In an after-action report of the latest Independence Day celebration, despite pleas of unity and waking up to the fact that today we are experiencing reasons why in 1776 we declared independence from the mother country of England. Yet there were those who marched carrying US flags flown upside down [according to Flag Etiquette, meaning “distress”] and spasmodic rhetoric from socially superiority group painted the United States as racist and imperialistic. The commemorated not the celebration of the birth of our nation, but instead commemorating their hatred for it. It was not a demand that the United States government stop interfering with the affairs of other nations and getting involved, but condemning our country as imperialistic – grossly untrue, because if that were so we would be accumulating other nations as satellite states or colonies. Racism does exist, but it is because of society’s insistence upon multiculturalism, pockets of diversity that shred the threads of unity; where immigrants do not come here to assimilate into our culture, but create a mini-nation within a nation using the nation they left as a model making one wonder why they came here in the first place. Racism still exists because descendants of former slaves refuse to relegate that fact to history and move forward with intent of unification, not segregation that MLK worked so hard to eliminate.
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Category Archives: Holidays and Events
Is Rush Limbaugh Finally Awakening with Other Americans?
I write about Americans awakening to see that the problem with OUR government is not just one political party/entity and our duty to let other Americans see for themselves what is truly happening.
Rush Limbaugh in the past constantly was on the prowl against Democrat Party member wrongdoing, and rightly so; however, he did not address the problems with GW Bush and GOP members on Capitol Hill. Well, maybe Limbaugh is one that has awakened in his latest commentary.
Greg Richter freelance writer at NewsMax wrote on July 3rd:
The Republican Party made a huge mistake not embracing the tea party in 2010, and it cost them in 2012, radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh said on his show Wednesday. But Limbaugh predicts another huge tea party turnout in the 2014 midterm elections. The reason: There’s no single candidate on the ballot to take them sit home – and the things that angered them in 2010 have gotten worse.
Independence Day: A New Declaration – July 4th 2013
In 1776, the founders signed the Declaration of Independence was voted upon by the thirteen colonies-turned-state with 56 signatures, that took bravery for those 56 men could have been hanged by British authorities for treason. They put their life and property into jeopardy in order to be free from tyranny. In the late 1930s through 1945, the United States and Great Britain [today the United Kingdom] became allies against the axis tyrant powers that threatened the globe; which cemented a lasting relationship that could be torn asunder by another global threat today – Islamic Theocratic Fundamentalism spearheaded by the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliated terrorist organization cells that began its subversion in Europe and now has a foothold in the United States. While these subversive organizations are protected in the name of tolerance, they practice a religious doctrine of intolerance, murder, and mayhem.
Recently two powerful organizations within our government have been discovered to be using unconstitutional practices and against its own people: NSA and IRA. Our military is being prepared and are being trained to fight against its own people, ordering enough ammunition to last many decades on the basis of how much ammunition was used in Afghanistan and Iraq. It has ordered armored vehicles, not to be used against enemies of the United States, but against its own people, and ordered assault rifles that US legislators tried to ban recently from civilian use to be used by various departments of the federal government, mainly “Homeland Security” – an entity that is supposed to protect its citizens, not suppress them.
Nation Divided: 150th Anniversary of Battle of Gettsyburg and 237th Anniversary of Independence Day
General Meade (left) and General Lee
One hundred and fifty years ago, the Battle of Gettysburg was the turning point of the American Civil War, sometimes referred to as the “War Between the States” in July of 1863. It lasted three days and 50,000 casualties [killed, wounded, or missing] littered the Pennsylvania countryside, now a national park, wearing the Blue or Grey uniform that marked the Union and Confederate troops. Of the 3,900 buried there, about 25% of the dead were unknown.
General Robert E. Lee had planned to win the battle to force the North to give up the war who had just defeated the Union army at the Battle of Chancellorsville in the months between May and June of 1863. It was a victory over a larger force, but it was also a tragedy because he lost his best officer, General Stonewall Jackson who was accidentally fired upon by his own troops and died of pneumonia, weakened by his wounds. The initial goal was to acquire badly needed supplies from the rich farming districts of Pennsylvania; but the goal was to send the Union forces into retreat and force peace through threats of invading the Northern states. Thus, the Battle of Gettysburg marked the bloodiest battle of the war and a decisive moment in the war between the states.
On the first day of battle, General Lee had been ill and some of his subordinates were new and inexperienced. Lee’s valued cavalry officer, J.E.B. Stuart, provided a fast-moving and flanking force; helping the Confederates to control the battlefield on that first day. However, General Ewell had not secured a key piece of terrain, so on the second day the Confederates were unable to break the Union position, which also strengthened the Union’s hold.
