“If I could work my will,” said Scrooge indignantly, “every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!” - A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
“The Grinch hated Christmas—the whole Christmas season. Now, please don’t ask why; no one quite knows the reason. It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. Or it could be that his head wasn’t screwed on just right. But I think the most likely reason of all…may have been that his heart was two sizes too small.”– How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Dr. Seuss
Few holidays stir the same depth of feelings amongst Americans as does Christmas--both positive and negative. A particularly interesting 2013 Pew Research Centerpoll looked at Americans’ Christmas traditions, and the stresses the holiday can bring. It’s well worth revisiting.
Pew found that 92% of all Americans celebrate Christmas, including eight-in-ten non-Christians. One-third of Christians view Christmas as primarily a cultural, rather than religious, holiday.
The survey found that several long-standing holiday traditions are not as prevalent as they once were. For example, while 79% of those celebrating Christmas planned to put up a tree, which was down from the 92% who did so in their childhood. Sixty-five percent planned to send Christmas or holiday cards, down from 81% in childhood. And 31% planned to pretend that Santa Claus would visit on Christmas Eve, down from 72%.