Brian Earl

Yeah, I mean, first of all, I like the way you frame the question, what we think of as Christmas, because Christmas isn't one thing. It's kind of it's gone through so many different versions. And this Christmas we celebrate is just the current version. It won't be the last. And it certainly wasn't the first. It all started to gel around the middle of the 19th century before the Civil War.

One in every three Americans was a farmer. Right. And then as we became more industrialized. Just the economy was changing. More goods were being made in factories and shipped to stores. Store-bought items became a big thing, as did the print media. The number of daily newspapers, something like tripled during the late 19th to early 20th centuries.

One in every three Americans was a farmer. Right. And then as we became more industrialized. Just the economy was changing. More goods were being made in factories and shipped to stores. Store-bought items became a big thing, as did the print media. The number of daily newspapers, something like tripled during the late 19th to early 20th centuries.

One in every three Americans was a farmer. Right. And then as we became more industrialized. Just the economy was changing. More goods were being made in factories and shipped to stores. Store-bought items became a big thing, as did the print media. The number of daily newspapers, something like tripled during the late 19th to early 20th centuries.

And that created new avenues for advertising and also an avenue to socialize an idea about Christmas. Because prior to, certain communities didn't celebrate Christmas at all. Or if they did, it was highly regionalized and very specific to that area. The idea of Christmas is just one thing that we all kind of understand what it is and how you celebrate it.

And that created new avenues for advertising and also an avenue to socialize an idea about Christmas. Because prior to, certain communities didn't celebrate Christmas at all. Or if they did, it was highly regionalized and very specific to that area. The idea of Christmas is just one thing that we all kind of understand what it is and how you celebrate it.

And that created new avenues for advertising and also an avenue to socialize an idea about Christmas. Because prior to, certain communities didn't celebrate Christmas at all. Or if they did, it was highly regionalized and very specific to that area. The idea of Christmas is just one thing that we all kind of understand what it is and how you celebrate it.

That could only be true if there was a mass media to propagate ideas like that. And as a matter of fact, in 1849, it was Queen Victoria and Prince Albert who were shown in Godey's Women's Magazine as celebrating Christmas around a Christmas tree. Now, Christmas trees have been around for a long, long time, but they were never popular until that point.

That could only be true if there was a mass media to propagate ideas like that. And as a matter of fact, in 1849, it was Queen Victoria and Prince Albert who were shown in Godey's Women's Magazine as celebrating Christmas around a Christmas tree. Now, Christmas trees have been around for a long, long time, but they were never popular until that point.

That could only be true if there was a mass media to propagate ideas like that. And as a matter of fact, in 1849, it was Queen Victoria and Prince Albert who were shown in Godey's Women's Magazine as celebrating Christmas around a Christmas tree. Now, Christmas trees have been around for a long, long time, but they were never popular until that point.

And then it was the next year that it became the must-have Christmas accessory on that side of the Atlantic. Over here, Franklin Pierce was our president during that time. He had the first national Christmas tree. And then it was several decades later when Christmas trees were grown as a commercial crop that they truly became as ubiquitous as they are now.

And then it was the next year that it became the must-have Christmas accessory on that side of the Atlantic. Over here, Franklin Pierce was our president during that time. He had the first national Christmas tree. And then it was several decades later when Christmas trees were grown as a commercial crop that they truly became as ubiquitous as they are now.

And then it was the next year that it became the must-have Christmas accessory on that side of the Atlantic. Over here, Franklin Pierce was our president during that time. He had the first national Christmas tree. And then it was several decades later when Christmas trees were grown as a commercial crop that they truly became as ubiquitous as they are now.

department store shopping where you take things off the shelves and bring them up to the register. That was new. Before that, things were behind the counter. You'd go into the shop and the shopkeeper would get things off the shelves behind the counter.

department store shopping where you take things off the shelves and bring them up to the register. That was new. Before that, things were behind the counter. You'd go into the shop and the shopkeeper would get things off the shelves behind the counter.

department store shopping where you take things off the shelves and bring them up to the register. That was new. Before that, things were behind the counter. You'd go into the shop and the shopkeeper would get things off the shelves behind the counter.

But now that we have these enormous department stores and the perfection of plate glass, which created an avenue for having these beautiful storefront windows and the Christmas displays that introduced the notion of window shopping. and walking down the city streets and just seeing Christmas as just part of your atmosphere, all of that came into being right around that same time.

But now that we have these enormous department stores and the perfection of plate glass, which created an avenue for having these beautiful storefront windows and the Christmas displays that introduced the notion of window shopping. and walking down the city streets and just seeing Christmas as just part of your atmosphere, all of that came into being right around that same time.

But now that we have these enormous department stores and the perfection of plate glass, which created an avenue for having these beautiful storefront windows and the Christmas displays that introduced the notion of window shopping. and walking down the city streets and just seeing Christmas as just part of your atmosphere, all of that came into being right around that same time.

So many factors converging at just the right time.