Make the season bright with Reindeer Knoll - a joyful guide to Christmas traditions, history, activities, and songs. Discover the origins of beloved Christmas customs like decorating trees, Santa Claus, and gift-giving. Learn fun holiday activities like baking cookies, building snowmen, and Christmas crafts. Sing along to classic Christmas carols and songs the whole family will love.
The origin of the phrase “Merry Christmas” is obscure, the first recorded use goes back to 1534 in a letter dated December 22 by imprisoned English Catholic Bishop John Fisher to lawyer and activist Thomas Cromwell. In his letter, Fisher—who had been in the Tower of London prison for eight months for refusing to recognize King Henry VIII as the “Supreme Head of the Church and Clergy of England”—asked for clothing, food and conditions, closing the letter with, “And this our Lord God send you a merry Christmas…” Nonetheless, Fisher was executed the following year.
(The Roman Catholic Church declared him a saint 400 years later in 1935.) In 1843, Charles Dickens used the same phrase in “A Christmas Carol.” also in 1843 the first ever Christmas Card was produced for purchase, which contained the saying! It was a perfect storm of popularity for “Merry Christmas” and the phrase became an instant hit for Christmas Greetings all around the world!