Christmas Treasures: The History & Origins of the Season's Greatest Traditions (FULL DOCUMENTARY)

[Music] Oh in fact [Music] each year as Christmas decorations start to appear and our thoughts turn towards this most magical of holiday seasons even the most cynical of souls will begin to get their old familiar tingling sensation of excitement and expectation lists are made of cards to send presents to buy food and drink to prepare and loved ones to visit over Christmas and New Year no matter how disastrous previous Christmases have proved to be hope will always triumph over experience that BIRT turkey the drunken office party overexcited children and horrendous Christmas shopping will all be forgotten as images of twinkling fir trees sparkling crisp white snow and families gathered together in a spirit of joy and peace begin to materialize this is of course the true magic of Christmas and when you look a little more closely at the great seasonal traditions Christmas really will become something precious to treasure this film will take you back in time and all around the world on a journey of discovery to tell the story of Christmas past present and future so without further ado and a world of Christmas magic out there to explore let's start our wonderful adventure by looking at this traditional nativity scene with Mary Joseph and baby Jesus in the manger for many people the birth of Christ in that starlit small but famous Bethlehem stable is the reason why the holiday began in the first place and why we celebrate it today but this auspicious event is in fact a considerably later addition to the midwinter festivities that have been celebrated at this time of year quite literally since man first walked upon the earth [Music] thousands of years ago in Denmark Norway Finland Iceland and Sweden more commonly known as Scandinavia during the winter months when the Sun would disappear for days on end men would be sent to the snowy mountain tops to look for it when the first golden rays broke the darkness the men would return with the good news and a magnificent festival would be held the great celebration centered upon the burning of a large Yule Log which was thought to have magical powers and over time this festival soon became known as your tongue read throughout ancient Europe the burning of the Yule Log over the 12 days of Christmas was one of the most important customs of the season bringing good fortune to the family for the following year this tradition continued from it up until the 19th century when the Industrial Revolution forced the majority of the wuntch war war population into the rapidly growing towns and cities finding large Yule logs to burn in the countryside had never been a problem but it wasn't so easy in the hustling bustling city streets and of course with crowded living conditions finding a hearth big enough to burn a Yule Log was also rather difficult but a Christmas box from the ghost could have bought so many seasonal blessings particularly to the little old early however not wanting to lose this old custom the bakers and confectioner's of France came up with a sweet sticky chocolate delicacy known as a chocolate Yule Log this cake is much easier to manage than flame in tree trunks although it's highly unlikely that it will last throughout the 12 days of Christmas [Music] [Applause] [Music] nevertheless we all still love a blazing fire at Christmastime whether for roasting chestnuts or welcoming guests and for those who live in warmer climates you can even get films of a fire burning to screen on your television just to create the festive atmosphere in the ancient world it wasn't only the Scandinavians having plenty of winter fun the early settlers of Britain had a few interesting ideas of their own surviving the cold winter months was no easy task and storing up food during the better weather would literally mean the difference between life and death [Music] halfway through winter people would gather together and share what food they had in a great feast to cheer themselves up and help them survive until spring speaking of Christmas food there's one festive tradition that's older than you might think and looking at this rich flaming Christmas pudding or plum pudding as it's sometimes called it's hard to believe that this very familiar seasonal treasure dates back to those ancient times [Music] but don't get too excited just yet it was a lumpy old bowl of oatmeal that started the proceedings as disgusting as this sounds and looks for that matter to the ancient folk of Britain this was a rare midwinter treat that was created in homage to the gods set to bubble continuously as each person passed by they stirred the pot and this act would bring good fortune for the year ahead with the passage of time people made this concoction much more exciting by adding meat and fruit and very gradually the Christmas pudding that we know and love began to take shape although quite early on they started to leave out the meat which was probably a very good thing today if you want to make your own Christmas pudding its traditional to create it with the whole family a couple of weeks after the end of Thanksgiving just like ancient times every member of the family should get to have a good stir making a wish as they go but be careful only to stir the pudding clockwise because stirring it anti-clockwise or widdershins in Old English will bring