Memorial Day: May 27th 2013
May 27th 2013 …
I received email from a reader [Jerry N. & Joan B.] with the following photos depicting cemeteries in Europe and the number of Americans buried there, with this notation…
Apologize to no one. Remind those of our sacrifice and don’t confuse arrogance with leadership. The count is 104,366 dead Americans buried in Europe. We have to watch an American elected leader who apologizes to Europe and the Middle East that our country is “arrogant”! How many French, Dutch, Italians, Belgians, and Brits are buried on our soil … after defending us against our enemies? We don’t ask for praise … But we have absolutely no need to apologize! … Do think about this. Thank you.
Christmas: Meaning and Traditions
The first Christmas was probably not on December 24th – a cold, starry night with one particular star shining to guide those to witness the birth of a child who would be called “Messiah” and “Son of God” – the messenger of salvation, hope, promise that earthly life is not the end of one’s life, and the enlightenment of the soul. There is great debate upon the exact date or even time of the year.
Thanksgiving Day: November 22nd, 2012
The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.
H.U. Westermayer
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
John F. Kennedy Jr.
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Across Generations Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence.
Erma Bombeck
TimelessTradition It has been an unchallengeable American doctrine that cranberry sauce, pink goo with overtones of sugared tomatoes, is a delectable necessity of the Thanksgiving board and that turkey is uneatable without it.
Alistair Cooke
There is one day that is ours. … Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American.
O. Henry
On Thanksgiving Day, all over America, families sit down to dinner at the same moment – halftime.
Author Unknown
Thanksgiving is an emotional holiday. People travel thousands of miles to be with people they only see once a year. And then discover once a year is way too often.
Johnny Carson
Family & Friends – Day of Thanks Thanksgiving Day, a function which originated in New England two or three centuries ago when those people recognized that they really had something to be thankful for – annually, not oftener – if they had succeeded in exterminating their neighbors, the Indians, during the previous twelve months instead of getting exterminated by their neighbors, the Indians. Thanksgiving Day became a habit, for the reason that in the course of time, as the years drifted on, it was perceived that the exterminating had ceased to be mutual and was all on the white man’s side, consequently on the Lord’s side; hence it was proper to thank the Lord for it and extend the usual annual compliments.
Mark Twain
Thanksgiving Day is not only an American historical tradition, but it is representative of the family bond and national unity. Family is the nucleus of any nation, not the government – without the family entity, the nation loses its strength. The value of the family and family values cannot be taken for granted or its stability undermined. The family transcends all cultures and religion or lack of it, providing a common ground between people of a nation and between the nations of the world. A nation whose family structure is weakened or dissolved is doomed, because government cannot effectively replace the loving guidance of parenthood and unity of family.
Keith A. Lehman
Anne Frank & Family I do not think of all the misery, but of the glory that remains. Go outside the fields, nature and the sun, go out and seek happiness in yourself and in God. Think of the beauty that again and again discharges itself within and without you and be happy.
Anne Frank
Turkey: A large bird whose flesh, when eaten on certain religious anniversaries has the peculiar property of attesting piety and gratitude.
Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary
First Thanksgiving The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart … I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while they are offering up the ascriptions … they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers …to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.
Abraham Lincoln, Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1863
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| Military Outpost image |
Please remember those who are serving their country and cannot be home this Thanksgiving with their families. Support the members of the US Armed Forces, volunteers who have freely chosen to serve their country in a special and patriotic manner.
A most enjoyable, peaceful and satisfying Thanksgiving Day to all my fellow Americans … Happy Thanksgiving!
