Show mer merry r y christmas christmas th the e swee sweetest tast and happiest day of all seasons tho the day when the prince of peace is supposed posed to have entered upon the walks of mon to shape anew the destinies des tiDies of the human race the day set aside tor for giving M and receiving of gifts is here and the berryment merry ment m en fc and joy peculiar to to those times pervade the atmosphere mo sphere and again is echoed the glad lad song sona the angels s sang ang over sleeping pea peace 0 on earth good will towards m men en lf if there was a record made of the important date of the nativi i ta t r of ef the savior it must have been destroyed or lost during f r the time of if the early persecution of his followers and it was not dot until the fth century that a day s C the 25 th da of december was es xa t i r v VL t vay i f ish ed as the lay day for the ob servance of the he Chris christian tiati festival it ib ma manhave may have been f from rom the influence of some tradition or from a adesime desire to supplant heathen festivals such as yule tide wheel el time elisei observed ved by the odi odin n worshippers wor shippers of northern nor theft and western europe and for afif fifteen i en hundred years in all chris tian countries counti ies the annual recurt cerce of christmas has been celebrated eleb rated with festivities of vart vari ious to us kinds and an d while the date uan can not be fit at least not so that the christian world will accept it a all 11 true trahe christians C h r is fians are a agreed reed on the fact that th at our ob r savior came down f from roin leaven heaven to shed li light 0 lit on that world which lies beyond the tomb and to r reveal e to us a new life with V 1 t 11 death he has made im known own to 0 us our ori origin in and destiny and the be means of obtaining it rk he has brot not only li liht ht to our intellects but also peace to our aur mii minds ids that peace tw hiell r springs from f rout t the b 6 knowledge knowl kno idge dge of ohe che truth and the hope of eternal life before the adoption of catholic christianity by the odin worshipers in S scandinavia and germany their yu yule e ti ide 1 I e was a midwinter mid winter festival oU observed served it at the end of a year and alid the begin ning ningon of another anothy er when a large wheel would be carried to the 0 top of a hill bill or some elevated point and then serit sent rolling down hill thus running the old year ou out t at the a adoption of chris as the state reli religion glon yule yuie tide was shifted ba back C k to december and cele celebrated b rated as C christmas h ris m as bu but t retaining retaining reta inin L its heathen pame name yule or yule tide |