In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

This is a recent picture of the church I attended growing up. Immaculate Heart of Mary on Polish Hill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Of the four Gospels, the Gospel of John is my favorite. The other three are beautiful also, telling the lineage of Jesus, the prophesies foretelling His coming, the story of His birth, and of course His ministry, miracles He performed and how He died and rose from the dead. However, the Gospel of John, apparently through divine inspiration, tells Who Jesus is:

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

First Christmas celebration in America

Spanish explorer and conquistador Hernando de Soto established his winter encampment site of 1539-40 near what is now the Historic Capitol in downtown Tallahassee. He, along with other members of his expedition, celebrated the first U.S. Christmas.

The history of Christmas in Europe and America

In Great Britain, Christmas was celebrated until the Puritans, led by Oliver Cromwell, outlawed Christmas in 1645.  Puritans believed that celebrating the birth of Christ was a sign of decadence and a disgrace to Christianity.  In the English Colonies, the English separatists also believed in worshipping Jesus without ceremonies and made celebrating Christmas a crime. 

Despite Puritan efforts, many colonists in New England did celebrate Christmas, importing English customs such as drinking, feasting, mumming and wassailing. Mumming, or “masking,” involved people dressing up in costume and going from house to house, putting on plays and otherwise performing. Wassailers also traveled between homes, drinking and singing while passing around bowls full of spiced ale or mulled wine.

For the settlers who arrived in Virginia in 1607, Christmas was an important holiday. While celebrations may have been limited, given the harsh realities of life in the struggling new Jamestown settlement, they preserved it as a sacred occasion and a day of rest. By the 1620s and ‘30s, Christmas was established as a benchmark in the legislative calendar of the Virginia colony, according to Nancy Egloff, Jamestown Settlement historian. Laws on the books in 1631, for example, stated that churches were to be built in areas that needed them before the “feast of the nativitie of our Saviour Christ.”

In the middle and southern colonies, where there was more religious diversity, Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Moravians and other groups introduced their own Christmas traditions to the New World, both religious and secular.

Far from the children-focused occasion it is today, the Christmas season was packed with adult activities such as parties, feasts, hunts, balls and—of course—church services. People decorated homes and churches with evergreen plants such as holly, ivy, mountain laurel and mistletoe, a favorite of couples seeking a holiday kiss. 

In the 1800s, Americans' views on Christmas changed a great deal.  One author, Washington Irving, wrote fictitious stories of how Christmas had been celebrated in England before the Puritans took over, and some of these stories caught on in American practices.  German immigrants brought with them the practice of placing evergreen branches and trees in home during winter as a reminder of life during hard times.  And Catholic immigrants brought the tradition started by Saint Francis of keeping small nativity scenes in their homes.  By the late 1800s, most Americans celebrated Christmas. In 1870, President Grant and Congress declared Christmas, the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, savior of the world, a national holiday.

And let us not forget the Christmas of 1776 when George Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware to take Trenton turning the tide of the Revolution changing world history forever.

Origins of some popular Christmas traditions

The custom of counting the days until Christmas on an Advent calendar has started in Germany, back in the 19th century.

Although the name of the original inventor is still contested, Gerhard Lang seems the most likely contender. When he was a child, Gerhard’s creating mother stuffed twenty-four cookies into a square of cardboard to symbolize the days leading up to Christmas.

As an adult, Gerhard remembered his mom’s idea and started manufacturing his very own advent calendars.

The tradition of the Christmas stocking originated in Europe back in the 4th century, and was inspired by the life of the Bishop Saint Nicolas of Myra.

According to the legend, Saint Nicholas heard about the predicament of a poor widower and his three daughters. He snuck into the house and saw the girls’ recently washed stockings drying by the fire. Wanting to help the poor family, he filled the stockings with gold coins before disappearing into the night. 

In America, the custom of stuffing Christmas stockings started from a 19th century poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” The poem mentioned that “the stockings were hung by the chimney with care / In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.” 

Leaving out a plate of cookies and a glass of milk for Santa is a well-established custom among American families with small children. Some families even extend the giving to Santa’s flying reindeer, leaving out carrots or apples.

The tradition began in the 1930s during the Great Depression, when parents were trying to instill a sense of thankfulness in their children. In that time of great economic hardship, it was important to give to others and to show gratitude for the gifts you receive on Christmas. 

My memories of Christmas include Wigilia, pronounced Vigilya in English, which means vigil. In Poland, this is the word for the meal eaten on the evening of Dec. 24 waiting for the birth of the Christ. It begins when the first star appears in the sky remembering the Star of Bethlehem that the Three Kings followed.

The table is set with a white tablecloth. With hay under the corners of the table to remember the manger. There was an extra seat at the table for a stranger since on this night no one should be alone, remembering, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me,” - Matthew 25:40

Dinner begins with the breaking of a thin unleavened wafer, Opłatek, pronounced Opwatek. Everyone gets a piece. Then everyone breaks a smaller piece off of each others at the table, wishing them Merry Christmas and good health and wealth in the New Year.

Every family has their own version and variety of dishes. My grandmother, my mother's mother, who came from Poland by herself when she was 16 years old, was the creator of our dishes.

There are two traditions. 12 dishes for the 12 Apostles. Or an older tradition of an odd number, as we did. My best recollection is the thirteenth dish was in honor of the stranger. There was no meat.

• Pickled Herring in wine and Pickled Herring in sour cream. Also breaded or baked fish - three dishes

• Sweet Sauerkraut and sour Sauerkraut - two dishes

• Sauerkraut, potato and plum filled Pierogi, flour and egg dumplings with fillings, boiled and/or fried -three dishes

• Rice with peas and raisins

• Marinated mushrooms

• Cucumbers with sour cream and raw onions

• Kruschiki - A light, thin, crispy Polish Christmas pastry. Egg yolks, flour and sour cream with other ingredients rolled thin, cut into strips tied into bows, fried and rolled in powdered sugar.

• Prunes simmered in orange juice

Legend has it that at midnight the animals are given the ability to speak to welcome the Baby Jesus. (Of course this can't be verified because you were at Midnight Mass.)

Christmas Eve concluded with attending Midnight Mass. Show up about 11PM so you got a seat because it would be packed. Also, to sing carols in English and Polish and of course take in all the breathtaking decorations. If you forgot some of the Polish lyrics, you just hummed until you remembered again. EVERYONE showed up. Even the bars emptied, and the back of the church filled up and they all sang. Candles were passed out. At a certain part of the mass, ushers came down the center aisle lighting the candles to signify that The Light of the World was now IN the world. The service was always beautiful. Then everyone went home to be with their families and open their gifts.

There are certainly many things going on in the world now. Many not good. You may have many issues going on in your life or those of family members. You may personally be feeling despair or that you are all alone. On Christmas, put everything on the side and remember that God thought so much of you that He gave you the first Christmas gift, Jesus Christ Himself, to teach us how to be real human beings, save you and give you eternal life.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

If you know someone to whom any one or all of the above circumstances apply, share this with them. Many people are also suffering financially this year. If you have the means, even something as small as helping someone pay for their groceries for which they don’t have enough money, would be a beautiful Christmas gift. Picking a card with a child’s name and buying the gift or gifts on it would be too. It you have more, give more out of gratitude for the abundance God gave you. Visit someone alone. Better yet, invite them for dinner. All of this in gratitude for THE gift of all gifts given to you!

Merry Christmas and good health and wealth in the New Year to you and yours!

Enjoy!