The Traditions of Christmas

I am thinking about Christmas traditions, and am reminded, by Dickens" A Christmas Carol" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol that celebrating Christmas has changed very much over the years.  I will not even consider reviewing the ancient celebrations, but am thinking about the last couple of hundred years.  Evidently, there was a time when shops and stores did not close for Christmas. 

Now, it seems that Christmas is very commercialized.  But, that has an interesting by product:  Very many businesses do close for Christmas. So, there is a trade off....