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I'm not asking for suggestions on stores.
How far back does the custom
of exchanging gifts around the Winter solstce go, where did it come
from, and when and how did it get attached to Christmas specifically?
People complain about the materialization od Christmas, are they wrong?
I need some info about History Of Christmas Presents? |
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According to Cecil, the Victorians had a lot to do with our modern Christmas
celebrations.
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_014.html
As for back history of Christmas gifts, here's at least one site: just
re-reading a biography of Henry VIII and the author is going on about the
fancy gifts he gave all the wives for the holidays. So at least that far
back. I thought that exchanging gifts for Christmas, or, alternatively, for
Epiphany, was a pretty old idea, related to the whole story of the
gifts of the Magi.
However, the whole thing has gotten way out of hand. A hundred years
ago, a kid would be thrilled with an oranges, some nuts, a candy cane or
two, and maybe a doll or some skates, and adults exchanged things like
handkerchiefs. Now there are families where if a gift costs less than a
couple of hundred bucks, people are insulted -- and the idea of a child
getting only *one* toy for Christmas is nearly unthinkable. It's
ridiculous. I think the price of gifts has always been pretty closely tied to the
relative wealth of the gift-giver. Henry gave one of the wives a castle, as
I recall. And didn't Nelly Olsen get some fancy doll that she taunted Laura
with (the oranges and handkerchiefs made me think of the books)? |
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