Journey Through Christmases Past - Christmas Snowstorms

 

Welcome to our newest feature, Journey through Christmases Past. This series is a nostalgic celebration of the holidays we all remember...

• The history and traditions of the holiday.
• The décor that filled our homes.
• The toys that defined each decade.
• The television and movie shows that brightened the season.
• The outfits we adored (and the ones we definitely didn’t).

Along the way, I’ll sprinkle in a few of my own Christmas memories. So settle in with a cup of your favorite hot beverage and join me on a journey through Christmases past.

Happy Sunday! There are only 89 days until Christmas. Isn't that great! I told my husband this weekend that I am likely bringing up one of the Christmas trees early so I can decorate it for fall. I had planned to do that last year. Hopefully, my schedule allows for it. 

This week, Journey through Christmases Past is looking at snowstorms that occurred on or around Christmas. With some areas of the country in the midst of the effects of this week's Nor'Easter, here is a reminder of how wicked Mother Nature can be.

1836

It seems 1836 brought with it a ton of the white stuff. In January, 30 - 40 inches of snow fell, blanketing parts of New York, northern Pennsylvania, and western New England. New York City had already experienced the Great Fire in mid-December, causing the loss of 17 blocks of the Financial District. 

On December 20, the Midwestern "Sudden Freeze" is said to have frozen chickens where they stood and men in their saddles. Within minutes, temperatures dropped from 40 degrees to near zero. A few inches of snow were already on the ground when the rain fell, making for a wet slush that quickly froze when the temperatures dropped.

In the United Kingdom, a Christmas Eve blizzard with fierce winds led to snowdrifts 10 - 40 feet high in places. With drifts towering on cliffs over the Sussex town of Lewes,  as the temperatures rose a few days later, an avalanche destroyed a row of cottages, leading to multiple fatalities. 

1872/1873

The winter of 1872/1873 was especially brutal in the northern United States and parts of Canada. Major snowstorms occurred from November through April. Yes, April. The weather was bitterly cold, as noted in this article discussing the weather's impact on a frontier survey team marking the northern boundary between the United States and Canada across Minnesota. On this list of "Biggest Snowstorms (One Foot or More) at Central Park (1869 - Present)", the December 26, 1872 blizzard dropped 18 inches of snow on New York City. 

1962

December 1962 can lay claim to being one of the coldest and harshest winters in British history. Snow arrived mid-December, before cold winds from Russia blew in. More than a foot of snow blanketed England and Wales the day after Christmas, with drifts over 20 feet, creating a travel nightmare. January 1963 is recorded as the coldest month in their history since January 1814, and it took until March for residents to wake to a morning without frost.

Want to learn more about wicked winter weather? Weatherbox features a video about "The WORST Winter Storms of Christmas Past." You can click here to watch it.

Seasonal Books I've Recently Reviewed

Here are some seasonal titles I recently reviewed on my main blog, The Book Connection. 

This is such a sweet story, and I loved it so much that I wish I could go back and read it all over again. Luckily, it will premiere on Great American Christmas this season as a movie starring Danica McKellar and Sam Page. Read it before the movie comes out! The Christmas Yes List is destined to be a Christmas romance classic.

Read my full review here!

If you are looking to indulge in a seasonal story that is familiar yet uniquely new, Cratchit is an excellent choice!

Read my full review here!

This is one of the most beautiful and touching Advent devotionals I've had the pleasure to read. A perfect gift for you or someone you love, A Christmas Carol Devotional is a wonderful way to reclaim your focus and intention this holiday season.

Read my full review here!

Hallmark's Countdown to Christmas Schedule

 Posted just four hours ago on Facebook!

The Big E Time!

