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Christmas [n.]
[pl. Christmases] 1. [also Christmas Day] the annual Christian festival celebrating Christ’s birth, held on 25 December. 2. the
period immediately before and after this.
- ORIGIN Old English,“Mass of Christ”.
Christmas, like Easter, comes from a mix of the Christian celebration of the birth of Christ , combined with the time of year and concepts from earlier celebrations and beliefs such as the Norse Yule, the honouring of Odin in Germany, worship of Mithra, Saturnalia and even early Mesopotamia that occurred at this time of the year. It was not until the 4th century that the Feast of the Nativity was declared by Pope Julius. This later became known as Christmas and over time developed the present Christmas format.
This page includes extensive information. It covers Christmas history, traditions around the world, an Australian Christmas, arts, crafts, cards, games, books, the religious meaning, Santa Claus, Christmas foods & cooking, songs & music, making gifts, … .
We continually add to information available and are willing to consider suggested areas and sources as time permits.
History, Religion, Tradition
An Australian Christmas
- Australian Christmas Recipes
- Australian Christmas Traditions
‘Christmas is always the most exciting time of the year. School children get six weeks holiday and many professionals close their office from Christmas eve to the Australia Day Public Holiday on 26th January, so many families are in a holiday season over this period’. - Changing Australian Christmas Traditions
‘From Chook & Plum Pudding into the Changing Cultural Mix’. - Christmas Carols From Australia
‘Christmas songs and carols that are from Australia, or have been adapted to an Australian Theme’. - Christmas Down Under
One person’s experience of a Christmas spent in Melbourne. Obviously never heard of Six White Boomers though. - Christmas in Australia
‘G’day, Welcome to our Christmas in Australia site. The pages have grown so much over the years that the menu on the left has become very complex. I trust you can find the information that you need’. Very extensive. - Christmas in Australia [2]
How we celebrate Christmas in Australia when it is high summer and with a multicultural population. - Christmas in Australia [3]
Information and images about an Australian Christmas. - Christmas Season Celebrations in Australia
While about Christmas in Australia, it also covers history, traditions, symbols, … . - Koala’s Christmas
The best part of this Australian site is the number of links to resources for Christmas. Links are grouped in directories.
Tradition & History of Christmas
- Christmas Around the World
‘This is a collection of historical Christmas celebrations for many different countries. The celebration or activity is the earliest history for each country and may not represent the current Christmas celebrations of today’. - Christmas in Cyberspace
Sub-titled a A Christian Perspective. Primarily spiritual rather than commercial. - Christmas Lore
‘Discover the Christmas traditions and answers you are looking for - and how you can create some great new Christmas traditions for your family’. - Christmas Traditions Around the World
‘The information placed on this site may not be the way all people celebrate traditions today. Many are over 100 years old. Many people change to suit their families’. Songs, recipes, toys, gifts, favourites. - Happy Holidays !! - Christmas
How Christmas is celebrated in many countries, icons, music, poetry, links to Hannukah, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice. - How Christmas Works
Trivia from the How Stuff Works site on Christmas. Want to know how it came to be ‘X’mas, when the first one was, etc. ? - Saint Nicholas
‘Who is Saint Nicholas ?’, St Nicholas traditions in a range of countries, activities, other resources, play games, read stories, more. - Star of Bethlehem
‘At this time of year it seems almost traditional for stargazers to ponder the age-old question of the origin of the Star of Bethlehem. The Star’s appearance some 2 000 years ago is quite possibly one of the best-known celestial events in all of recorded history’. - Searching for Santa
A bit muddled but some good sections, especially about St Nicholas. Follow his original trail. - The Christmas Tradition
Feature Article from EnhanceTV. Relates to Primary level students. - The History of Christmas
Dates back more than 4 000 years [according to the information supplied]. How pagan festivals linked to Christian ones. - The History of Christmas [2]
‘How much do you really know about this festive holiday ? Explore our site to find the true history !’ - Welcome to Santaland
‘Old fashioned Christmas Traditions’. Arts & crafts, gifts, carols, recipes, stories, books, cards, stamps, more. - Welcome to Why Christmas ?
‘The Hows, Wheres, but mostly the Whys of Christmas’.
