December 26, 2025 • 7 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Christmas today feels timeless. December 25 arrives with trees, carols, family dinners, and familiar rituals passed down for generations. But in early America, Christmas caused trouble. Celebrations spilled into the streets. Drinking, violence, and disorder followed. Some towns had had enough; they banned Christmas outright.
So how did a holiday once viewed as a public nuisance become a national tradition? The answer runs through shifting ideas about religion, culture, and social order, and through the work of an unlikely figure: Washington Irving. Author and biographer Brian J. Jones, known for his acclaimed works on Washington Irving, George Lucas, and Jim Henson, shares the story of how Christmas was reshaped into the holiday Americans recognize today.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American
people coming to you from the city where the West begins.
Fort Worth, Texas. Trees strung with twinkling lights, grand tables
set with all the trimmings, the sound of peaceful carols
being sung, mantles decked with stockings and garland. These are
(00:34):
just some of the many magical images that come to
mind when we think of Christmas traditions. But it wasn't
always that way. In fact, in early America, Christmas was
so out of control that it was actually banned. So
how did we get from chaos to cozy? Well, one
writer from the eighteen hundreds, Washington Irving, helped reinvent the
(00:56):
ways we celebrate the Christmas holiday and he didn't even
mean to do it. Here's Brian J. Jones with the story.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
So, when Irving is writing his collection of stories for
what becomes the Sketchbook, at one point he bundles together
five short stories that he titled Old Christmas, and it's
about his narrator, who is alone at Christmas time, is
invited by a friend of his to ride out to
the countryside to Bracebridge Hall and observe the way Squire
(01:38):
Bracebridge celebrates the old fashioned English Christmas. And Irving starts
telling the reader about all these traditions that Bracebridge is celebrating.
He is celebrating Christmas old school. It's yule logs burning,
and it's eggnog, and it's tons and tons of food
out twenty four to seven for anybody to eat it anytime.
(02:01):
It's children waking up early and waking up the adults,
and it's missiletoe, and it's people singing songs, and it's
people writing in sleighs, and it's hillsides glistening under snow,
and sort of everything we associate with Christmas. And Irving
has his narrator sit through these wonderful settings, of these
(02:21):
wonderful dinners and watching Squire Bracebridge sitting at the head
of the table and regaling people with stories of the
old days and how this is old Christmas and this
is the way they've always done Christmas. And at one
point somebody literally turns to the reader and lays their
fingers side their nose and back in Irving's day, that
means we all know that this isn't true, right, I
(02:44):
mean We're all in on this joke, right. Irving's nodding
directly to the reader, saying, this isn't really the way
it was, but I'm telling you it is. None of
this is real. None of this really happened the way
Irving says it happens. But it's such it's a great story.
It's such a great vision of Christmas. You want to
(03:04):
be in Bracebridge Hall. You want to wake up in
this old English country manner and go downstairs in the
morning and the fires are crackling in the fireplace, and
the tables are groaning under food and venison and beer
and pie, and you know, vegetables that they've picked and
grown themselves. You want to be in Bracebridge Hall. You
want to experience this kind of old Christmas, which is
(03:27):
what Irving calls this section Old Christmas. Whether that's true
or not. And I think even Irving letting the reader
know you're in on the joke here, right, American readers
really didn't care. In the American colonies at one point
when the nation's young, even before we're a country, Christmas
is banned by a lot of the colonial governors because
(03:50):
it was an excuse for people to get drunk and
get in these big fights and beat each other up.
There's a remnant of that, I think in the Christmas carol,
we Wish you a Merry Christmas. One of the verses,
(04:10):
you're standing outside and they say, now bring us some
figgie pudding, and we won't go until we get some.
I mean that was you would you would have these
drunken people stand outside of houses and they'd be singing
with their arms around each other, say now bring us
some food, and if you don't bring us some food,
we're gonna drag you. I'll beat you up, which actually
did happen. So so the Colonel River said, that's it,
everyone out of the pool. We are canceling Christmas. So
(04:35):
Christmas was not really the big, glamorous center of the
chid year for sure, But it wasn't like our big holiday.
It wasn't a big holiday at the time it was.
