During colonial times there was a law in Massachusetts forbidding any one to celebrate Christmas; and if anybody was so rash in those days as to go about tooting a horn and shouting a “Merry Christmas!” he was promptly brought to his senses by being arrested and punished.

[Illustration:  CHRISTMAS SPORTS IN NEW ENGLAND]

Of course things are very different in New England now, but in many country towns the people still make more of Thanksgiving than they do of Christmas; and there are hundreds of New England men and women still living who knew nothing of Christmas as children—­who never hung up their stockings; who never waited for Santa Claus; who never had a tree; who never even had a Christmas present!

Nowadays, however, Christmas in New England is like Christmas anywhere else; but here and there, even now, the effects of the early Puritan ideas may still be seen.  In some of the smaller and out-of-the-way towns and villages you will find Christmas trees and evergreens in only a very few of the houses, and in some places—­particularly in New Hampshire—­one big Christmas tree does for the whole town.  This tree is set up in the town hall, and there the children go to get their gifts, which have been hung on the branches by the parents.  Sometimes the tree has no decorations—­no candles, no popcorn strings, no shiny balls.  After the presents are taken off and given to the children, the tree remains perfectly bare.  There is usually a short entertainment of recitations and songs, and a speech or two perhaps, and then the little folks, carrying their presents with them, go back to their homes.

=IN NEW MEXICO=

In certain parts of New Mexico, among the old Spanish settlements, the celebration of Christmas begins more than a week before the day.  In the evenings, a party of men and women go together to the house of some friend—­a different house being visited each evening.  When they arrive, they knock on the door and begin to sing, and when those in the house ask, “Who is there?” they reply, “The Virgin Mary and St. Joseph seek lodgings in your house.”  At first the inmates of the house refuse to let them in.  This is done to carry out the Bible story of Joseph and Mary being unable to find lodgings in Bethlehem.  But in a little while the door is opened and the visitors are heartily welcomed.  As soon as they enter, they kneel and repeat a short prayer; and when the devotional exercises are concluded, the rest of the evening is spent in merrymaking.

On Christmas eve the people of the village gather together in some large room or hall and give a solemn little play, commemorating the birthday of the Saviour.  One end of the room is used as a stage, and this is fitted up to represent the stable and the manger; and the characters in the sacred story of Bethlehem—­Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men, and the angels—­are represented in the tableaux, and with a genuine, reverential spirit.  Even the poorer people of the town take part in these Christmas plays.