As a young man, he worked as a pilot on tugboats on Lake Pontchartrain and later became a railroad brakeman living in McComb, Mississippi, for the Illinois Central System in 1879.

[1] Christmas ran locomotives between Memphis and New Orleans until 1897, when he fell asleep at the controls after 54 hours on duty and caused a collision with an oncoming train.

Zemurray hired Christmas to organize a military coup that would install Bonilla back in power, against the wishes of the United States government.

The group attempted revolution a second time the following year, with a reorganized force using US Army surplus Colt Model 1895 machine guns and transported on a former United States Navy vessel.

Gaining soldiers from the local population, Bonilla's rebels captured Trujillo and Iriona, and cemented their victory at the Battle of La Ceiba on January 25, 1911.

He eventually acquired patents as an inventor, developing a rattrap that needed no bait, and a railroad safety device to prevent accidents when engineers fell asleep.

[5] Christmas was widely written about in his lifetime, and is believed to be the inspiration for Richard Harding Davis' novels Captain Macklin and Soldiers of Fortune.