Christmas Gem

From Little Women:

"Merry Christmas little daughters! I'm glad you began at once,and hope you will keep on.
But I want to say one word before we sit down. Not far from here lies a poor woman with a newborn baby. Six children are huddled into one bed to keep from freezing,for there is no fire. There is nothing to eat over there; and the oldest boy comes to tell me they are suffering hunger and cold. My girls, will you give them your breakfast as a Christmas present?"

Where would Christmas be without the reason for our celebration? The Victorians promoted church going, charity giving, and the celebration of the birth of the Christ child. The true Christmas story as recorded in the Bible was their most important reading of the season.

Under the tree were store-bought toys, usually one for each child: a wind-up dancing bear; Logos, an early form of Scrabble, and a precursor of Monoply called Moneta; penny whistles, pull toys and stuffed animals. But the most wondrous gift of all was Papa’s gift to the entire family, a surprise even to Mother: a magic lantern with a four-wick oil lamp and a packet of twenty-five hand-tinted slides. The slides told a spooky story, with images of wicked gargoyles and saintly fairies cast upon a nine-foot-square muslin screen.

The custom of having a tree as a central focal piece in winter holiday celebrations can be traced back hundreds of centuries. The ancient Egyptians had a custom of bringing branches from palm trees into their homes on the shortest day of the year each December. The Chinese and Hebrews from ancient history had similar traditions, too. The Scandinavians are attributed with beginning such customs as the Advent Wreath and the Yule Log, and were known to decorate their houses and barns with evergreens during winter celebrations. The Vikings of Northern Europe believed the evergreen to represent the promise of the return to spring once winter had passed. In Italy, Romans decorated trees with candles and trinkets during Saturnalia. The Druids, in France and England, dressed oak trees with fruit in honor of the gods of harvest. Boughs from trees were use in several other Pagan winter festivals as well.