If you hadn’t noticed – the holiday season is in full swing. But how could you not? Christmas music has been playing in the big box stores since November, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone (along with their deals), and the winter parties hosted by our employers’ and kids’ schools have begun. Soon, we’ll be marking the season with family and friends in our own homes, carrying on the traditions passed down generation to generation. Given that this is also a reflective time of year, let’s take a moment to think about how our larger, American cultural traditions have evolved and impacted our favorite family pastimes. What’s changed? What’s stayed the same? Read on for a fun-filled round-up.

We are sure we’re not the only ones who feel like the shopping season begins earlier and earlier each year. These days, it seems like the stores switch overnight from all things Halloween to all things Christmas. Even though Thanksgiving remains the most traveled holiday of the year for family get-togethers, the day itself is often overshadowed by the shoppers who anxiously await the Black Friday deals. This is something they’ve been doing since the 1920s, when Macy’s began hosting its Thanksgiving Parade as a way to get customers into their stores on the Friday after Thanksgiving. The day didn’t get an official name until the 1960s, nor did it fully catch on as a term in popular culture until the 1980s, but it remains a constant marker of the beginning of the holiday season. And one day of deals is no longer enough – today some stores even open on Thanksgiving Day, plus there’s Small Business Saturday, Super Sunday, and Cyber Monday, which itself is morphing into something altogether new: Cyber Week.

But, of course, the holidays aren’t just about the giving and receiving of presents. The rise of our consumer culture is a relatively recent phenomenon much like the important role gifts play during this time of year. The holiday seasons of the past were hardly the celebratory occasions they’ve become today. In fact, celebrating Christmas was a solemn occasion in early America. During the mid-1600s, one could receive a fine for indulging in any outwardly jubilant behavior on December 25th; the day was supposed to be solemnly and respectfully marked. It took the merging of different cultures and religious customs another 200 years before the day was significant enough in the collective conscience to have it declared a federal holiday by Abraham Lincoln in 1870.

It was around this same time that the Christmas tree (a pagan symbol predating Christianity) became a more common focal point in many American, typically Christian, homes. German immigrants in Pennsylvania are credited with popularizing the display of evergreens during the holidays. This tradition became even more widespread after England’s Royal Family was featured around a decorated, candle-lit tree on the cover of Illustrated London News in 1848. Turns out that our ancestors from the 19th century were just as interested in the goings-on of the fashionable Royal Family as we are today in the 21st.

*Photo Credit: Annie Spratt, Unsplash.com*

Christmas trees have certainly endured the test of time. Our country’s first National Christmas tree was lit by President Calvin Coolidge in 1923, and many families continue to gather around their uniquely decorated trees each year. Increasingly, these trees are not of the fresh-cut variety but instead are plastic works of art that are carefully pulled from boxes in attics rather than chopped out of the ground. The choice between real and artificial forces today’s Christmas tree fans to also consider the environmental impact of their decision, something our ancestors surely never thought of.

For much of our country’s history, Christmas has held center stage during the holiday season. Today, according to a Pew Research Center fact sheet, nine in ten Americans observe the holiday, though the role of religion in Christmas celebrations has declined. But as popular as it has become, the holidays are now more inclusive and multicultural than ever. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter became the first to officially recognize Hanukkah, which he did by lighting the newly-established National Menorah. More recently, Presidents since Bill Clinton have released official celebratory statements about Kwanzaa each year.

No matter what, if any, religious background you come from, your festivities will surely involve a dazzle of light, whether it emanates from bright, flashing LED strings or the timeless, comforting warm glow of wax candles or a fireplace. They will probably involve a little coercion of the small children in your life to be nice, not naughty, as Santa omnisciently looks on, or even as an Elf on the Shelf or Mensch on a Bench observes from their respective perches. Each of us has our own version of what the holiday season looks and feels like, but one thing that is clear, is that our traditions, in both our personal and national spheres, continue to evolve.