Keith A. Lehman
Lighthouse JournalFaded Glory Journal
Veritas Et Theologium
Additional Reading:
Website, The History of Thanksgiving, History.com
Website, Thanksgiving on the Net: Celebration of Thanksgiving, Holidays.net
Website, Thanksgiving Day Parade, Macys.com
Wikipedia entry, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Wikipedia
Website, Thanksgiving Day Customs, Thanksgiving-Day.org
Article, How to Involve Children in Thanksgiving Day Traditions, Associated Content.com
Wiki entry, Thanksgiving Classic, Wikipedia
Website, History: Thanksgiving Day Games, Pro Football Hall of Fame
Wiki entry, American Football on Thanksgiving, Wikipedia
Article, essay, The First Thanksgiving: The Thanksgiving Feast, Scholastic.com
Website, The First Thanksgiving, Pilgrims.net
Article, Website, Thanksgiving History: First Thanksgiving, History.com
Recipes, Thanksgiving Recipes, All Recipes.com
Recipes, A Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner, Gourmet Food Revolution
Wiki entry, Thanksgiving Dinner, Wikipedia
Happy Thanksgiving from Lighthouse Patriot Journal
Myth Blaster: Obama Youth Email on Fright Night
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| Fright Night – 1985 |
Fright Night is here in your neighborhood … October 31st 2012, (not 2011 remake Fright Night edition) … the fear this Hallowe’en is OBAMA GETS REELECTED…
At the beginning of the presidency of Obama, his plans of what people would call “Obama Youth” being no surprise to those who know history of how socialists and communists know the value of brainwashing youth of a nation. The family unit slowly destroyed over decades, replacing common sense values and moral character with state-infused ideology by using the government-controlled education system. Marriage is no longer a sacred, traditional entity. In the following short clip, he stated this plan of a “civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded”. To Do What?
The big deal over Romney’s 47% when this president says so much behind our backs. “It is his prerogative to share private information with his campaign donors”. [CNN] But not for Romney. He also promised to be “more flexible” when reelected to Russian president via a “hot” microphone.
Obama administration has informed the courts that the Fort Hood Massacre will not be referred to as a terrorist action.
Aaron Dykes at InfoWars quotes what Obama stated in 2008 and what he calls “Brownshirts for Homeland Security Emergency Response”:
We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.
Despite knowing the abuse of the Second Amendment after Hurricane Katrina disaster, Homeland Security will be in charge of FEMA Corps.
Further, greater federal control through FEMA has proved disastrously inefficient in its own right. The failures of the feds at Hurricane Katrina are legendary. Less known are other cases, such as the fires that spread across Bastrop, Texas last year. FEMA was caught preventing numerous local bonafide fire fighters and emergency responders from giving aid or helping locals.
Meanwhile, Homeland Security has been demonizing American organizations who are legal constitutional militia, not meant to be subversive, but instead a civilian force operating outside the corruption of government For the People; all the while ignoring the over 25 Islamic training camps spread across the United States and their identifiable terrorist-type training. Constitution militia is not based on racism or any other bias, but based upon constitutional law and preparing to face enemies of the United States from within or without in conjunction with local constitutional law enforcement.
The following is a picture of the FEMA Corps:
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| Alleged FEMA Corps “Brownshirts” – Chain Email |
No Brownshirts there.
This article was initiated by a chain email that depicted that Obama and Homeland Security director has authorized the training of youth as emergency responders is only a front for “brownshirt” activity. One site link goes nowhere and the other to a dysfunctional website that covers everything from supernatural occurrences to truly bizarre conspiracy theories. [Rense] The website is officiated by a radio personality by the name of Jeff Rense. The major theme of the website is any type of conspiracy one could think of – based upon hard evidence or not. Most of the website is ads that direct one to health foods and wacky stuff that people make money on. One of the good part of the site is under CLIMATE where sources show how wrong the global warming theory is. Searching for those pictures posted on the chain email revealed nothing from this site. Another article, Voter Fraud Inevitable From Digital Elections is something I have warned Americans about since its inception. Now that is true fearful goings on.
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| You can’t run from evil when it lives next door. |
Much more, but no mention of the FEMA Corps alleged conspiracy, as described in the chain email.
Folks, if chain email does not have viable sources – DO NOT FORWARD! Unless, of course, you are sending it to me to verify.
Folks, we do not have to make up anything against Obama – he has supplied plenty of information against him and his associates.
Ghost of Christmas Past – Victorian Christmas
The Victorian Age marked an era of scientific discovery, the dawn of the sciences of archaeology and paleontology, an age of romance and the exciting tales of Sherlock Holmes written by Doyle and an American writer, Edgar Allan Poe, who introduced the Gothic style of horror writing in America.
It was a period of distinct architectural design, and all who could afford it, the age when society had a parlor to entertain and have family gatherings, a period when socializing was important within life’s activities.
It was a period when many households contained handmade items, the furniture wasn’t made of pressed fiberboard wood and home-baked bread was commonly produced from the home kitchen.
