Summary:

In “Christmas was not Always like this: A Brief History” by Bruce David Forbes the debate of whether Christmas is overrated and accurate is discussed. Forbes discusses how he learned that many common beliefs of Christmas’s history seem to be inaccurate. One being where and how Christmas originated. Many believe that it was discussed in the bible which is why we celebrate it. Forbes found that only two of the gospels discussed Jesus’ birth and the two gospels were meshed together. He also discusses how there is no where that states Jesus was born on December 25. It is believed the date was chosen due to winter festivals already celebrated. The next discussion was that Christmas was not viewed by everyone. Puritans viewed Christmas as a day on penance instead of celebration. Christmas was just recently re-accepted as a holiday by many denominations. The final point was that of gift giving. The origin of gift giving came from Saint Nicholas aka Santa Clause the only thing is is that Saint Nicholas day is in early December rather than on the 25th.

Analysis:
I thought this was very interesting. I guess I have always had the pieces of this information but never put it together as a whole. In my house we used to celebrate both St. Nicholas day and Christmas. On St. Nicholas day we would get an apple and candy in our shoes where at Christmas we would get large presents. All of this information really makes me think especially after hearing that the story of Christmas was only in two of the four gospels and it was a combination of the two. They both did not have the same information. I am very strong in my religion but hearing this makes me wonder what else our religion could be incorrect.