Did You Know? . . .

* It wasn’t until 1836 that Alabama became the first state to declare Christmas a holiday. Later, when the Civil War separated soldiers from their families, 13 more states adopted Christmas as an official holiday.

* Celebrating Christmas in Massachusetts three centuries ago was risky: Anyone who took the day off from work could be fined five shillings.

* The modern Christmas celebration dates from no earlier than the 19th Century, thanks largely to figures such as Washington Irving, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Thomas Nast, Clement Moore, Sir Walter Scott and Charles Dickens.

* Christmas trees of the 19th Century in the United States were topped with an American flag or a sugar plum fairy.

* In 1809, Washington Irving’s “Knickerbocker History of New York” transformed St. Nicholas from a stern bishop into jolly St. Nick, who showered gifts on the burghers of old Manhattan.

* In 1822, theologian Clement Moore borrowed from Irving’s “Knickerbocker History of New York” to write “An Account of a Visit of St. Nicholas,” the Christmas poem that begins, “ ‘Twas the night before Christmas . . . .”

* Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” published in England during the 1840s, gave Christmas a moral anchor, though not a religious one, by fixing family reunion and charity as the seasonal virtues.

* Thomas Nast’s illustrations created the myths that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole, wears a suit with fur trim and has a workshop where he makes toys.

* Mark Twain was unsuccessful at Christmas myth-making. He made up a story that Santa Claus lived on the moon.

* The shopping spree is among the newest Christmas traditions. In the 1800s, sales of Christmas goods began on Dec. 23. As recently as the 1920s, advertisements for the Christmas season did not appear until Dec. 15.

* Christmas characters created only in this century: Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the Little Drummer Boy and the Grinch from Dr. Seuss’ classic 1957 story, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”