Other Information
Arts & Crafts
- AllFreeChristmasCrafts.com
‘AllFreeChristmasCrafts.com offers 1000s of Free craft projects, home decor ideas and DIY tips. We add new projects and tips every day. Some of our reader’s favorites include Ornament Crafts, Christmas Crafts for Kids, DIY Christmas Gifts and DIY Christmas Decorations’. - Animated GIF Archive - Christmas
Christmas animations ? Look no further. - Christmas Clipart
Colour clipart, Black & White clipart, icons, traditional images, Victorian images, bars, more. - Christmas Clip Art
‘You’ll find hundreds of sources for Christmas craft graphics and holiday clip art borders in this Christmas Clip Art and New Year Graphics lens’. - Christmas Crafts
Using common items found around virtually every home. - Christmas Crafts [2]
‘Deck the halls with cute Christmas crafts and one-of-a-kind Christmas stockings — Download templates so they’re super-easy to make !’ - Christmas Graphics.com
Xmas Clipart, Backgrounds, Dividers, Animated GIFs, more ! ‘The galleries each feature dozens of Free Christmas-related clipart images’. - Christmas Table Crafts & Decorations
Napkin rings to candles and miniature Christmas trees. - Danielle’s Place
‘Christmas crafts for kids’. Activities for all ages. - Free Christmas Clip Art
Clip art for home made cards and signs. Many categories to choose from. - Free Christmas Graphics
A wide range of clipart and animated GIFs. - Free Christmas Screen Savers
- Make Stuff
Gift ideas, decorations, wreaths, ornaments, recycling craft ideas, candy, confections, recipes, more. - MrClaus
Download pictures, e-mail your wish list, get colouring in pictures, more.
Books, Poems & Other Stories
- A Child’s Christmas in Wales
A Dylan Thomas short story online. - A Christmas Carol
Read this book by Charles Dickens online. - Christmas and Winter Poems
- Christmas Stories & Poems
- Christmas Stories
Quality collection of different stories about Christmas for young children. - Christmas Stories, Christmas Poems and More …
800+ to choose from. - Christmas Stories from Around the World
‘Holiday tales for all ages as well as how to say Merry Christmas in several languages’. Christmas eCards option. - Kid’s Christmas Stories, Poetry, Rhymes, Plays and Recitals
‘Short stories, tales, poems, rhymes, recitals, plays from Children’s Literature’. - Ten Little Snowmen
Interactive book for the young. - Traditional Christmas Stories & Poems
Also Christmas greetings in many languages.
Cards & eCards
- Christmas Cards
A collection of Flash cards to use. - Christmas Cards and Greetings
‘AllThingsChristmas offers its collection of Free, beautiful Victorian Christmas cards in PDF format for you to print from your computer, as well as free Internet Greeting Cards you may send via email’. - Christmas eCards
‘Hundreds of ways to spread Christmas cheer to your friends and family. Make a difference ! Sending Free Care2 eCards generates donations to great organisations’. - Christmas E-Cards
‘Click the Christmas image that you would like to send as an E-Card !’ - Koala’s Free Christmas Email Cards
‘Initially the cards were designed by my husband and were traditional Christmas ones with snow, snowmen and lots of real Winter stuff. I have had lots of people ask for more Australian content in the cards. With this request in mind I have taken some of my photos of Australian animals and scenery and replaced some of the more traditional cards with these. Christmas in Australia is all about Summer, not snow, so enjoy’. - Printable Christmas Card Templates
‘Matching envelopes, labels, writing paper’.
Christmas Recipes & Cooking
- Christmas Advice Central
While primarily cooking, it gives advice in other areas as well. - Christmas ‘Cookies’
Cookies from around the world. - Christmas Cooking with Children
‘A collection of Christmas recipes - family favourites. Kids love them ! They like to help too !’ - Christmas Recipes
Select relevant recipe links. - Christmas Recipes and Menus
4 menus including traditional foods from the BBC. - Christmas Time Recipes
With photos, music. - Favourite Christmas Recipes
Extensive listing broken into sections including Sides, Main Courses, Desserts and more. - Healthy Christmas Recipes and Menus
Enjoy these and be healthy at the same time. - Kid’s Christmas Recipes
‘Try out some of the mouthwatering kid’s Christmas recipes and spice up your yuletide days with the dipped chocolate treats’. - Vegetarian Christmas Recipes [BBC Good Food]
‘Ideas for a sensational spread on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and throughout the festive season, including a stunning centre-piece - Layered squash, barley & spinach pie’. - Vegetarian Recipes
You can download either, or both, A Very Veggie Christmas or Festive Favourites for Vegetarians from this site.
