Merry, Merry Christmas From Ladies Tea, And Pack it in, 2014

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
From Ladies Tea and 18th Virginia and me, a Merry Christmas! Hope 18th doesn't mind the duplication, can't say a Ladies Tea ' Merry' without half the staff here!

Have a ' thing' about how we celebrate Christmas in depth, like Russian Orthodoxy pray to Icons. They believe when you pray to them you're praying with each and every person not matter where in time and all of the world someone else has prayed to the Icon. So from say, 1860 until the present one has behind them the sacred power of many, many prayers not just yours.

Christmas must be like that. We celebrate it with every person, every year across the globe, across time- each year adding depth, sacredness which doesn't have to have anything to do with Christ's literal birth, perhaps having another shot at " Peace On Earth, Good Will To All Men ". That.

And is it any wonder this day is a mere few from handing the old year his hat ( it's a guy, at least this one is ), giving him the bum's rush, the door is that way. With new prayers and promises to ourselves and others and sacred bonds established again might as well begin with a clean plate too. Don't know about anyone else but here, the old git is getting a swift kick in the ankle as he goes out the back door. 2014? Grumpy old jerk with a bizarre sense of humor. Looking forward to meeting his replacement.

So anyway- not many of these are Civil War era, just in the interest of ' Christmas ' layer on layer, through some years.

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Looks to be late 1800's?

1898
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1920
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1907
t4 1907.jpg


1922

t6 1922.jpg


1928

t7 1928.jpg




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t9 1890.jpg



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It's interesting to watch the shape of the tree itself evolve. Some of the early ones would be considered very odd in a house today! I guess in the days before dedicated nurseries, you cut down whatever would fit in the living room.
 
The pictures with candles burning on the tree reminds me of a story my grandmother once told me. They were all at church on Christmas Eve, this would have been about 1900. One of the congregants left candles burning on their tree at home and of course the inevitable happened, it caught fire and the house burned down. Very sad, I just can't imagine anyone putting a flame on a dead tree inside the house but people did and there were consequences.
 
The pictures with candles burning on the tree reminds me of a story my grandmother once told me. They were all at church on Christmas Eve, this would have been about 1900. One of the congregants left candles burning on their tree at home and of course the inevitable happened, it caught fire and the house burned down. Very sad, I just can't imagine anyone putting a flame on a dead tree inside the house but people did and there were consequences.
One year we chopped up our tree and used it for kindling after Christmas. It really has to be seen to be believed how fast a dried Christmas tree with needles on will go up, and how hot it gets. It's not like normal firewood, it's like a blowtorch up your chimney.

My friends, if you use a real tree as we do, please be very careful! The next year after doing this we swapped to all led lights which don't get hot, bought a new extension cord with a circuit that shuts off if it gets overloaded, made sure our batteries worked in the fire detector, and bought a new fire extinguisher since our old one had gone bad. Also the tree is no longer blocking the path to the back door.
 
It's interesting to watch the shape of the tree itself evolve. Some of the early ones would be considered very odd in a house today! I guess in the days before dedicated nurseries, you cut down whatever would fit in the living room.

No, you're right! Makes me wonder if the first artificial trees were so wispy on purpose, it wasn't yet considered a Charlie Brown tree- just pretty! Kind of like that. I like anything that's supposed to be ugly and really is not because it means someone, somewhere, made a point of directing an entire mind set that way- all we have to do is snap out of it! :smile: This thing called ' taste'. How much of it is ours and how much of it is some collective selling us something? ( For instance no way in heck is anyone stuffing me back into a pair of Mom jeans, those buggers are trying to stuff down our throats again, with legs the size of pipe cleaners. )

The pictures with candles burning on the tree reminds me of a story my grandmother once told me. They were all at church on Christmas Eve, this would have been about 1900. One of the congregants left candles burning on their tree at home and of course the inevitable happened, it caught fire and the house burned down. Very sad, I just can't imagine anyone putting a flame on a dead tree inside the house but people did and there were consequences.

Yes, Dad had a similar story from his childhood- several, always made me worry as a child. No one could convince ' lights' and ' candles ' were not synonymous. Boy, I don't know. I realize it was tradition but seriously do not see myself allowing candles to be lit in a tree, 19-whatever or no. We use LEDs now, have probably gotten careless leaving those on too much.

Still, it's Christmas morning, am trying not to wake up the entire house so sitting quietly looking a ours now. Whatever one's tree looks like, what a blessed thing to see Christmas morning. Previous owner did this extremely, hugely odd thing to our house- raised the roof but only in a 12 foot section over the living room. Looks so odd on a log home, we like it, still pretty strange! May have done it to bring light into a dark, in-the-woods home. Anyway, my husband found the single benefit. He's always wanted a big tree, always. Well, if we squish the top next to the stairs, we can just miss the ceiling fans- he has his 16 foot Christmas tree for the first time. It's really his Christmas present every year, part of what makes me happy looking at it.

Merry Christmas to you too, JPK Huson. Thank you for all your posts and the wonderful photos.

OH my you're welcome, just being kind of a kid, nose pressed up against History's more nostalgic shop windows. Thanks to you guys for tolerating all of this kind of thing. Donna always does because she's a Christmas Elf at heart. :smile:
 
One year we chopped up our tree and used it for kindling after Christmas. It really has to be seen to be believed how fast a dried Christmas tree with needles on will go up, and how hot it gets. It's not like normal firewood, it's like a blowtorch up your chimney.

