Christmas Wasn’t Always a Day Off
Did you know that Christmas Day was not always a federal holiday in the United States. It didn’t become a federal holiday until 1870. According to Karal Marling, author of the Harvard University Press book Merry Christmas! Celebrating America’s Greatest Holiday, 18th and 19th century residents in New England didn’t have a day off at Christmas. These attitudes stemmed from the earlier Puritans of the region who saw the celebration of Christmas as a popular invention. Leave it to the Puritans to hate celebrating. (Don’t get them started on mistletoe, who’s origins go back to pagan fertility rites).
Surprisingly, these attitudes existed until the mid 19th century! Children in Boston attended school on Christmas Day until the 1870s, and businesses in the New England area maintained usual business hours.
Thankfully things have changed. It is one of the biggest federal holidays now. Christmas is one day where many stores and businesses shutter, and employees go home and spend time with family and friends. Of course not all are fortunate to have Christmas off from work. Healthcare workers, service members, and gas station attendants (among many others) work jobs that don’t pause for Christmas. Even our hardworking professionals at Cooper are on standby for emergency calls from clients and customers.
Emergency Power, All the Time
But those Christmas day calls are rare. The Cooper generator team works hard throughout the year installing, maintaining and servicing generators all around the Myrtle Beach area so you can take comfort knowing backup power is there in an emergency.
We look forward to working alongside all our current clients and serving many new ones in 2018. However you choose to celebrate this season, the entire Cooper Electrical Services crew wishes you a happy and peaceful Christmastime, and a healthy and prosperous new year.
