To start off this last issue of this year, I thought I would do a little investigating on the history of Christmas. What I found was quite interesting!

The celebration of a mid-winter festival has been around since prehistoric times. In Scandinavia, the Norse celebrated Yule from Dec. 21 through January to celebrate the return of the sun. They brought home large Yule logs to burn and feasted until they went out, sometimes as long as 12 days (hence the modern Twelve Days of Christmas). Romans celebrated Saturnalia, a holiday in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture In addition, members of the upper classes often celebrated the birthday of Mithra, the god of the unconquerable sun, on December 25. It was believed that Mithra, an infant god, was born of a rock. For some Romans, Mithra's birthday was the most sacred day of the year.

In the early years of Christianity, Easter was the main holiday; the birth of Jesus was not celebrated. In the fourth century, church officials decided to institute the birth of Jesus as a holiday. Unfortunately, the Bible does not mention date for his birth (a fact Puritans later pointed out in order to deny the legitimacy of the celebration). Although some evidence suggests that his birth may have occurred in the spring (why would shepherds be herding in the middle of winter?), Pope Julius I chose December 25. It is commonly believed that the church chose this date in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival. First called the Feast of the Nativity, the custom spread to Egypt by 432 and to England by the end of the sixth century. By the end of the eighth century, the celebration of Christmas had spread all the way to Scandinavia. Today, in the Greek and Russian orthodox churches, Christmas is celebrated 13 days after the 25th, which is also referred to as the Epiphany or Three Kings Day. This is the day it is believed that the three wise men finally found Jesus in the manger.

.In the early 17th century, a wave of religious reform changed the way Christmas was celebrated in Europe. When Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan forces took over England in 1645, they vowed to rid England of decadence and, as part of their effort, cancelled Christmas. By popular demand, Charles II was restored to the throne and, with him, came the return of the popular holiday.

The pilgrims, English separatists that came to America in 1620, were even more orthodox in their Puritan beliefs than Cromwell. As a result, Christmas was not a holiday in early America. From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was actually outlawed in Boston. Anyone exhibiting the Christmas spirit was fined five shillings. By contrast, in the Jamestown settlement, Captain John Smith reported that Christmas was enjoyed by all and passed without incident.

After the American Revolution, English customs fell out of favor, including Christmas. In fact, Congress was in session on December 25, 1789, the first Christmas under America's new constitution. Christmas wasn't declared a federal holiday until June 26, 1870.

It wasn't until the 19th century that Americans began to embrace Christmas. Americans re-invented Christmas, and changed it from a raucous carnival holiday into a family-centered day of peace and nostalgia. In 1819, best-selling author Washington Irving wrote The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, gent. , a series of stories about the celebration of Christmas in an English manor house. Irving's book, however, was not based on any holiday celebration he had attended_in fact, many historians say that Irving's account actually "invented" tradition by implying that it described the true customs of the season.

Also around this time, English author Charles Dickens created the classic holiday tale, A Christmas Carol . The story's message--the importance of charity and good will towards all humankind--struck a powerful chord in the United States and England and showed members of Victorian society the benefits of celebrating the holiday.

The family was also becoming more sensitive to the emotional needs of children during the early 1800s. Christmas provided families with a day when they could lavish attention--and gifts--on their children without appearing to "spoil" them.

In the next 100 years, Americans built a Christmas tradition all their own that included pieces of many other customs, including decorating trees, sending holiday cards, and gift-giving. Although most families quickly bought into the idea that they were celebrating Christmas how it had been done for centuries, Americans had really re-invented the holiday.

The legend of Santa Claus can be traced back hundreds of years to a monk named St. Nicholas. It is believed that Nicholas was born sometime around 280 A.D. in Patara, near Myra in modern-day Turkey. It is said that he gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick. Over the course of many years, Nicholas's popularity spread and he became known as the protector of children and sailors. By the Renaissance, St. Nicholas was the most popular saint in Europe. Even after the Protestant Reformation, when the veneration of saints began to be discouraged, St. Nicholas maintained a positive reputation, especially in Holland.

St. Nicholas made his first inroads into American popular culture towards the end of the 18th century. In December 1773, and again in 1774, a New York newspaper reported that groups of Dutch families had gathered to honor the anniversary of his death. The name Santa Claus evolved from Nick's Dutch [Sinter Klaas.] nickname, Sinter Klaas, a shortened form of Sint Nikolaas (Dutch for Saint Nicholas).

In 1822, Clement Clarke Moore, an Episcopal minister, wrote a long Christmas poem for his three daughters entitled, "An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas." Moore's poem is largely responsible for our modern image of Santa Claus as a "right jolly old elf" with a portly figure and the supernatural ability to ascend a chimney with a mere nod of his head! Although some of Moore's imagery was probably borrowed from other sources, his poem helped to popularize the now-familiar idea of a Santa Claus who flew from house to house on Christmas Eve_in "a miniature sleigh" led by eight flying reindeer, whom he also named_leaving presents for deserving children. "An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas," created a new and immediately popular American icon.

In 1881, political cartoonist Thomas Nast drew on Moore's poem to create the first likeness that matches our modern image of Santa Claus. His cartoon, which appeared in Harper's Weekly, depicted Santa as a rotund, cheerful man with a full, white beard, holding a sack laden with toys for lucky children. It is Nast who gave Santa his bright red suit trimmed with white fur, North Pole workshop, elves, and his wife, Mrs. Claus.

