info about Christmas presents, Xmas presents

Manny people believ that Christmas in England was eradicated by the Cromwellians in the seventeenth century and was only reinvented by the Victorians, although this has now been shown to be unlikely. however, for a brief time during the Cromwellian period, the celebration of Christmas Day with Christmas gift giving and Christmas fayre did for a time go underground. According to Countess Maria Hubert von Staufer, the customs that eighteenth-century people observed were handed down from earlier times, and people had been able to continue with traditional Christmas festivities when they wished.

In medieval times, wandering minstrels traveled from hamlet to castle, performing Christmas carols. Later, villages had their own bands of waits. Today, many carol services are held, not just on Christmas Eve, but throughout the holiday season.

The Christmas tree is most important to the British Christmas celebration and, although it was known in England previously, it grew extremely popular when Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, brought the tradition to the Royal Family from his native Germany in the mid-nineteenth century. In family houses, people began to store Christmas presents underneath the Christmas tree. It has now overtaken the more traditional mistletoe in popularity, although kissing under the mistletoe remains a staunch Christmas tradition.

Today, the British Isles usher in the holiday season with jubilant sound of church bells pealing, the sounds of church choirs even in busy arcades where people are busy Christmas present shopping, and of course on the radio and TV.