Each of us has a vision of what the perfect Old Fashioned Christmas
would be like. Most are painted in our minds from the Dickens writings and
old Currier & Ives pictures. A favorite activity of mine during the holidays,
is to revist this bygone era by reading old articles. I have selected a
few to share with you and hope that they take you way back to a kinder 
and more gentler time and perhaps help you to revisit old memories.

"Christmas Every Day"
W.D. Howells 1886

' It was a splendid Christmas! Nellie went to bed early, so as to let Santa
have a chance at the stockings. In the morning, she was the first up of anybody
and went in and felt them all lumpy with packages of candy, oranges and grapes,
pocketbooks, and rubber balls. Her young lady sister had a silk umbrella, Papa
and Mama had potatoes and coal wrapped in tissue as always. She waited till the 
rest of the family awoke, and then burst into the library. Large presents were laid
out....books, breast pins, dolls, a little stove, water colors, ink stands, Turkish
paste and nougat, candied cherries- all surrounding a lit tree standing in the waste
basket. Nellie paid no mind to breakfast, rather she ate candy all the day, turkey, 
cranberries, plum pudding- then went out to coast on the snow. When the pathetic, spoiled
child returned crying with a belly-ache, Papa scolded Mama sternly, saying he would see 
if his house was turned into that sort of a fool's paradise another year! Mama smiled
sweetly, recalling those same words he had exclaimed the year prior.'

"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus"
The following editorial, among the most famous ever written, appeared in the New York Sun in 1897:

We take pleasure in answering at once and thus prominently the communication below, expressing
at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends 
of the Sun. December 1897
 

Dear Editor!
I am 8 years old.
Some of my friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, "If you see it in the Sun, it's so."
Please tell me the truth: Is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O'Hanlon
115 West Ninety-Fifth Street

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds Virginia, whether they be men's or children's are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal life with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. 

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Old English Plum Pudding
Godeys Ladys Book 1860

To make what is termed a pound pudding, 
take of raisins well stoned, currants thoroughly 
washed, one pound each; chop a pound of suet very 
finely and mix with them; add a quarter of a pound
of flour, or bread very finely crumbled, three 
ounces of sugar, one ounce and a half of grated 
lemon-peel, a blade of mace, half a small nutmeg,
one teaspoonful of ginger, half a dozen eggs well 
beaten; work it well together, put it into a cloth,
tie it firmly, allowing room to swell, and boil not less
than five hours. It should not be suffered to stop boiling.

Wishing you all a Joyous and Blessed Holiday Season!
Lovingly,
Lady Andrea

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