bad luck in some houses in the United States and over in the UK they'll be much more to the dark fruity plum pudding than meets the eye because another more recent custom involves hiding small objects in the rich tasty mixture if you find a shiny coin in amongst the raisins it means that you're likely to earn lots of money in the future and if a ring tumbles onto your plate then lover marriage is in the air for you however if you get a small symbol on your plate you have a life of hard work ahead and no prospects for romance on the horizon [Music] the much-loved Yule Log and Christmas pudding are not the only festive traditions that can be traced back to the ancient festivals our fondness for evergreen plants as decorations also dates way back in time waxy green holly leaves with shining red berries have always been a symbol of eternal life and for centuries the bringing of the Holly always heralded the start of the festive season Holi is synonymous with beautiful Christmas wreaths and we have the Romans to thank for this lovely tradition for their winter festival they would give friends and family evergreen branches to wish them well for the future and it's a tradition that has been continued and adapted for modern use today in the United States most of us have stopped bringing Holly inside the house but we continue to hang Hannie wreaths on our doors to spread Christmas cheer it's a lovely thought to give a Christmas wreath to loved ones as tradition has it that only a wreath received as a gift will actually bring the good fortune it promises and of course wherever there's holly there has to be mistletoe perhaps one of the best-loved Christmas traditions of them all the mistletoe plant is shrouded in pagan mythology as a symbol of fertility so its associations with Christmas kissing will hardly come as a great surprise to anyone however there have been many influences on this very ancient tradition ranging from the early Christians to Queen Victoria who found that when it came to Christmas kissing she was definitely not amused [Music] after Christianity came to Britain and time passed people started to decorate hoops with mistletoe placing an effigy of baby Jesus in the center this kissing bow was then taken from house to house and the Christians would greet each other with a chaste kiss under the hoop over the years the Christ child and hoops were lost but the mistletoe continued to be used in this greeting ritual just as the Christian symbolism disappeared from this tradition eventually so did the purity and the mistletoes more pagan origins started to re-emerge kissing under the mistletoe became a very risque and boisterous affair and it said that the very prim and proper Queen Victoria set a new precedent each time people kissed under the mistletoe one of the waxy white berries had to be removed and when the berries had all gone the kissing was to stop although this is still considered to be proper mistletoe etiquette to this very day most people have found a simple way to get around it they just make sure that when they collect a mistletoe bow it has plenty of berries on it and a reserved Bunch is a pretty good idea too [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] ancient midwinter festivals and pagan rituals were all very well but as Christianity started to spread throughout the Western world missionaries faced a very tough job indeed people liked their traditions just the way they were and the arrival of a more religious celebration was no substitute for feasting and merrymaking consequently the Christians soon realized that they would have to fall in line with the old ways if they wanted to have their message heard this is why we celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December historically there's no evidence to suggest that Jesus was actually born on this day but choosing the time of the old midwinter feasts for the festivities certainly helped the new ideas to be accepted and there were other instances where the Christians worked with popular culture to change the way of the world tree worship had always played an important role in the lives of ancient folk most notably in Germany especially during the midwinter festivals but in those times the tall oak trees were the honored species when the leaves fell from the trees in winter simple country people believed that the spirits that lived in the trees and blessed their families had run away to tempt the good spirits to return the people would cover the trees with brightly colored scraps of cloth and strings of colored pebbles naturally when spring returned and the leaves came back they thought their brilliant early form of tree tech rating had worked when they eventually found out the real reason why the leaves returned it didn't matter they simply carried on decorating the bear winter trees just as they had always done however when the early missionaries turned their attention to this distinctly pagan custom they agreed that tree worshipping and decorating could continue but only if the honored species became the evergreen pine tree which because of its triangular shape was said to represent the Father Son and Holy Ghost with the passage of time people started to bring the trees indoors to decorate them but it was thanks to Queen Victoria in London that the Christmas tree tradition really became a worldwide phenomenon [Music] looking at this portrait of