I Remember my husband had to work Christmas Day in the ealy 1960's. we woke our three children early so he could watch them opening thier presents before  he went to work. regards Lorraine ________________________________ From: Gavin Bell <g.bell@which.net> To: Ron and Laura Bozzay <rbozzay@earthlink.net>; aberdeen@rootsweb.com Sent: Monday, 28 December, 2009 10:24:19 Subject: Re: [ABERDEEN] Scottish Christmas Traditions Ron and Laura Bozzay wrote: > ... > > I would also like to know of any Scottish Christmas traditions.  I > try to honor each of my lines by incorporting something traditional > to each country at Christmas. (Some of my extended French / German > families actually invented Christmas ornaments, the Greiner and > Mueller families who lived in both Meisenthal France and Lauscha > Germany). > > I made Scotch Shortbread from a recipe my cousin who was born in > Scotland sent me. But I would like to know more.  From reading I have > done it sounds like Christmas was almost outlawed for a while.  I > also have a CD of Celtic Yuletide music. A bit late to help your Christmas this year (I was away from home for mine) but you are on the right track in supposing that Christmas was outlawed - but there was no "almost" about it! At the Reformation (which happened rather suddenly in Scotland, in 1560) the Calvinists abolished Christmas, along with much else, as blasphemous, or idolatrous, or popish (or any of the above), and while the first strict puritanism faded over time, it had become a custom in Scotland NOT to observe Christmas.  My earliest memories are of a "modern" Christmas, but I believe that even at that time, Christmas Day was not an official holiday in Scotland, and that at least some people still went to work on 25th December. Gavin Bell ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ABERDEEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message