It was a period when the ideas and inventions introduced the age of machines, officially dubbed the Industrial Age that marked the beginning of the 20th century, two thousand years after the birth of a Nazarene by the name of Jesus who instilled a new outlook upon the afterlife, provided wisdom on how one should live their life, inspired his disciples to become the apostles that would establish churches, and an organized religion that would be named after his given name Christ. His birth had been celebrated during a time that was once a pagan celebration that brought in the New Year and the winter solstice, as well as a time of joy and remembering Jesus’ teachings of striving for Peace on Earth.
It was a period of distinct architectural design, and all who could afford it, the age when society had a parlor to entertain and have family gatherings, a period when socializing was important within life’s activities.
It was a period when many households contained handmade items, the furniture wasn’t made of pressed fiberboard wood and home-baked bread was commonly produced from the home kitchen.
It was a period when the ideas and inventions introduced the age of machines, officially dubbed the Industrial Age that marked the beginning of the 20th century, two thousand years after the birth of a Nazarene by the name of Jesus who instilled a new outlook upon the afterlife, provided wisdom on how one should live their life, inspired his disciples to become the apostles that would establish churches, and an organized religion that would be named after his given name Christ. His birth had been celebrated during a time that was once a pagan celebration that brought in the New Year and the winter solstice, as well as a time of joy and remembering Jesus’ teachings of striving for Peace on Earth.
The Victorian Age was when Christmas became more than just the celebration of the birth of the Christian religion’s savior, but the invention of a mythical character based upon the legend and life of a saint by the name of Nicholas, born in a southern coastal town in what is now the Republic of Turkey, known for his love of children and the joy of giving, especially to those that had little in life. Saint Nicholas legend soon spread across Europe, being named different names in different languages that immigrated to the United States who became known as Santa Claus, derivative of his name given by the Scandinavians through legend and tradition. It was a holiday that Charles Dickens focused upon the time to spread cheer and help the poor with his classic Christmas story. It was a time when Santa was called Father Christmas. It was a time when there wasn’t any embarrassment or harassment for celebrating and identifying the reason for the Christmas holiday — celebration of the birth of Jesus the Nazarene, who later was called Christ. Carolers were often seen and heard on the streets of England, a tradition welcomed in America. Sleigh-riding was not just in Christmas songs, people in snow regions used them for transportation in the winter, as well as recreational rides, much like snowmobiles are used today. Here at Door Peninsula we had a carriage maker who made sleighs for those who wished to own one, but sadly that has disappeared like so many trades of yesteryear and what was common in the Victorian Age, even as the appearance of primitive automobiles began to surface, operating on steam rather than fuel engines, which would soon appear within American society, as well as the United Kingdom.
The basic concept of the celebration and traditions we now have today concerning the period from the eve of December 24ththrough January 1st, New Year’s Day can be traced to the Victorian period of human history when a specific style of architecture of Victorian invention was established and the social middle class began growing and joining the aristocracy in a time when parlors were popular and social gatherings were important and the style.
In Door County, Wisconsin, dubbed the Door Peninsula, a geographical finger sticking out into the deep and cold waters of Lake Michigan, one of the glacial large lakes of North America, there are many Victorian style homes still standing, some built during the period they were named after. In view of this fact, I, being interested in the daily life of this historical age, decided to write about what the celebration of the Christmas and New Year holiday was like then and show whence most of the traditions that Americans have imported from Europe and developed on their own had been established.
There are several historic Victorian homes on the Door Peninsula that have been turned into bed-and-breakfast establishments, especially in the town of Sturgeon Bay where the county seat is located, as well as the canal that was built to provide a safer and speedier passage of merchant and private vessels, much as the Panama Canal afforded ships to bypass the treacherous waters of Cape Horn.Victorian homes make a good bed-and-breakfast establishment because these homes were built with two or three floors, not including a basement, that provided space for a parlor for entertainment, separated from the dining room and kitchen, where families could gather and social events could occur. Entertaining was important and families were larger than the average family of today. Decorations and artistic architecture was popular, as well as houseplants and inventing what would be called parlor games for entertainment. Socializing was important and the family nucleus was strong, which in turn provided loyal and dedicated citizenry. In the cities, department stores were being established where one could shop for the traditional gift-giving of the season, while folks in the rural areas and those in urban areas that could not afford shopping, especially with large families, had the joy and kindred spirit of making gifts to give as well as the ornaments they placed upon the pine trees hand-cut from the forest and farms to be decorated in ways that was inspired by European tradition, especially in Germany where the decoration of pine trees had been established.
There are museums across the nation that depicts household scenery of the remarkable Victorian period, displaying items that have been long lost to the landfill or rot or became broken in a family’s attic or garage. The spirit, the family structure, and the concept of holiday festivities have sadly been lost, as well as the kindred spirit of Americans who had once been the model of the world society, democratic government, and a land where other peoples of other nations emulated and yearned to immigrate to in order to become an American citizen.
