Most people believe that consumer Christmas is a recent creation. However, it was more than a century ago that the consumer spirit of Christmas blossomed. Few societies illustrate this spectacular development better than French Canada. Here, the new spirit of Christmas that came to prevail imposed itself through two battles. On the one hand, New Year's Day, which had been the true focal point of the winter season in French Canadians' culture, was supplanted by the Nativity. On the other hand, Baby Jesus was replaced by Santa Claus. In seeking to understand how Christian celebrations became at...