Christmas wasn't always the family-centered consumer-oriented holiday it is today. It was celebrated as a rowdy festival of misbehavior for centuries, then was banned by the Puritans, reinvented in the 1820s, and it continues to evolve to this day. Naughty and Nice: A History of the Holiday Season is a presentation with the American History Guys. Brian, Peter, and Ed explore the fascinating history of the “holiday season” in America. Has Christmas grown more or less religious? How has the holiday evolved and changed here? To what extent was Hanukkah a reaction to Christmas? And how have American Jews shaped and reshaped their own wintertime rituals?
