27 | November | 2012 | Nurture Self 365

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” Norman Vincent Peale

I did NOT know that Christmas became a National Holiday in the America on June 26, 1870. After doing a bit of research to confirm this, I’ve discovered that Ulysses S. Grant is responsible for declaring the 25th day of December an National Holiday to celebrate Christmas. I’m trying to find out when it was declared a National Holiday in Canada . . . but not having much luck there. I would imagine it was some time after the US instituted it.

I did find this: “Though Christmas is the only legal national religious holiday in the United States today, it has been less than 100 years since all 50 states recognized Christmas as an official holiday. Alabama was the first state to declare Christmas an official holiday in 1836, 71 years before the last state — Oklahoma — followed suit in 1907.”

Just interesting tid bits of information to get your Holiday Season started . . .