Nightmare before christmas

Several of the religious festivals during the winter holiday season are celebrated with the exchanges of gifts, and the winter holiday season thus also incorporates the holiday shopping season, which lasts from the beginning of the holiday season (incorporating the Christmas shopping season) to the January sales which extend from late December well into January.

In the United States, the holiday shopping season, during which a quarter of all personal spending takes place, is traditionally considered to commence on the day after Thanksgiving, a Friday colloquially known as either Black Friday or Green Friday. This is widely reputed to be the busiest shopping day of the entire calendar year. However, in 2004 the VISA credit card organization reported that over the previous several years VISA credit card spending had in fact been 8 to 19 percent higher on the last Saturday before Christmas Day than on Black Friday. A survey conducted in 2005 by GfK NOP discovered that "Americans aren't as drawn to Black Friday as many retailers may think.", with only 17% of those polled saying that they will begin holiday shopping immediately after Thanksgiving, 13% saying that they plan to finish their shopping before November 24, and 10% waiting until the very last day before performing their holiday gift shopping.

According to a survey by the Canadian Toy Association, peak sales in the toy industry occur in the winter holiday season, but this peak has been occurring later and later in the season every year.

In 2005, the ceremonial kick-off to the winter holiday season for online shopping the first Monday after Thanksgiving, was named Cyber Monday. However, although it was a peak, that was not the busiest on-line shopping day of that year. The busiest on-line shopping days were December 12 and December 13, almost two weeks after Cyber Monday. Four of the largest 11 on-line shopping days in 2005 were December 11 to December 16, with an increase of 12% over 2004 figures.

Some stores in Canada hold Boxing Week sales (before the end of the year) for income tax purposes.

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Jingle Bell and other beloved Christmas Carols

A Christmas carol is a carol whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas, or the winter season in general. They are traditionally sung in the period before and during Christmas. The tradition of Christmas carols hails back as far as the thirteenth century, although carols were originally communal songs sung during celebrations like harvest tide as well as Christmas. It was only later that carols began to be sung in church, and to be specifically associated with Christmas.

A popular urban legend was that they were named after a little girl named Carol Poles who disappeared in 1888 in the Whitechapel district of London. According to the legend, the little girl was reported missing around Christmas and many people went searching for her at night. Due to fears concerning Jack the Ripper, the group would sing Christmas carols upon knocking in order to declare their good intentions.

Traditional carols have a strong tune and consist of a verse and/or chorus for group singing. They are often based on medieval chord patterns, and it is this that gives them their uniquely characteristic musical sound. Some carols like 'Personent hodie' and 'Angels from the Realms of Glory' can be traced directly back to the Middle Ages, and are amongst the oldest musical compositions still regularly sung. Carols suffered a decline in popularity after the Reformation in the countries where Reformation settled, but survived in their rural communities until the revival of interest in Carols in the 19th century. Composers like Arthur Sullivan helped to repopularise the carol, and it is this period that gave rise to such favorites as "Good King Wenceslas" and "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear."

Today carols are regularly sung at religious services. Some compositions have words which are clearly not of a religious theme, but are often still referred to as carols.

Secular songs such as "White Christmas" and "Blue Christmas" are not true Christmas carols, though they are also popular in the period before Christmas, and should therefore be considered to be Christmas songs.

Carols can be sung by individual singers, but are also often sung by larger groups, including professionally trained choirs. Most churches have special services at which carols are sung, generally combined with readings from scripture about the birth of Christ, often this is based on the famous Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge. Some of these services also include other music written for Christmas, such as Benjamin Britten's "Ceremony of Carols" (for choir and harp), or excerpts from Handel's "Messiah."

There is also a tradition of performances of serious music relating to Christmas in the period around Christmas, including Handel's "Messiah," the "Christmas Oratorio" by J. S. Bach, "Messe de Minuit pour Noel" by Charpentier, and "L'Enfance du Christ" by Berlioz.

