MONDAY MUSINGS: [Old Christmas tree prints] and historic facts about Christmas celebrations

Have you put up a Christmas Tree? Christmas trees appeared in Germany about 1600 and a few might have been found among German settlers in Philadelphia or New York. However the first known American tree is after the period. Easter was more important than Christmas to the Puritans because it celebrated the death and resurrection of Jesus, while Christmas was an unavoidable biological necessity.

Print shows Uncle Sam and Columbia taking Christmas presents off a Christmas tree and distributing them to Native children labeled “Hawaii, Samoa, Puerto Rico, Cuba, [and] Philippine”. Published by Keppler & Schwarzmann, 1899 December 27.(from Library of Congress)

Print shows a large Christmas tree decorated with ornaments labeled with political offices and presidential appointments; Thomas C. Platt and Matthew S. Quay, who is dressed as a woman, are standing in front of the tree and in queues on both sides are diminutive figures anxiously awaiting their presents, among them are, from r. to l., Jerry Simpson, Joseph B. Foraker, William E. Chandler, William McKinley, Whitelaw Reid, Thomas B. Reed, Levi P. Morton, Benjamin Harrison, William B. Allison, George F. Hoar, John Sherman, Chauncey M. Depew, and Robert T. Lincoln by artist Dalrymple. N.Y. : Published by Keppler & Schwarzmann, 1895 December 25 (from Library of Congress)

Below is the title page and front is of “The Stranger’s Gift”, Boston, 1836 (Hermann Bokum, ed.): front is, showing children around tree lighted with candles on table full of toys; titled “Christmas Eve (from Library of Congress)

Kris Kringles Christmas Tree 1845 from Library of Congress

Family around Christmas tree, depicted in an oval with border showing winter scenes and the fruits and animals of a bountiful harvest. Christmas tree Windsor Castle 1848 drawn by J. L. Williams (from Library of Congress)

Two men cutting evergreen trees; one person carrying a tree; man kneeling alongside woman who is making wreaths.1858 (from Library of Congress)

Celebratory firing of guns at Christmas has evolved into our New Year’s Eve firecrackers. (From The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in Colonial America by Dale Taylor)*

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Bestselling novel RIBBON OF LOVE: 2nd edition – A Novel of Colonial America (Tapestry of Love Book 1)

About Donna R Causey

Donna R. Causey, resident of Alabama, was a teacher in the public school system for twenty years. When she retired, Donna found time to focus on her lifetime passion for historical writing. She developed the websites www.alabamapioneers and www.daysgoneby.me All her books can be purchased at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. She has authored numerous genealogy books. RIBBON OF LOVE: A Novel Of Colonial America (TAPESTRY OF LOVE) is her first novel in the Tapestry of Love about her family where she uses actual characters, facts, dates and places to create a story about life as it might have happened in colonial Virginia. Faith and Courage: Tapestry of Love (Volume 2) is the second book and the third FreeHearts: A Novel of Colonial America (Book 3 in the Tapestry of Love Series) Discordance: The Cottinghams (Volume 1) is the continuation of the story. . For a complete list of books, visit Donna R Causey