Stores began to advertise Christmas shopping in 1820, and by the 1840s, newspapers were creating separate sections for holiday advertisements, which often featured images of the newly-popular Santa Claus. In 1841, thousands of children visited a Philadelphia shop to see a life-size Santa Claus model. It was only a matter of time before stores began to attract children, and their parents, with the lure of a peek at a "live" Santa Claus. In the early 1890s, the Salvation Army needed money to pay for the free Christmas meals they provided to needy families. They began dressing up unemployed men in Santa Claus suits and sending them into the streets of New York to solicit donations. Those familiar Salvation Army Santas have been ringing bells on the street corners of American cities ever since.

The story of Rudolph, "the most famous reindeer of all," was written by Robert L. May, a copywriter at the Montgomery Ward department store, in 1939 to help bring holiday traffic into his store. Montgomery Ward sold almost two and a half million copies of the story in 1939. When it was reissued in 1946, the book sold over three and half million copies. Several years later, one of May's friends, Johnny Marks, wrote a short song based on Rudolph's story (1949). It was recorded by Gene Autry and sold over two million copies. Since then, the story has been translated into 25 languages and been made into a television movie, narrated by Burl Ives, which has charmed audiences every year since 1964.

We have all heard terms like this before but do we really know what they mean? It is even hard to figure out what a second or third cousin is never mind adding once or twice removed. Hopefully I can help explain all that.

First of all, we do most often understand that a cousin is actually a "first cousin" and this is because we would share the same grandparents. Now our second cousins share the same great grandparents that is to say they would be grandchildren of our grandparent’s brother or sister (or our great-aunt or great-uncle). Third cousins work the same way in that we would share great-great grandparents. Cheryl and I are sixth cousins – and we share the same great-great-great-great-great grandparents William McNairn and Agnes Chesney. It gets confusing with all those "greats" in there but to figure out what cousins you are – just count the total number of g’s – In this case there are five g’s for the greats plus one for the grandparents so that is six g’s all together.

To make life even more confusing, sometimes you will see the term once removed or twice removed etc. When we figure out cousins like we did above the one thing is that the two people are in the same generation. The term "removed" is used to describe when the relationship for the two people is that they are not from the same generation, for instance my father’s cousin is my first cousin once removed. This is because my father and I are one generation apart. My Grandfather’s cousin is my first cousin twice removed because my grandfather and I are two generations apart. Likewise, my great-grandfather’s cousin would be my first cousin three times removed. Cheryl and I each have children. Cheryl’s children are my 6^th cousins once removed – because there is a difference of one generation. This is the same as my children’s relationship with Cheryl. The interesting thing is that once you look at the fact our children are all in the same generation – they are 7^th cousins of each other.

Here's our Birthday and Anniversary List for January. Please let me know if you find any errors!

And now for more mundane matters...

The First McNairn Reunion is approaching fast, and we still need ideas from you. If you would be so kind as to return your surveys or just write to cheryllgrice@cs.com and let me know what you would like out of this reunion, I would really appreciate it. If you would like a survey, you may also ask at the aforementioned email address. So far, we have these decisions made: The reunion will be at my cousin's house in Cardinal, Ontario the weekend of August 23/24. We will hold the actual reunion on Saturday, the 23rd, to allow for travel time for some folks on Sunday. We are thinking of having a carry-in type event where everyone brings some kind of food, and we will provide hamburgers and hotdogs which we can grill in the afternoon. We are thinking about asking for donations to cover the costs of holding the reunion (food, facilities, tents, etc.).

So....what do YOU think? Do you have any input? Any neat ideas? PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!!

Also, I am still working on getting together a sort of "address book" for all of us. If you would like to be in the address book so other McNairns can contact you, please let me know, and be sure to also tell me how much information you would like to have included in the address book. Personally, I am including my name, email, where I live (but not the complete address), names of my family members, and a short lineage. How much you care to include is up to you. Please email me at cheryllgrice@cs.com and tell me what you would like included!

This is a section I thought that I would include now and then to let everyone know of family members that are in need of thoughts, prayers, well-wishes, and so forth....whatever YOU are able to do.
Thoughts are needed for a young family member who is going through diagnosing several tumors. Let's hope that the tumors are not malignant and that her recovery is fast and painless.
Also an elderly member of the family who lives in Great Britain is spending her last days with us, and we would ask your thoughts and well-wishes that her passing is peaceful and painless.

Thank you, everyone.
If you have a concern or "prayer request" that you would like to share in the next newsletter, please let me know. This is a family newsletter, and it's always nice to know that your family is thinking about you.

And so ends another year of The McNairn Times. Can you believe that I have been writing this newsletter since July of 2001? A year and a half. Wow, how time flies. I have enjoyed every moment, and I'm looking forward to another year of news, finding new relatives, and discovering more interesting information about our family.

If you have stories, information, or announcements that you would like for me to include in future editions, please email me at cheryllgrice@cs.com. I generally publish the newsletter on the 15th of the month.

If you know of someone who is not currently on my mailing list but would like to be, please let me know. If you would like to have the McNairn Times mailed to you, a small donation of $5.00 USD would be appreciated to cover a year's worth of printing and postage costs.

from the Grice Family
Crystal, Cheryl, Alex, Phil, and Jesse