Christmas Books
Published anonymously in 1823, this was originally called "A Visit from St. Nicholas"
What is The Night Before Christmas.
What is a squirrel?
This winter Jewish holiday is observed for eight nights to commemorate a miracle associated with a small amount of oil used in a Temple
What is Hanukkah?
Gene Autry's upbeat song about a snowman, Frosty the Snowman, was introduced in this year
What is 1950?
Mary and Joseph traveled to this city for the census
What is Bethlehem?
This award-winning 1985 picture book by Chris Van Allsburg ends with a silver bell that can be heard only by those who truly believe
What is The Polar Express?
In this 1946 classic, George Bailey is shown what life in Bedford Falls would be like if he had never been born, thanks to the intervention of this guardian angel
Who is Clarence?
This now-common holiday practice became widespread in Britain after it was popularized by Prince Albert in the 1840s
What is decorating a Christmas tree indoors?
This song, written by Irving Berlin about holiday nostalgia longing for home during the Christmas season, became one of the best-selling singles of all time after being recorded by Bing Crosby in 1942
What is White Christmas?
According to the Gospel of Luke, this angel appeared to Mary to announce she would give birth to Jesus
Who is Gabriel?
In this 1905 short story, a young couple's mutually sacrificial gifts echo the wisdom of biblical visitors while rendering both presents temporarily useless
What is The Gift of the Magi?
This 1988 Christmastime film turns a holiday business trip into an increasingly dangerous test of endurance rather than goodwill
What is Die Hard?
In this country, a beloved Christmas tradition is eating takeout from Kentucky Fried Chicken
What is Japan?
This Christmas song is sung to the tune of Greensleeves (a favorite song of King Henry VIII)
What is What Child Is This?
After Jesus’ birth, Joseph was warned in a dream to flee with Mary and Jesus to this country to escape King Herod
Where is Egypt?
In Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol, the Ghost of Christmas Present warns Scrooge about the moral weight of the poor by saying this
What is "Be careful who you call the surplus population, for it may be that, in the eyes of God, you are less fit to live than they"?
This children's book turns a famous lyric about "all of the other reindeer" into a punny misunderstanding that launches its canine protagonist to the North Pole
What is Olive the Other Reindeer?
This festival, with takes place on December 13th, originates in Scandinavia and honors a saint with songs and candlelit processions (including a young girl who wears a wreath with lit candles on her head)
What is Saint Lucia Day?
According to legend, this song, first performed on Christmas Eve in 1818, was written because a church organ was broken
What is Silent Night?
The word “nativity” comes from the Latin word “nativitas,” meaning this.
What is “birth”?
Written in anapestic tetrameter and inspired in part by its author's growing frustration with holiday commercialism, this 1957 children's book features a reclusive protagonist
What is The Grinch?
In this classic Christmas film, the phrase “Merry Christmas” is surprisingly only spoken once at the very end
What is It's a Wonderful Life?
In Poland, Christmas Eve dinner traditionally consists of twelve dishes, symbolizing this
What are the twelve apostles?
Songwriter Meredith Wilson wrote this classic Christmas song in addition to the University of Iowa fight song and the hit 1957 musical The Music Man
What is It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas?
The three wise men who visited the baby Jesus with gifts were known by these names
Who are Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar?