The Ghost of Christmas Newsletters Past
Holiday Movies, Shopping, Catalogues, and Entertaining
“The snow turned all to pearl, the dark trees strung with pearls, the sky beginning to flow with such a radiance as never was on land or sea. And the stillness everywhere…” Gladys Hasty Carroll
Though I am an atheist, I wait all year for December and the Christmas season. Yesterday we picked up our 12’ tree and tonight we will decorate it, but for now I am soaking in the pine scent and my first listen to Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers’ Once Upon a Christmas on the record player. This will be my baby’s first Christmas and, while he won’t be able to remember any of it, I plan to fit in as many of my favourite seasonal activities as possible—from making pomanders to watching White Christmas to going to see the tree at Rockefeller Center.
Over the last few years, I’ve written quite a few newsletters on aspects of the holiday season as they interact with fashion and cultural history; Bloomingdale’s Christmas shopping bags and Joseph Magnin’s “Wolves Den” for male shoppers, my favourite Christmas movies and Frederick Wiseman’s documentary The Store, holiday entertaining advice from 1974 and vintage Christmas menus, and more. Below are the links to all of those, with more seasonal (and some not so seasonal) posts to come.
Christmas movies:
Getting in the Holiday Spirit
And now it is December. Though I am not religious, Christmas is by far my favourite time of year and I personally like to wring every drop of joy I can get out of it. With the news and the world feeling so hard right now, I’m leaning even farther into the season—the scents, tastes, music, warmth, and sights of it. Later today we will be going to pick up…
31+ Movies for Christmas
When I started this newsletter last December, one of my first missives was a list of Christmas-related movies I love. As so few of you would have seen it—and you may be looking for movies to watch this holiday season—I am re-sending it today. Originally 21 movies, I’ve added ten more holiday films for your viewing pleasure. Take into consideration the v…
Frederick Wiseman's The Store
Frederick Wiseman’s The Store (1983) is a documentary, hence my not including it in my Christmas movie round-up, yet somehow it perfectly captures the season for me. During the four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas 1982, Wiseman was turned loose in Neiman Marcus’ flagship and offices in Dallas, filming both the public and private sides of the business.
Holiday shopping:
Carrying Home the Holidays
The paper shopping bag we all know and use is a relatively recent invention. Most nineteenth-century purchases were wrapped in paper and twine, either to be carried home in one’s arms or delivered there by the merchant. The first machine for producing paper bags was patented in 1852 by Francis Wolle, a Pennsylvania priest and inventor. Simple envelope-s…
Joseph Magnin's Wolves' Den
Holiday shopping has long been the bane of many husbands’ existence, but only one department store in mid-century America went out of its way to court and placate these reticent shoppers. Joseph Magnin—the California-based high-end specialty department store not to be confused with I. Magnin (opened by Joseph’s father and a direct competitor)—every Christmas, starting in around 1949 and going until the mid-70s, opened the Wolves’ Den, a men’s only department conglomerating the best gift ideas from around the store.
Seasonal entertaining:
A Menu for Christmas
As most of us settle into a season of intense festivities and eating—whether you just celebrated the eight days of Hanukkah, are frequenting holiday parties, or are planning your Christmas or Kwanzaa—I thought it would be interesting to share some historic menus of holiday meals long past. Almost all are American and all are for Christmas, revealing mor…
"Yes You Can Give a Fabulous Party": Entertaining Advice, 1974
If you are planning a holiday get-together, here are some party ideas from the December 1974 issue of Cosmopolitan. Instead of solely looking to the usual cocktail parties, Cosmo’s editors chose three slightly more unconventional ideas/times, which would easily work at other times of year (minus the Christmas tree decorations). A hangover brunch held the morning after a big bash, complete with copious margaritas; an “afternoon ale party”—all one needs is a keg and some crudites; and a champagne and dessert after-dinner soirée.
And Christmas catalogues:
A Very Avon Christmas, 1973
For your viewing pleasure, I scanned a selection of pages from four Avon Christmas catalogues from 1973. Avon catalogues or brochures were small—just 5.5” by 7”—and were sent out usually monthly to Avon Ladies to share with their customers. Every page showcases a different product or multiple products, with the ads subtly changed from catalogue to catal…
The Personal Pleasures of Christmas
Now that we’re used to a deluge of Black Friday/Small Business Saturday/Cyber Monday emails, it can be hard to remember just how different Christmas shopping used to be. When Sears premiered their first Christmas Book catalogue in 1933, it opened up the possibility of purchasing more novel gifts than one might find at the local department store or main street. Sears had been selling select Christmas-related items in their general semi-annual catalogues since 1896 (candles, cards, lights, and ornaments were gradually added over the years), but it was with their first Christmas catalog or “Wish Book” that gifts became the centerpiece. A slim 87 pages, among the gifts featured were “the ‘Miss Pigtails’ doll, a battery-powered toy automobile, a Mickey Mouse watch, fruitcakes, Lionel electric trains, a five-pound box of chocolates, and live singing canaries.” Customers began to affectionately call the Christmas catalogue a “Wish Book,” leading Sears to rename it in 1968 (by which time it was a bricklike 608 pages).