The Big E started this weekend! It is a multi-state fair, celebrating all six New England states. Our youngest is home, so I am taking the day off from posting. However, in celebration of all things Christmas, if fairs and holiday markets are your thing, here is a list of some to consider this year:

New England Christmas Festival - https://nechristmasfestival.com

Enchant - www.enchantchristmas.com

Christkindlmarket - www.christkindlmarket.com

Hallmark Christmas Experience - www.experiencehallmarkchristmas.com

The Great Dickens Fair - https://dickensfair.com

Helsinki Christmas Market - https://tuomaanmarkkinat.fi/en

Poznan Christmas Market - www.europeanbestdestinations.com/christmas-markets/christmas-markets-in-poland

Bath Christmas Market - www.bathchristmasmarket.co.uk

Where is your favorite Christmas fair or market located? Why is your favorite thing to do there?

Journey through Christmases Past - Christmas 1813

 

Welcome to our newest feature, Journey through Christmases Past. This series is a nostalgic celebration of the holidays we all remember...

• The history and traditions of the holiday.
• The décor that filled our homes.
• The toys that defined each decade.
• The television and movie shows that brightened the season.
• The outfits we adored (and the ones we definitely didn’t).

Along the way, I’ll sprinkle in a few of my own Christmas memories. So settle in with a cup of your favorite hot beverage and join me on a journey through Christmases past.

There are a few hours left in this Sunday, so it looks like it is time for another Journey through Christmases Past post. Only 104 more days until Christmas! By this time next week, we will be down to double digits. How does that make you feel? Here, the mantle is still awaiting its fall decorations, but I am getting there a bit at a time. 

This week, we are traveling way back to the year 1813. The Napoleonic Wars have been raging for a decade. The Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812, is still a year away from being signed. Late in October, the Treaty of Golestān will be signed to end the first Russo-Persian War. Early in December, French forces will besiege Hamburg, Germany. Fifteen days before Christmas, the residents of Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake) in Upper Canada watch as their houses burn to the ground. 

In contrast to the darker moments of 1813, the literary world produced memorable chapters in history:

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is published in January.
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge's play Remorse: A Tragedy in Five Acts premieres in January.
• Robert Southey is named Poet Laureate, a title he holds until his death in 1843.
• The Philomathean Society is founded.

In music, the Philharmonic Society of London is founded. In December, Beethoven's Seventh Symphony premieres at the University of Vienna in Austria as a benefit for Austrian and Allied veterans of the Napoleonic Wars. 

The Christmas of 1813 was deeply shaped by troubling times across the globe. For some, it was a season of displacement and fear. Still decades from becoming a major national holiday, Christmas was modest and focused on family. Decorations were minimal and taken from the natural elements around them: evergreen branches and boughs, holly and mistletoe, fruits, and nuts. Tallow and beeswax candles glowed from their holders in the window. 

Some of these traditions have been carried forward into modern times. No longer flame-lit candles, we see LED candles flickering their artificial flames through windows, calling us home. Garlands of faux evergreen frame hearths and doorways or wrap around lampposts and railings, inviting nature and texture indoors. Families still make pomanders and paper chains. Homemade gifts continue to find their way under the tree. In these enduring traditions, the spirit of Christmas still finds us, offering the same quiet comfort it did centuries ago.

Journey through Christmases Past: The Labor Day and Christmas Connection

 

Welcome to our newest feature, Journey through Christmases Past. This series is a nostalgic celebration of the holidays we all remember...

• The history and traditions of the holiday.
• The décor that filled our homes.
• The toys that defined each decade.
• The television and movie shows that brightened the season.
• The outfits we adored (and the ones we definitely didn’t).

Along the way, I’ll sprinkle in a few of my own Christmas memories. So settle in with a cup of your favorite hot beverage and join me on a journey through Christmases past.

Welcome back to Christmas Year Round, a blog dedicated to sharing Christmas joy all year long. There are only 110 days until Christmas 2026. Isn't that wonderful! 

This week, I finished reading my first seasonal novel of the year. If you enjoy a good Christmas romance, check out The Christmas Yes List by Melissa Ferguson.