The Victorian era Christmas had become not just a time to sing hymns of joy of the birth of Jesus, plays of the Nativity scene and story, but a time to remember that no one should be forgotten – a time of caring about the sick, the downtrodden, and lonely people who had no one to celebrate Christmas with.
The now famous Clement Moore poem, A Visit from Saint Nicholashad been established, and children and parents sought to recreate its images of the wonders and dreams of youth with thoughts of a jolly old elf who provided gifts for good children and who made his yearly night run in a sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer who had the power to fly. Indeed, the look upon the faces of the children on Christmas morning as they view the gifts traditionally wrapped under the family tree, eagerly seeking what was in the stockings that hung on the mantle of the home’s fireplace made even the elderly feel young again. Thomas Nast and his drawings helped make the image of Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus, more real with depictions published in Harper’s Bazaar and Harper’s Weeklymagazines. There was even a Saint Nicholas magazine for children with guidelines for parents as to novel ways to celebrate Christmas.
It was also a time when people became concerned with the holiday season becoming too commercial, with department stores preying upon the concept of Christmas to get people to spend more in their business establishments. This has not changed, although the commercialism has extended to the point that stores are beginning to prepare for the Christmas holiday season as early as the close of the Halloween festivities, another commercialized holiday.
For those who were too poor to shop in the stores in downtowncities or lived in the rural areas too far to venture there, there were catalogs where one could order things, either gifts or supplies that were needed to make gifts, as well as using material that could be found about the house and farms of America.
Periodicals of this period, which had grown to the amount of several to choose from, like the Ladies Journal, the New Yorker, and so on, provided ideas for gift-giving and decorations, as well as recipes for making family meals and providing sustenance for guests received in the family parlor. In December in the Victorian big city, street scenes of holiday shoppers could be seen visiting toy shops, bookstores, jewelry stores, and so on; as well as fathers and mothers carrying baskets of holiday food such as turkey, cranberry, apples and flour needed to bake the bread to go with the traditional meal. Ladies and young girls could be seen in long coats and muffs, an fashionable way to keep one’s hands warm, and in places where the snowfall was heavy, sleighs pulled by horses and carriages of all sizes and shapes traversing the busy streets that were paved with cobblestones. Chimney sweeps could sometimes be seen doing their important and dirty jobs of keeping the chimney’s free of soot and thus safe for warm fires needed that provided warmth and cheerful flames that flickered and glowed upon the walls of homes that were lit by candles and kerosene lamps, and for those lucky enough to have it – early electric apparatus or gas-lit lamps provided by a natural gas line source.
Writers of magazines would suggest gift lists … Presents of plants, Victorians loving the array of houseplants that provided a pleasant atmosphere in a home, as well as fresh oxygen in exchange for human-expelled carbon dioxide. Popular gifts were usually practical ones, such as doilies, either purchased or handmade; silver tea balls and tea strainers for the Victorian hostess’ table as well as photograph frames in silver, fabric, or leather for the parlor. For the bedroom there were dressing-table mirrors, boxes, fans, vases, and jewelry boxes to delight the lady and older girls of the house. Men received gifts like cigars, cigarette cases, scarves, mufflers, monogrammed handkerchiefs, and the practical umbrella. A whip or carriage robe was also suggested on the gift-giving list.
For Victorian ladies who enjoyed knitting would receive a unique gift called the Wonder Ball, which was a ball of yarn that when unraveled revealed little gifts inside, appearing as one would use up the ball of yarn when knitting items to be given as gifts as well.
Victorian boys enjoyed receiving tools and tool boxes, boxing gloves, sleds, skates, stamp albums with starter stamp sets, lanterns, pocket knives, books of adventure, cap pistols, and marbles inside a hand-sewn leather bag.
Victorian girls liked gifts that was smaller versions of the older girls like a party fan, jewelry, a sachet (sack filled with sweet smelling herbs), monogrammed note paper, books, or maybe a pet kitten or bird – and, of course, a doll or a dollhouse. Usually children could find nuts or an orange in the toe of their stockings, while boys and girls in the southern states of America looked forward to receiving a package of Chinese firecrackers that they would explode on Christmas Day. Christmas in the South was meant to be joyously noisy, like the celebration of Independence Day on the Fourth of July.