In England, and some other countries (i.e. Poland (koledowanie) and Bulgaria (koledari)), there is a tradition of Christmas carolling (earlier known as wassailing), in which groups of singers travel from house to house, singing carols, for which they are often rewarded with money, mince pies, or a glass of an appropriate drink. Money collected in this way is normally given to charity.

In Australia, where it is the middle of summer at Christmas, there is a tradition of Carols by Candlelight concerts which are held outdoors at night in cities and towns during the weeks leading up to Christmas. In Melbourne, "Carols by Candlelight" is held each Christmas Eve. Performers at the concerts including opera singers and musical theatre performers and popular music singers. People in the audience hold lit candles and join in singing some of the carols in accompaniament with the celebrities.

Christmas carols can also be played on musical instruments, and another tradition is for brass bands, such as the Salvation Army brass bands, to play carols before Christmas.

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32 most famous Christmas songs

 

The following songs are well known for being performed by more than one different artists:

• "Blue Christmas" – Introduced by Ernest Tubb in 1949, though most famously recorded by Elvis Presley.
• "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" (1946) (composed by Mel Torme and first performed by Nat King Cole)
• "The First Noel"
• "Carol of the Bells", a Ukranian-American carol by Mykola Leontovych and Peter Wilhousky, sung by many choruses, but notably the Robert Shaw Chorale
• "Frosty the Snowman" (1950) – popularized by Gene Autry. Countless artists have recorded it in the years since, perhaps the most famous likely being Jimmy Durante, who recorded the version for the television special of the same name.
• "A Holly Jolly Christmas" , from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (television special), popularised by Burl Ives
• "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" – introduced by Judy Garland in the film Meet Me In St. Louis; covered by many, including Frank Sinatra, Luther Vandross, James Taylor and Vince Gill.
• "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas" – popularised by Johnny Mathis, although it had been performed earlier by Perry Como and Bing Crosby
• "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" covered by many including Daryl Hall & John Oates
• "Jingle Bells"
• "Jingle Bell Rock" – best-known version is by Bobby Helms, released in 1957. Hall and Oates also did a version. Another well known singer is Brenda Lee whose version is found in the movie, "Home Alone."
• "Joy to the World" – covered by various artists which include Mariah Carey.
• "Let it Snow" – Vaughn Monroe (1945), Dean Martin (1966)
• "Little Drummer Boy – The 1958 version by the Harry Simeone Chorale is the standard.
• "Mary's Boy Child" – Harry Belafonte in 1957, Boney M in 1978 and re-released in 2005 by G4/Robin Gibb as "Mary's Boy Child/First of May".
• "Mele Kalikimaka" – Bing Crosby, and later, Jimmy Buffett
• "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" – introduced by Andy Williams in 1963
• "Merry Christmas Darling" – Introduced by The Carpenters in 1978 (on their album, A Christmas Portrait).
• "Mistletoe and Holly" – co-written and popularised by Frank Sinatra
• "O Holy Night" – covered by several artists including Kelly Clarkson and Mariah Carey
• "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree" (1958) – best-known version is by Brenda Lee. This song was also covered by Amy Grant.
• "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (1949) – popularised by Gene Autry.
• "Santa Baby" by Eartha Kitt and Madonna
• "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" – Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, Perry Como and later by Jackson 5 (1970), Bruce Springsteen
• "Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy" – Introduced by Buck Owens in 1965; re-popularized by Garth Brooks in 1992.
• "Silent Night" – popularised by Frank Sinatra
• "Sleigh Ride" – composed and popularised by Leroy Anderson (1948); vocal arrangement popularised by Johnny Mathis w/ Percy Faith & His Orchestra (1958)
• "Twelve Days of Christmas" – Standard version is by the Ray Conniff Singers
• "Up On the House Top" by Benjamin Hanby and Kimberley Locke
• "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"
• "White Christmas" (first performed by Bing Crosby in the 1942 musical Holiday Inn)
• "Winter Wonderland" – Perry Como (1946), The Andrews Sisters (1946), Johnny Mathis (1958), Tony Bennett (1968)

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