Queen Victoria as an old lady it's hard to imagine that she was once a vibrant young woman madly in love with her husband the German Prince Albert who brought his nations Christmas tradition of tree dressing with him to Britain as a surprise for his wife and young children he arranged for a decorated Christmas tree to be brought into the palace which thrilled and delighted everyone who saw it newspapers of the day printed pictures of the royal family gathered around the Christmas tree and where the Queen led the rest of the population followed not only in England but also all over the world today decorated Christmas trees probably look nothing like the ones that started the tradition back in ancient Germany in fact only our modern tinsel is a direct descendant of the early draperies but even though nearly all of our decorations are relatively new it would be impossible to talk about the festive tree tradition without mentioning them as each decoration has its own fascinating story to tell when putting up a Christmas tree everyone knows that the first task is to put on the lights nowadays there are lots of different twinkling lights for sale and thanks to the miracle of electricity they only need to be plugged in and switched on however when the first Christmas tree was covered in festive lights there was no such modern convenience on a clear frosty winter's night about 400 years ago a German priest named Martin Luther was meditating outside in a forest when he looked up and saw the bright stars high above the treetops [Music] he was so inspired by this beautiful scene that he decided to recreate it for his congregation by attaching candles to a Christmas tree using candles as festive tree decorations soon took off all over the Germany but it was extremely tricky not to mention dangerous because if a candle fell it could quickly set the whole tree on fire this became more of a problem when the Christmas tree arrived in England because each year people would go out and buy bigger and bigger Christmas trees which were then covered with more and more candles this was something of a fire risk to say the very least and the youngest child or a menial servant would have to sit by the tree with a bucket of water just in case thankfully there's no such danger with our lights nowadays but there's something quite remarkable and magical about the atmosphere created by the flickering Christmas tree candles [Music] shortly after this custom began another tree decoration was invented by another German and this time it was edible a choir master at a large Cathedral decided to give a delicious sugared treats in the shape of Shepherds crooks to the young children so that they would keep quiet during a long Christmas nativity play when word got out about these sweets people started to call them candy canes but it wasn't until long after this tradition came to America that the decoration gained its famous red and white stripes and peppermint flavor [Music] [Applause] [Music] even with the festive lights and candy canes firmly in place the tree just wouldn't look the same without one more decoration some glittering baubles dangling off its branches the first four poles were created by world-famous glass blowers in Bohemia but instead of hanging on the tree they had quite a different purpose after a frantically busy day at the workshop a group of glass blowers decided to have a competition to see who could blow the biggest bubble it was thirsty work and the men drank plenty of beer and when the prize of even more beer was awarded to the winner they forgot all about the pretty spheres of glass and left them in a corner of the workshop where they stayed until one of the men's wives spotted them a few days later thinking that they would make beautiful decorations she took them to sell at the local Christmas market the glass bubbles were extremely popular and quickly became known as spirit balls because they were advertised as being perfect for warding off the evil eye hung in the entrance to a house the highly reflective surface would scare off even the most terrible spirits terrifying them with their own reflection however as soon as Christmas trees started to become popular they decided to create miniature versions unlike the originals that were far too big these baubles with paper-thin walls were light enough to hang from the tree branches and reflect the glow of the bright Christmas lights [Music] you all in good time these sparkling decorations became available all over the world and in the United States today even though most modern-day Christmas baubles are rarely made of glass anymore they're just as I catch in now the Christmas tree is completely decorated the only thing missing is the presence and of course this brings us neatly on to the subject of Santa Claus everybody's favorite visitor at Christmastime but way back in ancient times he was a very different character to the one we know and love today and what Santa Claus was like very much depended on where in the world you lived for the ancient Britons during the midwinter festivals one man was selected from each village and dressed up in furs with the seasonal crown of evergreens [Music] this precursor of father Christmas would then visit all of his neighbors where he was given food and drink at every house he visited and leaving presents in return was not on the agenda at all however thanks to another