Let's hop into this week's Journey through Christmases Past. Labor Day is known as the unofficial end of summer and a way to honor the contributions of American workers to the country's social and economic prosperity. If we look through history, it also has a connection to Christmas a season of joy, generosity, and treasured traditions.

American manufacturers employed 19.5 - 19.6 million workers at the country's peak in 1979. They built goods that made up the Christmas holiday, like:

• The gifts we unwrapped
• The stockings we hung
• The crafted ornaments we passed down through generations 
• The cars we drove to visit family and friends

During times of war, those same factory workers pivoted quickly to support military efforts. This transition, along with women entering factories during World War I and World War II to replace enlisted men, also impacted Christmas holidays. Female workers were keeping production lines running, while still keeping Christmas spirit burning at home. 

After World War II, a shift back to peacetime production was helped by American consumers ready to spend after enduring years of rationing. With prices rising rapidly while wages remained low, unions fought to improve pay, working conditions, and get time off to spend with loved ones.

So, while at a distance, Labor Day and Christmas feel like different moments in time, they are held together by a carefully woven thread thanks to the hearts and hands of working people. 

Journey through Christmases Past - Christmas 1994

 

Welcome to our newest feature, Journey through Christmases Past. This series is a nostalgic celebration of the holidays we all remember...

• The history and traditions of the holiday.
• The décor that filled our homes.
• The toys that defined each decade.
• The television and movie shows that brightened the season.
• The outfits we adored (and the ones we definitely didn’t).

Along the way, I’ll sprinkle in a few of my own Christmas memories. So settle in with a cup of your favorite hot beverage and join me on a journey through Christmases past.

Happy Sunday! I am sitting here after spending most of the weekend working, wondering how August is almost over. Christmas is only 116 days away! My social media is filled with fall lists and Christmas posts. Herrschners' new Christmas Collection is on its website. And Christmas is in the news again as I search Google. It seems everything Christmas is at our online fingertips these days. But back in 1994, things were different. 

• Though Amazon was founded in the summer of 1994, the website wouldn't launch until a year later. 
• Earlier that year, Jerry Yang and David Filo were working on a directory of websites. Renamed Yahoo! in April 1994, by September they had compiled over 2000 websites and were getting 50,000 hits a day. The company wouldn't go public until spring 1996. 
• Ask Jeeves, which later became Ask.com, launched in 1997. It came out before Google, guys! 
• DVDs were first released in Japan in 1996, and in the States the following year. 
• Though digital cameras were available, they came with a hefty price tag. It would be the early 2000s before digital cameras outsold traditional film cameras. 
• When you wanted to watch a movie outside of the theater, you drove to Blockbuster, which was ten years away from hitting its peak. 
• Netflix was three years away from being founded as a mail-order DVD rental service. 
• While PlayStation launched in Japan in December 1994, it would be the fall of 1995 before it was available in the United States. 
• From Max Smart's shoe phone in the series Get Smart to Magnum driving around in his red Ferrari with his big mobile phone in Magnum P.I., the technology was considered quirky and not necessarily for the average person. That would change in 2007 with the launch of the iPhone.
• In December 1994, Wells Fargo was still six months away from being the first major bank to launch a website for checking balances and statements. 

Some may see 1994 as the last analog Christmas. Kids were still circling things in the Sears Wish Book, and their holiday commercial told us that Sears was "Where Wishes Come Home for the Holidays." Malls were social hubs and at the center of holiday culture. Holiday specials were live on television, and music came on vinyls--which we still called records, CDs, and cassettes. The majority of photos were taken with film cameras and brought to a store for developing. Gamers were switching cartridges out of their Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis when they wanted a new game. People wrote out holiday cards--some of us still do--and talked to family and friends on their landlines. Most people didn't even have email yet. 

The internet and online retailers definitely changed shopping habits and personal interactions over the years. But what remains the same is that Christmas will always pull us back to the moments that matter, no matter how much life speeds up around us.