7 Interesting Facts About Christmas

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, December 24, 2017

Federal Holiday

The United States Capitol dome is seen down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington September 30, 2013. With a deadline to avert a federal government shutdown fast approaching, the U.S. Capitol was eerily quiet on Sunday as Republicans and Democrats waited for the other side to blink first and break the impasse over funding. | (Photo: Reuters/Gary Cameron)

For nearly a century after the American Revolution, Christmas was not observed as a federal holiday. This was partly because for much of the 19th century a surprisingly high number of Americans did not celebrate it.

However, in June 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a bill designating Christmas, alongside observances like Fourth of July and New Year's Day, an unpaid federal holiday for employees living in the District of Columbia.

"Such holidays were later extended to federal employees outside of D.C., but a provision making sure they got paid on those days didn't exist until 1938," noted Time Magazine.

"According to congressional records, the 1870 law was instigated by area 'bankers and business men' who wanted certain holidays to be formalized."