My friends, if you use a real tree as we do, please be very careful! The next year after doing this we swapped to all led lights which don't get hot, bought a new extension cord with a circuit that shuts off if it gets overloaded, made sure our batteries worked in the fire detector, and bought a new fire extinguisher since our old one had gone bad. Also the tree is no longer blocking the path to the back door.
We used to have a Christmas tree farm less then a mile from where we live and each year we would cut our own down.he finally ran out of trees so we don't do that anymore.if you do use a live tree make sure you use a lot of water to keep it from drying out.
 
No, you're right! Makes me wonder if the first artificial trees were so wispy on purpose, it wasn't yet considered a Charlie Brown tree- just pretty! Kind of like that. I like anything that's supposed to be ugly and really is not because it means someone, somewhere, made a point of directing an entire mind set that way- all we have to do is snap out of it! :smile: This thing called ' taste'. How much of it is ours and how much of it is some collective selling us something? ( For instance no way in heck is anyone stuffing me back into a pair of Mom jeans, those buggers are trying to stuff down our throats again, with legs the size of pipe cleaners. )



Yes, Dad had a similar story from his childhood- several, always made me worry as a child. No one could convince ' lights' and ' candles ' were not synonymous. Boy, I don't know. I realize it was tradition but seriously do not see myself allowing candles to be lit in a tree, 19-whatever or no. We use LEDs now, have probably gotten careless leaving those on too much.

Still, it's Christmas morning, am trying not to wake up the entire house so sitting quietly looking a ours now. Whatever one's tree looks like, what a blessed thing to see Christmas morning. Previous owner did this extremely, hugely odd thing to our house- raised the roof but only in a 12 foot section over the living room. Looks so odd on a log home, we like it, still pretty strange! May have done it to bring light into a dark, in-the-woods home. Anyway, my husband found the single benefit. He's always wanted a big tree, always. Well, if we squish the top next to the stairs, we can just miss the ceiling fans- he has his 16 foot Christmas tree for the first time. It's really his Christmas present every year, part of what makes me happy looking at it.



OH my you're welcome, just being kind of a kid, nose pressed up against History's more nostalgic shop windows. Thanks to you guys for tolerating all of this kind of thing. Donna always does because she's a Christmas Elf at heart. :smile:
Merry Christmas morning to you too! For some reason in Memphis it is almost always cold and crystal clear on Christmas, whatever the rainy, soggy, miserable weather has been leading up to it, and today is like that, cold and bright. Getting up before everyone to do the stockings.

Your tree sounds beautiful! It must be fun living in a log home. The place across the road from my folks is a log cabin back in the woods which is not used as a home but as a hunting retreat. As a child I always wanted to live there. Or to redo the then-abandoned antebellum manor down the road which we children used to sneak into and carefully, carefully play in. Someone has turned the manor house into a wedding venue now - if you look up "historic heartwood hall" in Fayette county, tn, you can see it. They made some unfortunate restoration decisions like removing the giant fan above the front door, but I'm just glad it hasn't been allowed to dwindle and decay.

Merry Christmas everyone!
 
Poor Private,
That's what I was thinking! Did a double take, thinking "Hey! Is that pony INSIDE the house???" Wow what....."

JPK,
Thanks for posting these lovely remembrances of Christmases past! They, too are a part of our heritage! What a variety of tree shapes! Wonder how many parents were up-all-night Christmas Eve. Love the tinsel. Isn't that a real cat wearing a sweater? Thanks again & Merry Christmas!
 
These are all so special but I really like the 1922 photo of the boy and girl sitting by the tree. She has a pet rabbit and he has a gun! Her expression is priceless. (I wonder if it's the dress or is the mom expecting?) The 1921 photo of the young woman wearing a bonnet sitting by the tree has an ethereal quality about it due to the halo around the candles. Such wonderful old photos!
 
These are all so special but I really like the 1922 photo of the boy and girl sitting by the tree. She has a pet rabbit and he has a gun! Her expression is priceless. (I wonder if it's the dress or is the mom expecting?) The 1921 photo of the young woman wearing a bonnet sitting by the tree has an ethereal quality about it due to the halo around the candles. Such wonderful old photos!

Had to go back to see, it is wonderful! He looks to be an older father, doesn't he? Makes you wonder, " You do what you think best, Sally, if the Boy wants that 12 gauge I say let him have it. 9 years old, time he shouldered some responsibility around here. "

One of my favorites has to be the younger sister smiling so hard she's going to split because there's just nowhere left to go. Am smitten with her, you just know she was like that- the one in the family always so tickled
 
Poor Private,
That's what I was thinking! Did a double take, thinking "Hey! Is that pony INSIDE the house???" Wow what....."

JPK,
Thanks for posting these lovely remembrances of Christmases past! They, too are a part of our heritage! What a variety of tree shapes! Wonder how many parents were up-all-night Christmas Eve. Love the tinsel. Isn't that a real cat wearing a sweater? Thanks again & Merry Christmas!

OH good Heavens, I think it IS a real cat! Kudos to them for getting it on the poor dear thing. Remember when cat-clothing was big, the girls brought some home with inevitable results plus when some little jacket was coaxed on the cat was so mad he would just walk a foot, throw himself down and refuse to budge, all 4 feet in the air. Laughing so hard almost couldn't dial the phone to turn us in for abuse like he clearly expected. Took it off immediately, wondering why they sell them- not a cat on the planet must tolerate those things more than a minute.
 
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