This book is dry and reads more like a textbook from my elementary school days. I love connecting history with why we do certain things today, and there was some good information in this book. I found myself wanting a simple list—backed up by sources—to make getting through this information easier.

I enjoyed the historical accounts in detail, which is why I chose this book. However, it became preachy and lessened the enjoyment of the book. For example, the author sates: "Empty stockings hung at home or unsold stockings in stores should remind everyone who celebrates the birth of Christ to search for ways to make the season bright for others who have not been blessed." So, if you're looking to learn some history, you may find something here as it is told in an appealing manner. But, if you don't want to be told what you "should" do, then try a more objective source.

The author is one of those "Jesus is the reason for the season" people who at least admits that most of the traditions followed today had roots from other cultures and religions. Which says to me that there are a lot of "reasons for the season" and perhaps some of them have merit as well.

I was hoping this would get me into the "Christmas spirit" and ready for the holidays with a greater appreciation for the traditions that I am familiar with, and learn about others I am less familiar with. It didn't do that at all.

The alphabetized table of contents helps you find the topics and traditions of Christmas that you want to learn about. Very informative.

Enjoying learning the history of Christmas as we know it.

4-27-09 update.

I have not been on goodreads in a long time apparently.

I did post the 12 days of Christmas on my blog.

This would be a good book to read again next year as a reminder of the origins of our Christmas traditions.

Liked it a lot!

This was an interesting read! I enjoyed reading about the old traditions and how they may have changed and evolved over the years.
The author, however, does not cite any of the resources used to confirm the historical facts he refers to.
But still, it's a lovely book to read at Christmas time.

Quality exploration of the history behind a wide variety of Christmas traditions, but the author’s tendency toward sermonizing can be distracting. Would be better if he allowed the history of Christian traditions to speak for themselves.

This book recounts the origins and history of various Christmas traditions through the years. It was encouraging to see how several, once pagan, rituals have evolved into bringing honor and glory to our Lord. Sadly, some have also lost their reverence, as well. I admire the author's style of providing closure within each chapter that reverts back to the beginning. I look forward to reading Mr. Collins' other works.

How fascinating! I wish the writing was more seamless throughout rather than a collection of individual essays but overall I found this to be really intriguing. It definitely piqued my curiosity on many facets of the Christmas celebrations that we have all come to know and love today. My favorite explorations included the Introduction, Advent, Birthday Cake for Jesus, Boxing Day, Christmas Seals, Christmas Trees, Epiphany, The Nutcracker Ballet, Santa Claus, Stockings, The Twelve Days of Christmas, Xmas, and Yule Logs. I'd love to bring back some of these widely forgotten (or otherwise unknown, at least in the United States) traditions in our family Christmas celebrations!

If I'm honest, I just read parts of this book so that I could write this article for my church's newsletter in December 2012:

While looking through the Christmas and Advent books in the church, two books by Ace
Collins caught my interest. Stories behind the Great Traditions of Christmas explores the
meaning behind Christmas symbols including evergreen trees, poinsettias, candy canes, lights,
and the colors of Christmas. In Stories behind the Best Loved Songs of Christmas, Collins shares
the stories behind 31 favorite Christmas songs and carols. The story of “Silent Night” is
especially meaningful. It was written by Joseph Mohr, assistant priest at St. Nicholas Church in
Oberndorf, Austria.

In 1818, during a particularly cold winter, Mohr was making last-minute preparations for
a special Christmas Eve mass, a service he had been planning for months. Everything from
music to message was in place. But as he cleaned and readied the sanctuary, the priest
encountered an unfathomable dilemma: St. Nicholas’s organ wouldn’t play. A frantic Mohr
struggled with the old instrument for hours, making adjustments, fiddling with keys, stops,
and pedals, even crawling behind the console to see if he could find a problem. In spite of
his efforts, the organ remained silent, its voice as still as a dark winter’s night.

Realizing he could do nothing else, the priest paused and prayed for inspiration. He asked
God to show him a way to bring music to his congregation o the year’s most meaningful day
of worship.

Then an idea came to him. Mohr remembered a poem he had written several years before
after taking a winter walk at his grandfather’s home. He took the poem, “Stille Nacht! Heilege
Nacht!” to his friend Franz Gruber and convinced him to quickly write simple music to embody
the words.

A few hours later the two friends met at St. Nicholas. There, in a candlelit sanctuary, Gruber
shared his new music with Mohr. The priest approved, and after learning the guitar chords,
rushed it to the choir members, who were waiting for their scheduled rehearsal. What
should have taken weeks was accomplished in hours…. Just after midnight, Mohr and
Gruber stood in front of the main altar and introduced their simple little song. As they sang,
they couldn’t have guessed that ‘Stille Nacht! Heilege Nacht!’ would be remembered not
only the next Christmas in their small village, but almost two hundred years later around
the world.

I love that in its simplicity, “Silent Night” is incredibly powerful and that it only came to Mohr
when he stopped trying to fix the problem with his own power and instead appealed to God
for help. This is a wonderful reminder for me, and I never knew that this story was behind the
well-known hymn until I read this book. Check out these and other books about Christmas and
Advent (for both children and adults!) the next time you are in the church library.

Christ the savior is born!
Christ the savior is born.

Very informative

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. If we celebrate something, we should understand why and how those reasons came to be. This book does exactly that. Ace Collins did great research and how it was all represented was perfect! A great book to read any time of year.

26 different traditions with all the facts I've ever heard about them, and more. The writing is comfortably shared aloud--perhaps as a 12-days-of-Christmas sharing from Dec. 25-Jan 6. It could lead to discussions on how you celebrated this or other activities. Christ is found in the many evolutions from pagan to Christian.

I learned a lot!