when did christmas become a national holiday

Christmas was made an official federal holiday in 1870, after more than a decade of advocacy and campaigning by supporters. Prior to that, Christmas was celebrated as a religious holiday by Christians around the world, but it was not a national holiday in the United States. In 1863, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln declared a national day of thanksgiving to be observed on the fourth Thursday of November, which helped establish the tradition of a federal holiday to celebrate a specific day. In 1869, a group of prominent citizens from New York City formed the National Christmas Tree Association to advocate for the