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Christmas as we know it today is a Victorian invention of the 1860s. Probably the most celebrated holiday in the world, our modern Christmas is a product of hundreds of years of both secular and religious traditions from around the globe.

When you think of Santa, exactly one outfit comes to mind: boots, a red suit with white trim, and a matching stocking The icon didn’t always dress this way, though.

Richard Malone stared hard through the windshield, trying to see past the fog on the glass, past the twitch of the wipers, past the streaks of snow and into the glare of the headlights, which scraped the top of snowbanks at every twist of the road. The sky was dimming, nearly dark.

Even as we count down the final days of December, many of us are still coming to terms with the fact that holiday events and gatherings are looking very different than Christmases past. Christmas 2020, however, isn’t canceled unless you decide it is. This season, don’t say “bah, humbug!

The winter holidays are upon us, but this year, the pandemic has made family gatherings more difficult and potentially unsafe. How can we celebrate without increasing our or other people’s risk of COVID-19? In the words of Andy Williams, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

Airports are seeing steady increases in travelers determined to spend Christmas with family and friends. Coronavirus testing centers are seeing brisk business, including from some people who want to know whether they have the virus before attending holiday events.

A Frank Pichel’s Christmas trees will probably never be chosen to light up New York’s Rockefeller Center. They look more like the droopy, pitiful tree made famous in the 1965 children’s animated classic, “A Charlie Brown Christmas.

The time-honored popularity of holiday cookie baking remains strong even in today’s grab-and-go society. “Most of us are looking for ways to simplify the holiday hubbub, and focus on activities that truly have meaning for our families,” says Ginny Bean, publisher of Ginny’s catalog and Ginnys.com.

More Americans than ever before are now older than 65, and in just four more decades, for the first time in history, there will be more seniors in the U.S. than people younger than 18, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Bring the joy and celebration of holiday traditions from around the world to your home this season.