On CHRISTMAS, DECEMBER 24, 1946, President Truman stated:"Our ... hopes of future years turn to a little town in the hills of Judea where on a winter's night two thousand years ago the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled."
Susan K Roll wrote in Toward the Origins of Christmas, 1995 (pp. 100-101): "Saint John Chrysostom's third argument follows ... that Zachariah was ... priest during the Feast of Tabernacles in the year John the Baptist was conceived. Chrysostom counts off the months of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, and dates Mary’s conception from the sixth month of Elizabeth’s ... then counts off another nine months to arrive at the birthdate of Christ."
Henry Van Dyke wrote in The First Christmas Tree, 1906, of Saint Boniface - Wynfred chopped down Thor's oak tree: "'... Courage, brothers, and forward yet a little ... this Christmas eve ... For this is the Yuletide, and the heathen people of the forest have gathered at the thunder-oak of Geismar to worship their god, Thor ...'Bring the axes' ... they grasped the axe-helves and swung the shining blades ... A strong, whirling wind ... gripped the oak ... Backward it fell ... crashing as it split asunder ..." 'And here.' said he, as his eyes fell on a young fir-tree, standing straight and green ... Let us call it the tree of the Christ-child ..."
Not only was Friedrich Shillers's "Ode to Joy" set to Beethoven's Ninth, but so was "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee," a hymn written in 1907 by Princeton professor Henry Van Dyke:
In 1739, Charles Wesley penned "Hark! how all the Welkin (Heaven) rings." George Whitefield suggested the first line be changed to "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing." The song was put to the music of Lutheran composer Felix Mendelssohn, grandson of the notable Jewish philosopher, Moses Mendelssohn. "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" was first published in 1739 in the collection Hymns and Sacred Poems. It was republished in George Whitefield's Collection of Hymns for Social Worship in 1754.