It didn't really exist in a lot of places because
it was an excuse for bad behavior. Irving is sort
of rescuing Christmas and giving it back to us neatly
tied up in this package called old Christmas, which didn't
(04:56):
really exist the way Irving said it did. But readers
didn't care. They just loved this interpretation of Christmas. Americans
found that really, really attractive, as did Charles Dickens. Charles
Dickens was a huge fan of Irving in his work.
Irving and Dickens write each other fan letters much later
in life, but Dickens later said that he was really
(05:18):
influenced by Irving's take on Christmas. So Dickens sort of
takes Irving's version of Christmas and runs with it when
he creates something like a Christmas Carol, and especially is
in a Christmas Carol when he's going back to Christmas
of days past and you know, talking about Christmas traditions
in that book that didn't exist really that way either.
So Irving's view of Christmas really spawns Dickens's version of Christmas,
(05:41):
which by then really spawns the Christmas industry. As we
kind of know what today. Victorian Christmas was influenced by
Washington Irving, picked up and run with by Charles Dickens
to make it sort of what it is today. So
Irving can be fairly said to be the founder of
the American version of Christmas because that portrayal, that interpretation
(06:05):
of Christmas is so seductive and so fantastic that why
wouldn't we want that to be what Christmas is about?
And it sort of informs the way Americans start viewing Christmas,
and so between Irving and Dickens, we sort of have
the modern I will still say American Christmas. We like
to think of it as a Victorian Christmas that doesn't
really exist until Irving creates it and Dickens runs with it.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
And a terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Madison Derricott. And a special thanks to
Brian J. Jones and his book is Washington Irving The
definitive biography of America's first best selling author and my goodness,
who knew that Christmas was banned because it was an
excuse for people to get drunk and act stupid, and well,
(06:55):
Washington Irving wanted to do something about it. So he
writes this book and in the end reinvents and invents
many of the traditions that we now consider well lifelong
and forever traditions. Charles Dickens, by the way, was a
huge fan and took a lot of Irving's version of Christmas,
(07:15):
and as we learned from Jones, just ran with it.
The story of the founder of the American version of Christmas,
Washington Irving here on Our American Stories Pleahbibe here, and
I'd like to encourage you to subscribe to Our American
Stories on Apple podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, or wherever
(07:39):
you get our podcasts. Any story you missed or want
to hear again can be found there daily again. Please
subscribe to the Our American Stories podcast on Apple podcasts,
the iHeartRadio app, or anywhere you get your podcasts. It
helps us keep these great American stories coming.
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American
people coming to you from the city where the West begins.
Fort Worth, Texas. Trees strung with twinkling lights, grand tables
set with all the trimmings, the sound of peaceful carols
being sung, mantles decked with stockings and garland. These are
(00:34):
just some of the many magical images that come to
mind when we think of Christmas traditions. But it wasn't
always that way. In fact, in early America, Christmas was
so out of control that it was actually banned. So
how did we get from chaos to cozy? Well, one
writer from the eighteen hundreds, Washington Irving, helped reinvent the
(00:56):
ways we celebrate the Christmas holiday and he didn't even
mean to do it. Here's Brian J. Jones with the story.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
So, when Irving is writing his collection of stories for
what becomes the Sketchbook, at one point he bundles together
five short stories that he titled Old Christmas, and it's
about his narrator, who is alone at Christmas time, is
invited by a friend of his to ride out to
the countryside to Bracebridge Hall and observe the way Squire
(01:38):
Bracebridge celebrates the old fashioned English Christmas. And Irving starts
telling the reader about all these traditions that Bracebridge is celebrating.
He is celebrating Christmas old school. It's yule logs burning,
and it's eggnog, and it's tons and tons of food
out twenty four to seven for anybody to eat it anytime.
(02:01):
It's children waking up early and waking up the adults,
and it's missiletoe, and it's people singing songs, and it's
people writing in sleighs, and it's hillsides glistening under snow,
and sort of everything we associate with Christmas. And Irving
has his narrator sit through these wonderful settings, of these
(02:21):
wonderful dinners and watching Squire Bracebridge sitting at the head
of the table and regaling people with stories of the
old days and how this is old Christmas and this
is the way they've always done Christmas. And at one
point somebody literally turns to the reader and lays their
fingers side their nose and back in Irving's day, that
means we all know that this isn't true, right, I
(02:44):
mean We're all in on this joke, right. Irving's nodding
directly to the reader, saying, this isn't really the way
it was, but I'm telling you it is. None of
this is real. None of this really happened the way
Irving says it happens. But it's such it's a great story.
