Merry Christmas history lovers! Things have been crazy lately with my job and my book and getting ready for the holidays and this and that, so I’ve been especially lazy with this blog lately. (What can you expect? It’s right in the title.) But I wanted to do another update before 2016, so I’m going with a quick and easy link roundup of some holiday-themed histories. Enjoy and see you next year!

Santa Claus and Coca-Cola

• 5 Things You Never Knew About Santa Claus and Coca-Cola (coca-colacompany.com)
• Did Coca-Cola really invent Santa’s red suit? We look back at soft drink’s Christmas adverts (mirror.co.uk)
• Did Coke Invent Santa? (forbes.com)

The Advent Calendar

• About Advent Calendars (sellmer-verlag.de)
• A Brief History of Advent Calendars (mentalfloss.com)

Christmas Carols

• Silent Night: A short history of Britain’s favourite Christmas carol (telegraph.co.uk)
• 30 Favourite Christmas Carols – Their Origins and History (hubpages.com)
• The Origins of 10 Popular Christmas Carols (mentalfloss.com)
• The History of Christmas Carols (whychristmas.com)

Mistletoe

• Mistletoe its history, meaning and traditions (theholidayspot.com)
• Mistletoe: The Evolution of a Christmas Tradition (smithsonianmag.com)
• Why We Kiss Under the Mistletoe (todayifoundout.com)

Christmas Trees

• History of Christmas Trees (history.com)
• The First Christmas Tree (historytoday.com)
• A Brief History of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree (time.com)
• Why Nova Scotia gives Boston its Christmas tree for free every year (boston.com)

What is your favorite holiday tradition?