very kind and gentle Christmas character by the name of st. Nicholas this didn't stay the case for long the real Saint Nicholas was born in what is today Turkey near the town of Myra his parents died when he was young and because they were wealthy they left him a great deal of money they were good people who had taught their son to share whatever he had with those less fortunate than himself this was why as a tribute to their memory Nicholas decided to use the money to help others in need the most famous legend about sant Nicholas tells of the troubles of three sisters who lived near to his home their widowed father was too poor to be able to find husbands for his three beautiful daughters which meant they would soon be destitute and have to live on the streets hearing about their problems Nicholas took it upon himself to help them one night he made his way to their home in secret carrying a bag of gold and because the house was in a terrible state he was able to throw the coins in through one of the broken windows without being noticed the next morning when the father found the bag of gold he was absolutely delighted and his eldest daughter could marry some days later Nicholas repeated his great act of kindness which enabled the second daughter to marry as well leaving only the youngest daughter to take care of however unbeknown to Nicholas there had been enough money left over for the old man to repair the broken windows and when Nicholas returned with the last bag of gold he was unable to throw his gift into the house as he had done before [Music] spotting the chimney he held the gold coins high into the night sky and miraculously they fell down to the fireplace earlier that evening the three sisters had washed their stockings and hung them over the fire to dry the bag of gold landed in one of the stockings and you can imagine the delight of the youngest daughter when she found it the next morning from that day on as far as the family were concerned the wonderful generosity of Nicholas was nothing short of a miracle and one of our best loved Christmas traditions had begun [Music] to this day on Christmas Eve we still hang out our brightly colored stockings in the hope that by the morning they will have been filled with presents and if you're very lucky they might even contain a bag of gold coins that have been made of chocolate as the years past word of the generosity and kindness of Nicholas became well-known despite his efforts to remain anonymous he was appointed Bishop of Myra and continued to help those in need especially the young and the weak for the rest of his life when Sir Nicholas died he was buried in his church admirer but when some years later his homeland was threatened by a terrible war his body was taken to Bari in Italy for safekeeping where pilgrims still visit to this very day but this isn't quite the end of the story as there are rumors that suggest the body of st. Nicholas was never taken to Italy and instead was taken to this ruined chapel in the south of Ireland at first it sounds impossible but when you take a closer look at the effigy on the tube it's evidently a very important Crusader night and who knows Saint Nicholas might just be resting in peace under the green Irish grass disturbed only by gentle breeze and birdsong every year to commemorate this great man the 6th of December is known as the feast day of Saint Nicholas all over the world but to see this day celebrated in traditional style you need to travel across the Atlantic to Holland [Music] late in November Sint Nicholas and his faithful helper black Peter arrived by boat in Amsterdam once they've landed sant nicholas or as the dutch call him Sinterklaas gets ready for his long journey to visit every child in the land of the night before the 6th of December before Sinterklaas arrives the children put their shoes outside and fill them with carrots and hay for his magnificent white horse which by morning should have been replaced with candy and gifts however if the children haven't been good instead of treats black Peter will have left them birch twigs as a reminder to mend their ways at this point it's quite hard to see how the warm-hearted sent Nicholas or Sinterklaas could possibly have merged with the old Viking father Christmas to become our modern-day Santa Claus [Music] [Applause] [Music] but keep watching because within the next 10 minutes or so or will be revealed by the 17th century whilst travel was beginning to make the world a significantly smaller place Christmas wasn't universally celebrated in Britain Oliver Cromwell had started a civil war and overthrown the monarchy to rule instead from 1653 to 1658 he and his round heads were Puritans and they believed that Christmas had become so irreligious it needed to be banned despite the public riots Cromwell was determined to make a stand and he first attacked the much-beloved Christmas pudding the making of the seasonal delicacy was punishable by a new law and offenders could find themselves thrown into prison the general public spotted a loophole and imported their puddings ready-made from France and carried on undeterred but when it came to Christmas pies Cromwell had learned from the experience and outlawed the making and eating of this festive treat in cromwell's day Christmas pie was filled with fruit shredded pork beef and chicken it was often baked in the shape of a manger with a pastry