It's such a great vision of Christmas. You want to
(03:04):
be in Bracebridge Hall. You want to wake up in
this old English country manner and go downstairs in the
morning and the fires are crackling in the fireplace, and
the tables are groaning under food and venison and beer
and pie, and you know, vegetables that they've picked and
grown themselves. You want to be in Bracebridge Hall. You
want to experience this kind of old Christmas, which is
(03:27):
what Irving calls this section Old Christmas. Whether that's true
or not. And I think even Irving letting the reader
know you're in on the joke here, right, American readers
really didn't care. In the American colonies at one point
when the nation's young, even before we're a country, Christmas
is banned by a lot of the colonial governors because
(03:50):
it was an excuse for people to get drunk and
get in these big fights and beat each other up.
There's a remnant of that, I think in the Christmas carol,
we Wish you a Merry Christmas. One of the verses,
(04:10):
you're standing outside and they say, now bring us some
figgie pudding, and we won't go until we get some.
I mean that was you would you would have these
drunken people stand outside of houses and they'd be singing
with their arms around each other, say now bring us
some food, and if you don't bring us some food,
we're gonna drag you. I'll beat you up, which actually
did happen. So so the Colonel River said, that's it,
everyone out of the pool. We are canceling Christmas. So
(04:35):
Christmas was not really the big, glamorous center of the
chid year for sure, But it wasn't like our big holiday.
It wasn't a big holiday at the time it was.
It didn't really exist in a lot of places because
it was an excuse for bad behavior. Irving is sort
of rescuing Christmas and giving it back to us neatly
tied up in this package called old Christmas, which didn't
(04:56):
really exist the way Irving said it did. But readers
didn't care. They just loved this interpretation of Christmas. Americans
found that really, really attractive, as did Charles Dickens. Charles
Dickens was a huge fan of Irving in his work.
Irving and Dickens write each other fan letters much later
in life, but Dickens later said that he was really
(05:18):
influenced by Irving's take on Christmas. So Dickens sort of
takes Irving's version of Christmas and runs with it when
he creates something like a Christmas Carol, and especially is
in a Christmas Carol when he's going back to Christmas
of days past and you know, talking about Christmas traditions
in that book that didn't exist really that way either.
So Irving's view of Christmas really spawns Dickens's version of Christmas,
(05:41):
which by then really spawns the Christmas industry. As we
kind of know what today. Victorian Christmas was influenced by
Washington Irving, picked up and run with by Charles Dickens
to make it sort of what it is today. So
Irving can be fairly said to be the founder of
the American version of Christmas because that portrayal, that interpretation
(06:05):
of Christmas is so seductive and so fantastic that why
wouldn't we want that to be what Christmas is about?
And it sort of informs the way Americans start viewing Christmas,
and so between Irving and Dickens, we sort of have
the modern I will still say American Christmas. We like
to think of it as a Victorian Christmas that doesn't
really exist until Irving creates it and Dickens runs with it.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
And a terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Madison Derricott. And a special thanks to
Brian J. Jones and his book is Washington Irving The
definitive biography of America's first best selling author and my goodness,
who knew that Christmas was banned because it was an
excuse for people to get drunk and act stupid, and well,
(06:55):
Washington Irving wanted to do something about it. So he
writes this book and in the end reinvents and invents
many of the traditions that we now consider well lifelong
and forever traditions. Charles Dickens, by the way, was a
huge fan and took a lot of Irving's version of Christmas,
(07:15):
and as we learned from Jones, just ran with it.
The story of the founder of the American version of Christmas,
Washington Irving here on Our American Stories Pleahbibe here, and
I'd like to encourage you to subscribe to Our American
Stories on Apple podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, or wherever
(07:39):
you get our podcasts. Any story you missed or want
to hear again can be found there daily again. Please
subscribe to the Our American Stories podcast on Apple podcasts,
the iHeartRadio app, or anywhere you get your podcasts. It
helps us keep these great American stories coming.
Host
Lee Habeeb
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.