Mark Twain, Samuel L. Clemens, and his wife turned their guest room in their Victorian home into Santa’s workshop. It was where presents were wrapped and baskets for the needy were prepared and kept until time to deliver them. Mrs. Clemens not only prepared gifts for family and friends, but for her servants and their families that included fruit baskets, candy, paintings, books, coin banks, beads, combs, ice skates and handkerchiefs. Starting months ahead of Christmas, Mrs. Clemens had the help of her daughters.
Charity organizations were not plentiful in the Victorian era, but middle-class Church-going women would gather to prepare boxes of gifts for the poor.
Handmade gifts were popular and well appreciated. Gifts like a watch case for the popular pocket watch of the day, a chamois eye glass cleaner and all types of bags for several purposes. Handmade boxes, some made for beauty, while most for practical use, like for storing tools, keeping sewing items like needle and thread together, or marble bags to hold the marbles that boys enjoyed playing with in the front of the Victorian home on the sidewalk.
Christmas candy that was made at home were often put into Christmas Candy boxes that also were handmade. The recipe for the popular Chocolate Fudge has not changed since the Victorian era, it is the same recipe my mother made …
2 cups of sugar, 1/3 cup of corn syrup, 2/3 cup milk, 3 tablespoons cocoa, 3 tablespoons of butter, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. All ingredients except butter and vanilla are cooked over a low heat and stirred until the ingredients are well mixed and the sugar is dissolved. Stirring continues until the mixture reaches a boil and then cooked with medium heat until the candy thermometer reaches 238 degrees Fahrenheit. The pot is removed from the stove and the butter is added without stirring. The thermometer is kept in the pan until the temperature reduces to 150 degrees. Vanilla is then added and the candy mixture is beaten until it loses its gloss and begins to become grainy. Poured into a buttered eight-inch square pan, it is then cut into squares and wrapped in waxed paper to be put into a festive container for Christmas. i
Just as exciting as making or deciding as to what to purchase, is the custom of presenting gifts on Christmas, a tradition that is sentimental and marked the Victorian era as the golden age of Christmas celebrations. Of course, methods of gift giving varied with families, but in general, Santa Claus brought the gifts found in the stocking and those that hung upon the tree; but the large gifts were provided by Mama and Papa. It was usually the one gift that a child had hoped would be on Santa’s list or what their parents could afford.
The most important gifts were usually opened after breakfast, the gifts that lay beneath the boughs of the Christmas tree. The boxes of candy and cookies remained under the tree until it was time to take it down so as not to give a bare look to the festive tree during Christmas.
Tissue paper was the material used to wrap gifts, that were not in a decorated box wrapped with a colorful ribbon, unlike the commercially produced Christmas wrapping paper of today. Parents would hang small gifts upon the tree with twine on Christmas Eve when the little ones had gone to bed, dreaming of what Saint Nicholas would bring the following morning. Color coding ribbons on gift packages seemed to be important as the December 1892 Miss Thoughtfularticle revealed in The Ladies’ Home Journal…
while white paper may be used with any color ribbon, yellow paper should be wrapped in white, pink paper with blue, blue paper with pink, and red paper with gold ribbon.
American descendents of Scandinavian families favored their traditional way of presenting gifts, done as a joke one Christmas in our family when I was young – a gift-within-a-box-within-a-box. It was called, and still is – Julklapp.
Decorating the Victorian home was just as important as decorating gifts and its wrappings. Bright and cheerful and as simple or elaborate as the family wished it to be. Some families did nothing but place a wreath at each window that faced the street, while others decorated the principal rooms, especially the parlor, as well. People in rural areas had no problem obtaining the material for the greenery displaced in festivities of the Victorian household; but for those who lived in the cities, they relied upon the local markets to provide the materials and commercially produced decorations in which they used to decorate their homes. Shoppers would find and purchase their Christmas trees, wreaths, ready-made crosses, stars and other devices used to make personalized decorations for their homes. Commonly, the evergreens used were hemlock, spruce, laurel, cedar, ground pine, and arbor vitae. The ground pine was chosen because it lasts the longest, the plant also being called bouquet green. Ivy and ferns were used to hang around windows and other places in the parlor and social areas of the home. Where there was an abundance or supply of it, the Holly plant was especially popular. Mistletoe, of course, was hung in a strategic location, usually shaped in the form of a bell or ball. No plastic like that which is found today, but the real plant that grows as a parasitic attachment to certain trees, especially in the southern states of America; where it was also the custom to decorate with Spanish moss and magnolia leaves, plants found in that geographical region; in addition to the mistletoe and holly.
