Christmas: A Time for Family and Togetherness

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Christmas: A Time for Family and Togetherness
During the course of the year, there is that one time where Christians from across the universe are united together like never before. As conflicts emerge about Christmas becoming a commercialized celebration in the Western World, the sincere significance of Christmas remains as the season for family gatherings- through grand feasts and mainly the exchange of gifts.
In the 300s, Christmas the tribute of incarnation was born (William par. 1). “Christmas” refers to the yearly remembrance of Jesus Christ’s birthday as referenced in the Gospels of Luke and Mathew (McCord 83). On December 25th, Christmas is celebrated most followers of the Christian denomination while others may celebrate the occasion on December 24th or January 7th (Highfield 12). Despite the differences on the festival’s date, “Christmas” means the festival of Christ in early English as well as “Holy Night” in foreign languages such as Spanish (Navidad) and French (Noël) (Highfield 14). However, December 25th is not the historically accurate date of Christ’s birthday (Tabor 43), nonetheless Christians celebrate his presence on this auspicious day during the start of winter, which is known as the “winter solstice” (Highfield 129). Many Christians participate in various traditional customs and practices that this effervescent season delivers (Highfield 130). With attention to all of the variety of devotional holidays celebrated across the universe, Christmas remains the most well-known (Highfield 135).
In addition to Christmas’ popularity, there has been a significant drift in the celebration from the fourth century to current (McCord par. 2), a new and transformed North American Christmas started to progress. During th...

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...e of Jesus Christ since, it is symbolic to his birth and the season (Highfield 180).

Works Cited

Charles, Caldwell Dobie. "Christmas Traditions." Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine (1868- 1935) 12 1926: 376.ProQuest. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
Ghosh, Arpita, and Mohammad Mahdian. "Christmas Gift Exchange Games." Theory of Computing Systems 50.1 (2012): 3-19. Web. 22 Mar. 2014
Highfield, Roger. The Physics of Christmas. 1st Ed. Toronto: Little, Brown and Company, 1998. Print.
McCord Adams, Marilyn. "25th December: Christmas Day." The Expository Times 123.2 (2011): 83-4. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
William, Lyon P. "CHRISTMAS." The Washington Post (1923-1954): 1. Dec 20 1997. ProQuest. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
Tabor, James. The Jesus Dynasty. Toronto: Simon & Schuster, 2006. Print.
Tulloch, Alexander. "Christmas." English Today 25.4 (2009): 61-3. ProQuest. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

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