and to spark new love for poetry, especially among the young," Sourcebooks MediaFusion is proud to introduce the joy of the written and spoken word in Poetry Speaks to Children.Parents, educators, libra... |
|
|
African American Heritage Hymnal: 575 Hymns, Spirituals, and Gospel Songs
$19.25 Eight years of inspired work by a committee of more than 30 musicians and pastors, all leaders in African American worship and gospel music, have resulted in this compendium representing the common repertoire of African American churches across the United States. For the first time in an African American hymnal, traditional hymns and songs are notated to reflect performance practices found in the ... |
|
|
It's a Wonderful Christmas: The Best of the Holidays 1940-1965
$12.28 Even now that we're all grown up, we can't help but look back on our childhood holidays and hope to recapture that elusive spirit of joyful anticipation. Celebrating Christmas is so often about nostalgia. With a nod and a wink to the days of Christmas past, It's a Wonderful Christmas presents classic images of the Yuletide icons of mid-20th-century America.Bubbler lights and glow-in-the-dark icicl... |