Games
- Christmas Games
From Primary Games. - Christmas Games from Kaboose
Another collection, each clearly annotated. - Christmas Gifts
Online Flash game. - Free Online Christmas Games
Jigsaws, mah jong, slider puzzles, more.
General Sites
- All About Christmas !
‘Shares the origins of the holiday. We also feature wonderful holiday recipes, decorating ideas, crafts for adults and children, recommended videos for this time of year’. - All About Christmas ! [2]
Links to 100s of other sites about Christmas. - All Things Christmas
Use multiple menus to find All things Christmas. You would be hard pressed to miss anything using them. - Amazing Christmas Ideas
‘Providing you with a resource to help you with all your Christmas planning, shopping and decorating’. Use the Main Menu for book reviews, decorating, tips, even Christmas stockings. - A Victorian Christmas
Decorating, entertaining, toys, dolls, gifts, crafts, a Child’s Christmas, links. All based on Christmas as it was during the Victorian period. - BillyBear4Kids says Merry Christmas
Huge range of activities and resources for the festive season. - Christmas
Origins to the economics of Christmas. From Wikipedia. - Christmas [ABC]
Suitable for students in Lower Primary. Australian ABC. Worksheets, activities, resources, basic vocabulary, link to a program they run. - Christmas Activities
DLTK’s Holiday Activities for Kids. Activities from colouring pages, to games and puzzles, a variety of other activities. Mostly for younger children. - Christmas.com
Claimed to be the internet’s largest Christmas portal, for everything you did or didn’t, want to know. - Christmas Fonts
This site provides you with a wide range of fonts suitable for use in many ways at Christmas. - Christmas For Kids !
‘One of the most special times of the year, and we know it ! We have hundreds of Christmas activities for kids at Activity Village. Have a look around, find inspiration and ideas, enjoy yourselves !’ - Christmas for Kids & Teachers
Links under several headings. Traditions, Christmas Around the World, The Legends of Christmas, Christmas Songs. - Christmas Fun For Kids
Things to do, read, sing, guess, work out, simply enjoy. Activities you can print. - Christmas Links - Debbie’s Unit Factory
Another multi-link sites about Christmas. This one has units and themes suitable for schools. - Christmas Quiz - Novice
An ‘Illustrated on-line Christmas trivia quiz. This is the Novice Level quiz, featuring ten of the easier questions from the FamilyGames.com Christmas trivia collection’. Check other levels. - Christmas Resources
Links to resources in directories based on different aspects. - Christmas Theme Unit
Includes all you want in a Christmas unit. Suited to younger children. - Christmas Tree Activities for Early Learning
Lesson plans, things to print, things to make, Crafts, Online Activities, media. - Christmas World
A vast collection of Christmas information, activities and more. Use the menu on the left or the boxed information on the front page. Some pages/sections are specified for Adults. - History Channel Videos
All things Christmas from history, to Santa Claus, gifts related to the Christmas season. - Jerry’s Christmas Wonderland
Nativity, Christmas Wonderland, Christmas Jukebox, Symbols of the Season, movie clips, a Christmas Quiz, more. - Letters to Santa
Send letters to Santa. This is only one aspect. Find everything from carols to wallpapers, traditions to safety tips. A huge site. - Merry Christmas
‘A complete guide to Christmas and its celebration worldwide’. - Merry -Christmas.com
Holiday stories, tradition, recipes, games, music movies, email Santa, more. - Merry Christmas from Rumela’s Web
Christmas Tree, Santa Claus, Christmas Celebration, Christmas Symbols, Christmas Songs & Carols, a history of Christmas Celebrations. - My Merry Christmas
Christmas online, music, movies, stories, clipart, downloads, for parents, memories, world Christmas, more. - Santa Letter
‘Your place for family friendly Christmas fun. Browse our sections [to the left in the Candy Cane signs area], or check some of our favourite recommendations. We have lots of fun activities to do, one of our top things to do is send a letter to Santa Claus !’ - Santa’s Naughty or Nice List
Check the quiz to see which you are. - Winter and Christmas Collection
‘Includes a variety of different sets of animated winter and Christmas based smiling characters ! Snow, Christmas Stars, Decorations, Santa, Snowflakes, ABC’. - Xmas Fun
‘We’ve searched the Internet for some fun Christmas related Freeware and Shareware programs you can use and email to your friends’. - Xmas : Santa’s Rein
Use a snowballzooka to defend against all sorts of things [flying penguins ?] who want to steal Christmas presents.
