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Christmas, History, and Economics

This being Christmas Eve, a few gifts: Christmas from the perspectives of business and economic history:
American History through Christmas Cards (Wisconsin Historical Society)
Ghosts of Christmases Past (Historians@Work, Marquette University)
"Was Dickens's Christmas Carol borrowed from Lowell's Mill Girls? (Boston Globe)
Dickens and the Construction of Christmas (History Today)
"Historians explain how 100-year-old traditions are still a part of seasonal celebration" (CandG News)
Christmas Creep and Other Joyous Holiday Traditions (The Historical Society blog)
First Christmas in America (in Tallahassee?) (WCTV)
Who Decorated the First Christmas Tree? (Wall Street Journal)
Inside the $1 Billion Christmas Tree Business (Gawker)
Festive Facts about the Business of Christmas (Orlando Business Journal)
"Ten Milestones in Christmas History That Might Surprise You" (Forbes)
Who Invented Electric Christmas Lights? (Library of Congress)
If Economists Wrote Christmas Cards (The Atlantic)
An Economist's Guide to Christmas ("maximizing emotional return")
The Economics of Wasteful Spending (PBS Newshour)
What I Like About Scrooge (Slate)
The Behavioral Economics of Christmas (The New Republic) ("avoid unrealistic optimism")
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