The celebration of modern Christmas - with traditions of decorating trees, singing carols and giving gifts - has its roots in the South. In 1836, Alabama reportedly became the first to make Christmas a state holiday, according to the History Channel, followed by Louisiana and Arkansas in 1838.

Although no records have been found to support those dates, they are repeated in numerous online sources and are generally accepted by historians. The legislation allowed residents to take off work for the day, without repercussion, to spend time with family and friends.

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Before that point in 1836, celebration of Christmas was met with widely varied responses in different regions: In Boston, it was a sin and a crime to celebrate on Christmas. In the early colonies, there was sometimes a fancy meal to mark the day. But in the South, people wanted to entertain on a grander scale: Southerners wanted to sing, share meals, give gifts, drink spirits and generally throw large and lavish parties.

(The photo above from an unnamed location shows Santa Claus in 1913.)

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University of South Alabama/McCall Library

So how and why did Southerners change the way Americans celebrate Christmas? It was apparently due to the influence of a Yankee - Washington Irving.

(The photo above shows a 1927 parade in Mobile in which the children dressed as Christmas toys.)

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Public Domain Review

According to an article on Christmas Around the World: "Before the American Civil War, Americans from North and South differed greatly in their attitudes towards the issue of Christmas. Northerners viewed the Christmas celebration as sinful and considered Thanksgiving more proper. By contrast, Southerners received Christmas as an important holiday."

(The postcard above is an advertising card from a New York company from 1868.)

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Alabama Department of Archives and History

The belief that celebrating the holiday was sinful came with the Puritanical pilgrims when they arrived in 1620.

"As a result, Christmas was not a holiday in early America," the History Channel says. "From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was actually outlawed in Boston. Anyone exhibiting the Christmas spirit was fined five shillings."

(The postcard above was sent from Alabama in 1909.)

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Carl B. Elliott Library

There were some colonists, particularly in Jamestown, who celebrated Christmas as a day of peace, but without the celebratory trappings we have today, according to the writings of Capt. John Smith.

(The photo above shows Jasper, Ala., in the 1940s.)

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Library of Congress

That began to change in 1819 when Washington Irving, above, who was born in New York in 1783, published "The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, gent.," a collection of stories about Christmas in an English manor house.

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AL.com File Photo

"The sketches feature a squire who invited the peasants into his home for the holiday, the History Channel writes. "In Irving's mind, Christmas should be a peaceful, warmhearted holiday bringing groups together across lines of wealth or social status." But the traditions he described in the book came from his own mind. "... Many historians say that Irving's account actually 'invented' tradition by implying that it described the true customs of the season."

(The photo above shows the Salvation Army in Mobile in 1910.)

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Library of Congress

In the 1830s, Southern states began, one-by-one, declaring Christmas a day when people could be off work. But is wasn't until June 26, 1870, that Christmas was declared a federal holiday.

Oklahoma was the last to declare Christmas a state holiday, in 1907.

(The photo above shows Gadsden, Ala., in 1940.)

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Library of Congress

In 1843, Charles Dickens, above, published his classic, "A Christmas Carol." which had a moral about enjoying the holiday with family and friends and helping those less fortunate. The book sealed the Victorian idea of how to celebrate Christmas.

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Alabama Department of Archives and History

The History Channel writes: "The story's message-the importance of charity and good will towards all humankind-struck a powerful chord in the United States and England and showed members of Victorian society the benefits of celebrating the holiday."

(The photo above is from a 1953 Christmas event in Montgomery.)

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