In a popular magazine of the Victorian era, Vicki’s FloralGuide, in the 1879 issue, suggested that color be added to the green plant decorations so as not to make the home look like a funeral parlor or house of mourning. The article suggested that colorful autumn leaves be added, or dried red berries; dipped in melted paraffin to make them stronger and easier to handle. Dyed or natural colored grain was also used.
Victorian ceilings were usually high in the parlor and/or dining room, and it is there that the traditional chandelier was hung, in the period before electricity and gas lamps became the norm, lit by candles or kerosene lamps. There greenery would be draped and hung to provide a festive atmosphere. Garlands made from roped greenery would be hung and create a natural curtain placed at the entrance of a selected room, usually the parlor. Mottoes and Greetings were made on paper or mat boards with calligraphic letters, like Welcome, Peace on Earth,I.H.S. (Jesus Hominum Salvator), Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year were popular and placed above the entrance to a room or on a wall that was visible when one entered a room or at the main entrance to the Victorian home. The lettering was often smeared with glue and sparkly substance or ground mica was used to brighten the lettering. Sometimes the lettering was covered with velvet material of bright colors like red. Banners were sometimes made to hand upon porches providing a public seasons greetings.
Decorated bells were popular, both for hanging upon the tree, as well as over doorways and tables during the Victorian Yuletide festivities. The bells were purchased or hand made from wire and muslin cloth, decorated with felt or shiny material. These became the first types of ornaments hung upon a tree, along with glass ornaments purchased from the local store.
The Christmas tree was the center attraction in the parlor, usually placed upon a table covered with a draping cloth about adult waist height, which meant the tree was not tall as was custom in Victorian Europe. For those Victorian families who preferred tall trees to accommodate their high Victorian ceilings, the tree was placed in a tree stand designed for such a purpose, carefully adjusted for stability and levelness. In 1850, Charles Dickens, author of story of Ebeneezer Scrooge in The Christmas Caroltale, depicted on stage and in film over several decades, wrote about the Christmas tree …
I have been looking on, this evening, at a merry company of children assembled round that pretty German toy, a Christmas Tree. The tree was planted in the middle of a great round table, and towered high above their heads. It was brilliantly lighted by a multitude of little tapers; and everywhere sparkled and glittered with bright objects. There were rosy-cheeked dolls, hiding behind green leaves; and there were real watches (with moveable hands, at least, and an endless capacity for being wound up) dangling from innumerable twigs; there were French polished tables, chairs, bedsteads, eight-day clocks, and various other articles of domestic furniture (wonderfully made in tin) perched among the boughs, as if in preparation for some fairy housekeeping; there were jolly, broad-faced little men, much more agreeable in appearance than many real men – and no wonder, for their heads took off and showed them to be full of sugarplums; there were fiddles and drums, there were tambourines, books, work boxes, paint boxes, there were trinkets for the elder girls, far brighter than any grown-up gold and jewels; there were baskets and pincushions in all devices; there were guns, swords and banners, there were witches standing in enchanted rings of pasteboard, to tell fortunes; there were teetotums, humming tops, needle cases, pen wipers, smelling bottles, conversation cards, bouquet holders, real fruit, made artificially dazzling with gold leaf; imitation gold leaf; imitation apples, pears, walnuts crammed with surprises; in short, as a pretty child before me delightfully whispered to another pretty child, her bosom friend, “there was everything and more.” ii
The description of this Christmas Tree may have been in England, but it was an accepted tradition of the American Victorian era Christmas Tree. Today, Christmas trees are decorated before Christmas Eve, but in the Victorian Christmas celebrations, tree decorating was saved for Christmas Eve, when the family gathered for the personal part of Christmas celebrations. Putting the tree in place was called planting the tree and decorating it was called dressing the tree. Most of the ornaments were made by hand, paper being the most popular material; but it was also a time when the tradition of glass ornaments of various sizes and shapes came into use. The more colorful and festive the better. Paper flowers, strings of beads and strings of popcorn on sewing thread, tiny flags with colorful ribbons, stars and shields made from gilt paper, and lace bags with colored candies were hung on the tree’s boughs. Under the tree was a little garden, farm or Nativity scene with moss, shells, minerals, and toy animals strategically placed and the landscape made with scraps of evergreen and glass mirror or silver paper to represent ponds, lakes and rivers. The Pennsylvania Dutch called this miniature scenery beneath the tree a Putz. iii
Christmas trees were depicted in magazines and described as fir trees placed in a tub with stones to prop it up with paper and moss covering the tub and stones.