model of the baby Jesus added to the top and Cromwell was incensed at such heresy however the English didn't want to give up this much-loved tradition so with a couple of minor changes they managed to keep it without breaking the law instead of being shaped like a manger the pastries were made round baby Jesus was abandoned altogether and the name was changed to mincemeat pie because of the mincemeat that it contained today this wonderful food contains nothing but sweet fruits and it's claimed that if you make a wish when you bite into your first mince pie at the beginning of Christmas it'll come true but make sure you don't refuse the first mince pie that you're offered as this would bring bad luck for the [Music] people from different parts of the world began traveling to America and settling there bringing all their many and varied Christmas traditions with them unfortunately many British settlers arrived during Cromwell's blitz on Christmas and they decided to take a leaf out of his book and made the festive holiday illegal in the state of Massachusetts and they didn't stop there because despite the fact Christmas wasn't outlawed completely in Boston people were fined if they were caught celebrating the festive holiday thankfully though the Dutch immigrants who also began to arrive in America didn't share these strict values and when they settled in New Amsterdam or New York City as it's known today they took Christmas and their traditional tales of Sinterklaas with them the Dutch gift bringer rapidly became a part of American culture but with a few modifications the visit of sinter Klass was moved to Christmas Eve and as his name was only pronounceable if you were Dutch the english-speaking colonists renamed him Santa Claus rather than abandon innocent Nicholas day altogether the 6th of December was set aside for writing letters to Santa Claus so that children could let him know what they really wanted for Christmas gradually the slim figure of sin Nicholas changed shape and he became a much plumper figure of fun rather than remaining as a more serious priest black Peter soon found himself out of a job as leaving birch twigs for bad children was soon forgotten about although Santa Claus to this very day is supposed to leave a piece of coal rather than gifts for children who have not been good throughout the year during the 19th century father Christmas Saint Nicholas and Santa Claus all got rolled into one but the newly amalgamated gift giver was still a long way from becoming our modern-day Santa Claus [Music] then an American professors light-hearted children's Christmas poem certainly made sure that Santa Claus became more lovable than ever [Music] when clement seymour wrote a visit from st. Nicholas often better known as the night before Christmas in 1822 not only did he use the idea of a sack full of presents from the original father Christmas and the idea of throwing the gifts down the chimney from the real Saint Nick but he also created a homeland for Santa amongst the snowy wastes of Lapland deep in the heart of the Arctic Circle however the part of the poem that really added an extra magical dimension to the legend of Santa was a mode of transportation that would inspire the imagination of generations to come [Music] here you see beautiful reindeer in their natural environment and for more there was no better way for santa claus to travel on Christmas Eve than by sleigh and a team of eight magical flying reindeer dasha dancer Prancer vixen comet Cupid Donner and Blitzen were the ones responsible for getting Santa all around the world but today there's one more magical reindeer who's more popular than all of the others put together his name is of course Rudolph and although he didn't come along until 1939 Christmas just wouldn't be the same without children going to bed and dreaming about Santa's sleigh and a shiny red nose reindeer flying through the starry sky the Santa Claus that clement seymour wrote about all those years ago was however nothing like the returned old fellow children watch out for today [Music] [Applause] [Music] take a look at this extraordinary selection of early Christmas cards showing pictures of Santa Claus and you might even find it difficult to recognize him not only is he dressed in unfamiliar colored strange clothing but in some pictures he looks rather frightening as well while we're on the subject of Christmas cards this tradition was actually created in Britain just a few years after Moore's wonderful poem was published in those days you were expected to write letters to all of your family and friends at Christmas time but because this tended to take a lot of effort people used to consider it something of a chore one such man a children's book publisher by the name of Henry Cole had a brilliant idea for getting out of his letter-writing duties he commissioned an artist to paint a card with his picture and the message a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year which he had printed and sent to all his friends and family even though it took a while for this idea to catch on commercially in the United States today more than 2 billion cards are sent out each year decorated with jokes the nativity festive traditions or beautiful winter scenes there's still nothing like receiving your first Christmas card to get you in the holiday spirit especially if you open the envelope and you're greeted