Every week we publish a historic photo highlighting a story from Naperville’s past from the history archives of Naper Settlement.
With today being Christmas Eve and a certain jolly old elf working overtime getting ready for his big night, we take a look at Christmases past.
In the early days of America, celebrations of the holiday reflected the way people had observed it in their homelands.
Puritans, for example, did not celebrate Christmas at all as they believed it had no Biblical basis. They were so serious about this, a law was passed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony that fined anyone who celebrated the day.
It was just the opposite for the folks living in the southern states, who tended to be more connected with the royalists in England and had a grand old time with multiday celebrations. There was feasting, gambling, hunting and dancing, all of which were traditions back in England.
The dazzling Christmas displays and decorations we so often see today can be traced back to upper-class urban women who had the wherewithal to afford extensive holiday decorations. Eventually, Christmas decorations became a widespread tradition around the country.
Churches also got into the spirit by introducing music, liturgy, pageants, and greenery to celebrate the day.
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But even with a devout nation celebrating Christmas every Dec. 25, it was not officially made a federal holiday until June 28, 1870.
These days, the decorations are not complete without a tree adorned with ornaments, lights and garland or tinsel — the bigger and brighter the better.
We can thank German immigrants, many of whom settled in the Naperville area for farming, for spreading the custom of decorating indoor Christmas trees, a practice that for them dated back to the 16th century.
Godey’s Lady’s Book, a women’s magazine, is credited with the first published photo of an Amercian Christmas tree in 1850, a tabletop version modeled after the one Great Britain’s Queen Victoria and her family had in their palace.
It made sense that the family would embrace the practice given that the queen’s husband, Prince Albert, was born in Germany. The royal family put up their first family Christmas tree in 1841 and publicly displayed one for the first time in 1848.
Full-sized trees being set up in American homes didn’t come into vogue until the 1870s. It spawned a new industry for growing, cutting and transporting Christmas trees to urban areas. Like today, they were often sold on street corners.
Early tree decorations were based on local folk customs, using nuts, popcorn or bead strings, oranges, lemons, candies and some homemade ornaments. In the 1870s, fancier ornaments imported from Germany started to be sold.
In 1882, Edward H. Johnson, an associate of Thomas Edison, hand-wired 80 red, white and blue light bulbs to give his home the first electric Christmas tree lights.
The tree in today’s photo from Naper Settlement was taken in the early 20th century and shows not only a Christmas tree but the tea seat and porcelain dolls some lucky little girl received as gifts.
Porcelain was considered rare and precious until the 1870s, when mass production made it more affordable. With rising incomes in the late 19th century and new department stores making them available, the dolls became easier to purchase and popular as gifts.
Miniature tea sets were also a popular for girls in the late 19th century. In fact, girls tended to receive gifts that not only encouraged indoor play but taught them the household chores they would be responsible for later in life.
The act of giving Christmas presents has been around for centuries. Small gifts tucked into stockings were common but it wasn’t until the late 1800s that the modern idea of gift-giving really took hold.
Early gifts were often handmade by the gift giver or an artisan, but as more factories began mass producing goods, people started shopping for presents at stores. Along with that came the sale of wrapping paper, ribbons and bows that we still use to cover gifts.
Merry Christmas!
Andrea Field is the curator of history at Naper Settlement. For more information, go to www.NaperSettlement.org.
Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.