mass Christmas morning. But in America, the holiday has slowly changed so that when in the past people were attending midnight mass, they are now busy wrapping presents and socializing with friends. On Christmas morning, they are now busy opening presents and eating, rather than attending a lengthy religious service.
In the distant past, there had been previous attempts to turn Christmas into a holiday celebration. It has been observed that
Christmas became a great popular festival in the Middle Ages, which led to objections by some of the reformers [and the result was] the observance was forbidden in England under the Commonwealth, and in Calvinist New England (Durant 65).
But of course today, Christmas is at best considered only half of a religious holiday. Certainly Americans must take a large share of responsibility for having transformed Christmas into a primarily secular holiday.
Perhaps this is most apparent in the way Americans have focused on the physical, decorative or celebratory aspects of Christmas: the Christmas tree with lights, the gift-giving, the partying, and of course, Santa Claus himself. All of these elements have been
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