The whole silly "war on Christmas" thing that’s been going on so some guy (John Gibson) could sell his book and Fox News could jack up its ratings has had an unexpected, but pleasant effect on me.  I’ve read more in the last two weeks about the history of celebrating Christmas in America than I’ve ever read before, even in my religious education classes at Capital Lutheran High School West in Arlington, VA.  I was reading this Slate article when I came across this paragraph:

Observance of Christmas, or the lack thereof, was one way to differentiate among the Christian sects of Colonial and 19^th-century
America. Anglicans, Moravians, Dutch Reformed, and Lutherans, to name
just a few, did; Quakers, Puritans, Separatists, Baptists, and some
Presbyterians did not. An 1855 New York Times
report on Christmas services in the city noted that Baptist and
Methodist churches were closed because they "do not accept the day as a
holy one," while Episcopal and Catholic churches were open and "decked
with evergreens." New England Congregationalist preacher Henry Ward
Beecher remembered decorative greenery as an exotic touch that one
could see only in Episcopal churches, "a Romish institution kept up by
the Romish church." (Emphasis on Moravians mine).

You’ll notice that the Moravians were one of the Christian sects that celebrated Christmas all along.  Winston-Salem is located in what was originally a 100,000 acre Moravian settlement called Wachovia, and is currently home to historic Old Salem.  Anyone who’s lived here for at least one Christmas can attest to the fact that the Moravians have been practicing the art of celebrating Christmas for a long time.

For evidence you only need to attend a Moravian Christmas Candlelight Lovefeast to get a sense for what I’m talking about.  I could try to describe it, but it is beyond my capabilities as a writer.  Just take my word for it and if you’re ever near a Moravian church on Christmas Eve make sure you attend.  What I can say is that you get the feeling that this is what Christmas is all about.

Chalk that up as one more reason that living in Winston-Salem is great.