by a jolly round-bellied red coated white bearded modern-day Santa Claus Santa's red coat with white fur trim has an interest in origin because if it hadn't been for an advertising campaign in the 1930s this familiar worldwide image of the gift-giving legend might never have developed in America coca-cola launched a campaign for Christmas in 1931 that featured a heartwarming Santa Claus dress from head to toe in red and white colors that were inspired by the drinks company's own logo this wholesome friendly character soon struck a chord with families in every state and our modern-day image of Santa was born and he still appears each Christmas time on coca-cola bottles all around the world getting back to the history of the Christmas holiday as the 17th century ended and the 18th century began due to the immigrant Puritans strict beliefs Christmas was still largely an uncelebrated holiday in fact the first United States Congress was in session on the 25th of December 1789 it wasn't until the 1830s that things began to change and despite strong Puritan opposition the festive holiday was celebrated in nearly all of the certain states [Music] as people in Alabama Louisiana and Arkansas started to look forward to this magical holiday each year a very special drinkable Christmas tradition was created today Christmas just wouldn't be the same without a frothy cup of eggnog to toast the health of friends and relations and enjoy the delights of the season although its roots can be traced back to colonial America where because of the cream milk sugar beaten eggs and alcohol it was a rich and spicy wintertime warmer it did take until the 1800s before it became a real festive favorite [Music] even the first American president George Washington came up with his own very individual recipe for eggnog that called for whiskey rum and sherry all at the same time nowadays only one type of spirit is usually added but this hasn't made the drink any less popular with Christmas revelers by the time the 1850s came around Christmas was being celebrated in most American states but it wasn't until 20 years later that it was officially declared a national holiday meanwhile back in Britain was Queen Victoria sat comfortably on her throne more favorite festive traditions were created including the much-loved Christmas cracker during a trip to Paris France an Englishman by the name of Tom Smith encountered the French bonbon a candy sugared treat wrapped in brightly colored twists of paper although nowadays this doesn't sound anything special back then because English sweets were always sold loose from jars Tom Smith was inspired so much so in fact that when he returned home he started to make the earliest crackers by enclosing a piece of candy in paper with twisted ends and because he was also a big fan of Chinese fortune cookies each one also contained a slip of paper with a motto or saying on it Tom Smith's Christmas bonbons were very popular especially with the children but he still felt that there was something missing on a winter's evening as he was sitting by his fireside a crackling spitting log inspired him further and from then on every bonbon that he created made a bang just like the crackling logs when they were poured which is where the name cracker came from [Music] this extra surprise element was just what his invention needed and today there's still no sign of people getting bored of this Victorian gentleman's creation and if anything since the candies were replaced by small gifts and the mottos with very corny jokes they've become more popular than ever [Music] another addition to the cracker was the brightly colored paper hats shaped like crowns these are a throwback to the wild parties that happened on Twelfth Night the official end of the twelve days of Christmas celebrated on the 6th of January William Shakespeare's famous play of the same name was first performed on Twelfth Night for Queen Elizabeth the first but today the day is only marked because it's when we take the Christmas decorations down and put them away for the following year [Music] there was a time particularly in Old England when 12:9 was actually a far more important festival than Christmas itself a great party would be held with a man and a woman chosen to be crowned as king and queen for the evening and of course this is where the tradition of the paper crowns we now find in our crackers comes from although nowadays these cracker crimes have no such meaning even the grumpies of relation won't be able to resist joining in the Christmas spirit wearing a paper hat on their head choose in the king and queen for Twelfth Night was done in a very interesting way as a great rich fruitcake was specially baked on the evening of the festivities the cake was cut in half and a beam was hidden in each portion when the guests arrived the men divided one half of the cake between themselves and the women the other and whichever gentleman and lady were lucky enough to find a bean in their slice of cake became king and queen for the night [Music] Twelfth Night celebrations tended to be very wild occasions more often than not in fancy dress but during Victorian times when drinking and merrymaking 2xs was definitely frowned upon the tradition died out [Music] but people did not want to give up the wonderful fruitcakes so they added very seasonal looking frosting and turned 12 night cakes into Christmas