Gifts without wrappings

Lynn Poole shows two children album pages of lasting gifts: the oldest hymn, "Gloria in Excelsis," inserted into Mass by Pope Telesphorus, sung by the Johns Hopkins Glee Club; the custom of Christmas cards, first designed by John Callcott Horsley at the request of his friend Henry Cole in 1843, and another card designed by W.M. Edgley; the story surrounding the composition of "Silent Night," with words by Father Joseph Mohr and music by Franz Gruber and sung by a duet; the history of the Christmas tree traced to Martin Luther; the development of Santa Claus by cartoonist Thomas Nast from Dr. Clement Moore's poem "A Visit from St. Nick"; the 1897 "Is there a Santa Claus" letter to "The New York Sun" and response from its editor Francis P. Church; the Welsh air "Deck the Halls" sung by a quartet; the Yule log custom; Johns Hopkins' President Milton S. Eisenhower's remarks on the significance of Christmas; and the composition of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" with words by Charles Wesley.