Of course, not all Christmas celebrations were so bountiful or decorative, for some could not afford such luxuries; their gifts being handmade or something of need, like a new pair of shoes for school. Pieces of tin or anything that could be had was used for ornaments.
Trees were lit with small tapers, little candles about the size we use today on birthday cakes, affixed to the tips of the boughs of the Christmas tree and lit on Christmas Eve, when everyone was present. A bucket of water was normally kept behind the tree in case a candle set one of the boughs on fire. Definitely a safety hazard in today’s standards of safety.
Today, artificial trees and energy efficient LED Christmas lights and plastic ornaments have replaced those used in the Victorian era – but often one may find the traditional shapes and décor found in that forgotten time. Ornaments shaped into sleighs, angels, birds, and the like all originated in design and idea from the Victorian period of history.
During the Victorian era, here on the the Peninsula, the Christmas ship, a sailing vessel filled with Christmas trees, cut from the bountiful woods of Door Peninsula and Washington Island, were transported to Chicago and other Great Lake cities for sale to city dwellers who didn’t have a way to cut their own trees for Christmas. In the treacherous waters of what is called Devil’s Door(thus the name of our county), a Christmas Ship, F.Fitch, foundered due to a sudden storm, notorious for those waters, in the winter of 1901 in a place called Death Door Bluff. Today there are still tree farms that cut and sell Christmas trees, some allowing you to cut your own. Live trees are getting harder to find in the homes today during the Christmas holiday season.
Christmas dinner was the important occasion during the Christmas holiday celebrations. It occurred on Christmas Day, the family gathering at the dining table set with fine linens and china, and table decorations according to the budget and talent of the hostess. Cut flowers like hyacinths, tulips and narcissus were displayed, the Victorians loving floral decorations. If the family could not afford fresh flowers, they would replace it with dried materials such as sumac and berries for color. The dinner table normally had a festive centerpiece of flowers, greenery and lit candles. Sometimes there was a candelabra with red candles lit at both ends of the table to provide romantic, festive lighting. A corsage of bright colored flowers, usually red, was placed at the hostess’ table and her husband wore a boutonniere of mistletoe on his jacket. Everyone was dressed for the special occasion, as if they were dining formally.
During the Twelve Days of Christmas between Christmas Day and Epiphany on January 6th, parties were held for children as well as adults. The children parties were spaced out according to their age, inviting friends and ensuring they didn’t plan their party on the same day someone else planned one. Sometimes parties were organized at different times, so friends could gather together and attend each others parties. Social graces were important, even with the middle class Americans. It was also a time for young women to invite their beaus and those they wished to snag for marriage, and when people could dress up and enjoy what was called parlor games. At children’s parties, games like Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bushand Who’s Got the Buttonwas played.
For teenagers there were card and magic tricks, each person taking turns performing a learned trick. If the Christmas was white, there was ice skating and tobogganing parties, with supper at someone’s home afterward. Popping corn was popular and games included old favorites like Gossip, with one person sitting next to each other in a circle and whispering something to be passed to the next until it came back to the originator – much to the amusement of the party members of how much the original message whispered had changed.
Then there were the Victorian family parties, where family members of all ages, including grandparents, would enjoy family games and much on snacks prepared between breakfast and dinner.
All of these things seem mundane to youth and adults of today, but one must remember there were no televisions, video games, and computers – and families were a stronger, close knit framework than one may find in our society today. And that is the major sad reality that progressand technology has brought upon us. There is nothing wrong with advancing technology and society changing along with it – but is it really necessary to have lost the important family values and forgotten the simple joy of a festive gathering?
Maybe some of the elements of a Victorian Christmas and the family life, should be reintroduced into our traditions and family values of today. We can start by ensuring that our youth appreciates the importance of a strong family nucleus and that children be raised by both a father and a mother, minimizing single parenthood instead of encouraging it. When dysfunctional families are the norm, a nation is weakened by it.
Not everything was good in the good old days, but elements of what was good should not be discarded.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
America’s Christmas Heritage, Ruth Cole Kainen, Funk and Wagnall, New York, 1969.
The Southern Christmas Book, Harnett T. Kane, New York, David McKay, Inc., 1958.
The Christmas Tree Book, Phillip V. Snyder, Viking Press, New York, 1976.
i The Ladies’ Home Journal, January 1890, p. 19.
ii From Charles Dickens‘ A Christmas Tree, J.P. McCaskey, 1913, p. 3.
Lighthouse Journal 
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