No city seems to love Christmas as much as Detroit. Whether at Hudson’s, sitting at the Fox Theatre or seeing the hundreds of dolls and live reindeer at the famous Rotunda, the city can’t get enough of the holiday season. Detroiters have been celebrating Christmas for more than three hundred years, when the city was French and children waited for Pere Noel. As holiday traditions evolve, some endure, like Christmas trees and children writing letters to Santa. Some, such as meat pie and saying one thousand Hail Marys for good luck, fade, and new ones—Santa at the Thanksgiving Day Parade—take their place. Local history writer Bill Loomis leads a very merry jaunt through the happiest days of Christmas in Detroit.
