[ExI] Why is xmas 'the holiday season' in America??

[Olga Bourlin]

From: "PJ Manney" <pjmanney at gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2007 12:29 PM

> It was the Southern states in the 1830's that first embraced Christmas
> as a legal holiday.  But the South had always celebrated Christmas
> more than the North, because the North had a greater Puritan
> influence.  But by the mid-19th C., the traditions had gotten a firm
> hold throughout the country.

Yes ... Christmas became a legal holiday in most states at this time as it 
was thought the time off would be a morale booster for soldiers fighting the 
Civil War.

Olga