Christmas is so woven into modern life that it’s hard to imagine a time when celebrating it was forbidden. But in early America, Christmas was once illegal — banned by law, condemned from pulpits, and erased from public life. For decades, December 25th was treated as an ordinary workday, and joy itself was viewed with suspicion.

In this episode, we uncover how Christmas nearly vanished from American culture — and how one unexpected figure helped bring it back. Not a pastor. Not a politician. But Washington Irving, a storyteller who reintroduced Christmas not as excess or superstition, but as warmth, memory, and belonging. His writing quietly reshaped how a young nation imagined the holiday.

Through literature, culture, and imagination, Christmas was resurrected — later strengthened by the moral vision of Charles Dickens. This is the remarkable true story of how Christmas survived every attempt to erase it, why it still endures today, and how one man reminded America that joy and faith were never meant to be enemies.

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