cakes and today the addition of tiny model Santa's reindeers and sleigh complete the festive picture in America the turkey is more commonly associated with Thanksgiving but it's connection with Christmas again dates back to Victorian England for the common man the Christmas meal usually featured a goose but for the aristocracy such delicacies as peacock or swan would be more likely to be served Queen Victoria however evidently preferred to see these beautiful birds gracing her parts and gardens and instead turn to the more humble turkey when her not inconsiderable family gathered around the Royal Christmas table as with the decorated Christmas tree the newspapers of the day published pictures of the Queen and her family settling down to a festive feast of Turkey and of course the nation followed suit as you have seen through the course of this program the majority of our Christmas customs as we celebrate them today were either instigated or adapted during the 19th century [Music] one of the most important of all Christmas ideas also dates from this time and again it was Victorian London that was responsible for being inspirational and on this occasion through the great writer Charles Dickens people the world over dream of a white Christmas whether they live in the snowy wastes of the Arctic or in equatorial sunshine they even sing about it and a Christmas carol the best-loved seasonal novel of all by Charles Dickens has certainly played its part in this [Music] vivid descriptions of snowy streets come from memories of Dickens own childhood because for the first seven years of his life every Christmas was white add to this Clement Seymour's poem and stories of Santa Claus in Lapland and you begin to see how the snowy Christmas picture has evolved and what's more it's continuing to do so even in America frosty the lovable snowman wasn't actually created until relatively recently in 1959 and we can only look forward to the new snowy delights that Christmas future might bring [Music] as this Christmas to treasure draws to a very festive conclusion sit back relax and enjoy what is becoming a very popular way to share the season of goodwill with loved ones there was a time and not so very long ago when children used to visit Santa Claus in big city department stores where they could tell him what they wanted for christmas but in the 21st century as travel has literally opened up a whole new world children are taken to visit Santa Claus at his home in Lapland [Music] deep in the Arctic Circle this family is following a candlelit trail to find Santa Claus and it truly is a magical experience that will never be forgotten for the very young and the young at heart this Christmas in Lapland is very special indeed and although the conditions outside might be freezing there's warped in everyone's hearts that will cheer them through the year ahead so let's the old traditions of this wonderful celebration help you to enjoy what can so often become a very stressful time of year take joy from the little things that bring pleasure at Christmastime the thoughtful gift kindly worded cards and the expectation upon the children's faces as they dream of Santa Claus and the gifts that he will fill their stockings with these are the real treasures of Christmas that bring hope to the world so wherever you are and however you plan to spend the festive season all that's left to do is wish you happy holidays and a future blessed with many more Christmases to treasure [Music] you [Music]

Channel: FREE MOVIES

Views: 85,286

Rating: 4.7018971 out of 5

Keywords: Holiday, Christmas, to, Treasure:, Discover, the, History, and, Origins, of, Season's, Greatest, Traditions, Cobra, Entertainment, LLC, official, video, holiday, jesus, santa, santa clause, full documentary, full movie, full film, full stream, free documentary, free film, free stream, free movie, the orchard, on demand

Id: BO5Tnsu99TQ

Length: 60min 46sec (3646 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 10 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/smilysmilysmooch]

“A Christmas to Treasure” brings together the very best the season has to offer from all over the world. Discover how Santa Claus got his red coat, why we hang up stockings, where the traditional Christmas tree came from and why we eat, drink and make merry throughout the holiday. The magic of Christmas has been captured in this program for the whole family, to thrill everyone from the very young to the young-at-heart. This is the perfect way to relax and enjoy the nostalgia of Christmas past and look forward to a very happy Christmas present with all the hope of Christmas future.

Learn the who, what and where of Christmas’ greatest seasonal treats and traditions like: Yule Log / Christmas Tree / Mistletoe / Santa Claus / Holly Wreaths / Candy Canes / Eggnog / Christmas Turkey Dinner / Festive Crackers / Christmas Cards / Christmas Pudding and more!

Just thought this was an interesting documentary for everyone to enjoy while sipping egg nog and warming up by the fire.

[u/IMDbInfo]

Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (2009)
Animation | Adventure | Family
Tinker Bell journey far North of Never Land to patch things up with her friend Terence and restore a Pixie Dust Tree.
Directed by Klay Hall
Stars Mae Whitman, Jesse McCartney, Jane Horrocks
6.7/10
G
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1216516/