Making Gifts
Help making basic gifts for people at Christmas [and other seasons].
- Christmas DIY Ideas
All ages. Items from paperweights to soap. Buy supplies from the site if you haven’t already got them. - Easy Gift Ideas
- Free Tutorials To Make [Your Own] Kids Toys For Christmas
Covers simple to make toys in areas including Wooden Toys, Fewlt Toys, Puppets, more. Has links to resources for each area. - Gifts Galore
Bookmarks to hats and journals. Grouped under specific topics. - Homemade Christmas Gift Ideas
Done in age groups. - Homemade Christmas Gift Ideas [2]
‘You will find dozens of great easy-to-make Christmas gift ideas for everyone on your list … family, friends, kids, teachers, even pets’. - How to Make Your Own Christmas Gifts
‘Here are several easy-to-make crafts that make wonderful home-made Christmas gifts’. - Make Gifts This Christmas
A range of simple options anyone can make. - Quick Gifts
- Simple Gifts
Simple but effective gifts for the Christmas season.
Santa Claus, His Life & Home
- Christmas at the North Pole
Tour the village where Santa lives, sing along [karaoke] to carols, more. - Santa Claus At Claus.comGames and puzzles designed especially for younger children. Some grating aspects, however.
- Santa Television
Christmas traditions from around the world, visit Santa, watch presentations. - Santa Panic
Online game based around catching Santa’s presents for children. - The North Pole Times
‘Santa’s Official Newsletter’. Read stories, visit the workshop, visit the kitchen, check the wish list. - Track Santa
Track Santa Claus on his travels around the world. - Welcome to the North Pole
Messages, colouring in pictures, fun and games section.
Songs & Music
- 10 + 100 Creative Commons Christmas Songs
‘Here’s a list of 235 songs which are all released under a Creative Commons license and can be shared, listened to, and sometimes even modified freely. There’s a great variety in style, mood, and genre of the songs : traditional, contemporary, happy, sad and just plain funny’. Not updated for a while. MP3 format. - Christmas Carols
Words for all your favourite carols, traditional and less traditional. - Christmas Music, Christmas Songs, Lyrics and Videos
‘Welcome to christmas-songs.net, where you will find all of the best christmas songs and carols ever written. From ‘The Christmas Song’ to ‘O Holy Night’. We have broken songs down into a list of christmas songs and a list of christmas carols to make it easier for you to find what you are looking for. Each christmas song has a video for you to listen to and the lyrics to sing along to. You can also listen to free Christmas music online with our Christmas music jukebox’. - Christmas Songs
Traditional and other Christmas songs. - Christmas Songs [2]
‘The lyrics and some interesting information regarding the most popular Christmas songs are included on this website together with additional sections dedicated to Christmas carols, Christmas music and traditional Christmas poems’. - Christmas Songs [3]
‘Click on a song title below to see the lyrics and watch a video [if available]. If you’d like to just listen to some great Christmas music, please enjoy our new Online Christmas Music Player’. - Christmas-Songs.org
‘We have lyrics and downloadable MIDI music to over 300 Christmas songs and old fashioned Christmas carols. To add to your browsing pleasure, christmas-songs.org now also has Christmas music videos from Youtube’. - Download Christmas Songs
‘It’s all here : free Christmas songs for kids and traditional, country and jazz-tinged Christmas favourites’. - KIDiddles Christmas Songs
‘Christmas Songs, Christmas carols, and music for the Holiday Season with lyrics and music to listen to. About 120 Christmas songs listed alphabetically’.
Write or Email to Santa
- eMail Santa
Email him. There are also other activities in which to be involved. - Send a Letter to Santa
‘All you have to do is click on the inkwell on the desk and I’ll help you write your letter to Santa. You can also send one of Santa’s animated postcards to your friends’. - Write to Santa
Why not consider logging on and sending your Christmas list direct by e-mail ? - Write to Santa [2]
‘Santa answers all his letters so check your mailbox soon for a reply. Please make sure you put your email address in the space in the envelope below’. - Write to Santa [3]
Also try this site.