In the early years of Christianity, Easter was the main holiday; the birth of Jesus was not celebrated. In the 4th century, Pope Julius I chose December 25. It is commonly believed that this date was chosen in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival. But it (Christmas) was only a regular Feast Day and not a major Feast Day – the Feast of the Epiphany was more important on the liturgical calendar.
During the Middle Ages, Christmas celebrations were more akin to Mardi Gras and were sort of a continuation and artifact of pagan Roman Saturnalia celebrations and Norse pagan traditions with much revelry and drunkenness. The poor would go to the houses of the rich and demand their best food and drink. If owners failed to comply, their visitors would most likely terrorize them with mischief (sounding a lot more like Halloween). Christmas became the time of year when the upper classes could repay their real or imagined "debt" to society by entertaining less fortunate citizens. Even in the early Victorian era when celebrating Christmas became more popular, carolers would sing in front of the houses of the wealthy and demand to be given some small token of money or food.
A glimpse into how Christmas was or wasn’t celebrated during the 1800’s can be found in Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. Bob Cratchit has to ask to have Christmas Day off from work and Scrooge only does so very begrudgingly. The truth is while it was becoming more customary to give workers the day off on December 25th, it was not officially a holiday where getting the day off was expected. And near the end of A Christmas Carol; note that Scrooges’ maid comes to work on Christmas morning as usual. She is shocked when Scrooge gives her money as a token and in celebration of Christmas but is even more shocked when he gives her the day off.
As far as Thanksgiving, days of thanksgiving were recognized in various parts of the country on different dates, usually more aligned with local harvests times and were in some traditions, a day of fasting and prayer and reflection rather than a day of feasting and celebration. During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress designated one or more days of thanksgiving a year but it wasn’t until 1789 when George Washington proclaimed the first official national day of Thanksgiving, one that it was recognized as an official “national” day of thanksgiving although it was not a “holiday” as in a day that people stopped working/were given the day off.
It wasn’t until 1863 when Abraham Lincoln declared a national day of “Thanksgiving” - in a proclamation entreating all Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.” This national and federally recognized Thanksgiving was the final Thursday in November until 1939 when FDR moved the holiday up a week in an attempt to spur retail sales during the Great Depression (and that my FRiends is how Thanksgiving got mixed up with Christmas and became the kick off of the Christmas shopping season). In many Southern states however, Lincoln’s “Thanksgiving” was not celebrated or recognized for many years.
I would also note that today a lot of people other than retail workers work on Thanksgiving and Christmas – think of police, firefighters, 9-11 operators, emergency utility workers, people in the military, hospital and nursing home workers….
I shopped at Walmart last year after Thanksgiving dinner and it was a blast. Am looking forward to doing it again this year with a friend.