Whilst tucking into turkey and Christmas pudding this year, spare a thought for your seventeenth century forebears.
In 1647 the English Parliament banned Christmas festivities (as well as those taking place at Easter and Whitsuntide) as they were judged to be ungodly. Perhaps they had a foretaste of some office parties in the future. Scotland had banned the celebration of Christmas several years before.
Fines were introduced for disobeying the ban and shops were actually forced to open on 25 December (who could possibly imagine…?).
In fact it was in a pamphlet issued in protest at the ban on Christmas that there is one of the earliest depictions of Father Christmas. The ban was removed as soon as the monarchy was restored in 1660.
The killjoys were still out in force in 1831 when the Game Act forbade the killing of birds or “game” on Christmas Day, and this in the days before we could watch The Great Escape instead.
Once again, I am indebted to my colleague, James Browne, attorney in Sacramento, for a few examples of laws from across the Atlantic (some of which may actually be true). He cannot be too smug about “quaint olde England” as Massachusetts had a ban on Christmas from the 1650s until 1681 and wasn’t recognised as a holiday until 1856.
Both New York City and Philadelphia have laws banning the display of natural Christmas trees in retail stores and high-rise buildings on the grounds that they are fire hazards.
Since 2011 there has been a 15c tax on natural trees to fund a campaign to market Christmas as being a wholesome family holiday (possibly to counter the Puritans’ dislike of it).
A town in Indiana has decided that placing a cross on the top of Christmas trees breaches the First Amendment of the constitution which forbids a state religion.
Meanwhile in Michigan it is advisable to keep your receipt for any Christmas tree as you can be fined for transporting it without proof of purchase.
If you’ve managed to get your tree home in a legal manner, you had better not have forgotten to buy your alcohol in advance of the big day if you live in Arkansas where it is illegal to sell alcohol on 25 December.
For those of you who love to hold onto the Christmas period for a bit longer than anyone else, please bear in mind that in San Diego it is illegal to have your Christmas lights up after 2 February (long enough for anyone, surely).
At least Louisiana and Arkansas have laws preventing debts from being enforceable on Christmas Day.
It gets better in some countries such as France and Mexico where the payment of a Christmas bonus is compulsory ! (Now there’s an idea…)
In Germany, meanwhile, it is still common for families to decorate their houses on Christmas Eve, when presents are traditionally exchanged in the evening, making that a busy day, although most shops will close by 1pm. Saint Nicholas, however, is already having a rest, having delivered sweets for good children at the beginning of December.
I prefer the tradition in Iceland where not only do they have 13 days of Christmas, rather than 12, but Christmas Eve is marked by people giving books as gifts which they proceed to settle down to read. Those Vikings have certainly got tamer.
However you spend the festive season, we hope you have a very merry one.