Merry Christmas! celebrating America's greatest holiday - Marling, Karal Ann (Harvard University Press, 2000)
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002
Includes bibliographical references and index
1 - Wrapping paper unwrapped : holly boxes, tissue paper, and bows -- - 2 - The Christmas business : greenery, lights, ornaments, toy villages -- - 3 - Window shopping : department store displays, Santalands, and Macy's big parade -- - 4 - Olde Christmas : Dickens, Irving, and Christmas charity -- - 5 - O Tannenbaum : indoor and outdoor Christmas tree spectacles -- - 6 - Santa Claus is comin' to town : store Santas, kettle Santas, Coca-Cola Santas -- - 7 - Somebody else's Christmas : hot Christmas, black Christmas, faraway Christmas -- - 8 - Thinking of you at Christmas : cards or gifts? -- - 9 - Dreaming of a white Christmas : how Bing Crosby and the Grinch almost stole Christmas -- - Postscript : a meditation on Christmas cookies
Describes the outsize spectacle that Christmas has become, showing the provenance and significance of each of its essential parts: the decorated trees and holiday lights, the cards and gifts and wrapping papers, the toy villages and store displays and Macy's holiday parade, Bing Crosby and Santa Claus. Includes information on Dayton department stores' Santabear