Christmas Spirit: The Joyous Stories, Carols, Feasts, and Traditions of the Season

By Gregory Wilbur and George Grant

Book Overview

Christmas is nearly everyone's favourite time of the year because it is adorned with so many special celebrations, happy memories, delightful stories, wonderful songs, and rich recipes. A season of selfless giving and expressive love, it is a time for family togetherness, for snuggling up to the hearthside, for recalling the legends and fables, and for celebrating the things that matter the most. As a result, Christmas has been the focus of some of the greatest art, music, literature, and ideas of all time. Christmas Spirit captures the essence of the Yuletide season by gathering in one place all of those elements that contribute to the joyous spirit of Christmas. From the origins of our most cherished Christmas traditions and rituals to the insights of the wisest men and women of the ages on their essential meaning and significance, Christmas Spirit emphasises and underscores the best moments of the season. Here are the whys and wherefores of mistletoe, plum pudding, holly and ivy, Advent wreaths, nativity scenes, carolling, sleigh rides, Christmas trees, jingle bells, wassailing, Twelfth Night, twinkling lights, gift giving, and Saint Nicholas.In short, here is the joy of the season - the Christmas Spirit.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1581822049
• ISBN13: 9781581822045
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 7.1"

Customer Reviews

Beautiful and Timely

In an age where so much of the focus is on materialism and making Christmas into a huge marketing event, this book is a breath of fresh air! My son who is 9 loves this book and he was quick to point out to me "mom, why do so many people think it's all about the presents?" This book is full of carols, hymns and explanations of the traditions of Yuletide, Advent, Christmas and the Epiphany. I recommend this highly!

Will change the way you celebrate this glorious holiday!

A tremendous collection of Christmas poems, quotes, songs, traditions, recipes, and stories. It has changed the way we celebrate and helped us understand better why we celebrate. I can't recommend it highly enough. If we could only choose one Christmas book to own, this would probably be it.

Christmas Spirit

Christmas is almost everyone's favorite time of the year. It certainly is mine. There are so many traditions assoicated with Christmas that most of us do not know where these traditions originated. This book tells us the origin of many of these. St. Nicholas was actually a fourth century pastor who had a great love for children. He desired to make their lives better. This is where the tradition of Santa Claus began. The book also includes some favorite recipes and the history behind some of our Christmas carols. I found all of this information to be quite interesing. Jeanetta Bearden Pollard author of "Mrs. Claus Shares Stories From the Heart."