How Colonial America Celebrated Christmas

So when and how did Christmas become the festive celebration we recognize today? According to Early American Life, traditions such decorating Christmas trees with lights and ornaments came from Germans who immigrated to the United States. By the early 19th century, these ideas spread into the American mainstream and, eventually, England, where the German tradition of Christmas trees was popularized by Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, who married in 1840. Albert's father, Ernest I, was Duke of the German states of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and when Victoria and Albert put up a Christmas tree in their palace, the British public took notice and soon followed suit. 

The legend of Santa Claus was likely introduced into American culture via Dutch immigrants who made up a large portion of the Hudson Valley and celebrated Christmas with a visit from Sinterklaas, based on the figure of St. Nicholas, who was well known for his charitable acts and love of children. The Troy Sentinel newspaper of Troy, New York, first published the poem "A Visit From Saint Nicholas" (now better known as "The Night Before Christmas") on December 23, 1823, further cementing the American public's association of the man we now call Santa Claus with the Christmas holiday.