Christmas became a holiday on June 28 1870. The church in Rome began celebrating Christmas on December 25 in the 4th century. The Romans celebrated two holidays in December. The first holiday was Saturnalia. It was a two week festival celebrating their god of agriculture Saturn. On December 25th they celebrated the birth of Mithra their sun god.

Christmas is the most popular holiday because it involves getting together with friends and family. You eat a lot of food and you open presents and you do a lot of activities. Some people sing Christmas songs. Christmas was traditionally a Christan holiday it’s a celebration of a baby named Jesus from Bethlehem to Joseph and virgin Mary. Christmas comes from a combination of mass and Christ.

In the 17th century a wave of religious reformed changed the way people celebrated Christmas in Europe. When Oliver Cromwell took over England in 1645 he vowed to get rid of decadence. Part of his effort canceled Christmas by popular demand; Charles II was restored to the throne with him he brought back Christmas. America didn’t celebrate Christmas until the 19th century.

Americans re-invented Christmas and changed it from being a raucous carnival holiday into a family centered day to day of peace and nostalgia. Author Washington Irvin wrote a sketchbook of Geoffrey crayon gent. It was a series of stories about celebrating Christmas in a English manor house. All of his sketches feature a squire who invited the peasants into his house for the holiday.