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).
Happy Sunday! Here we are at 271 days before Christmas. Are you keeping up with your to-do lists to reduce stress around the holidays? I'll admit, I am slacking, though the Easter baskets will be all set next by Sunday.
Let's wander back to Christmas 1843. This one is important, especially for lovers of the written word. But let's start with the first quarter of 1843 and work toward it.
In March 1843, Samuel Morse, who had been working on the electro-magnetic telegraph for over a decade, built a telegraph system from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore with some assistance from a $30,000 appropriation from Congress. In mid-May of that year, the United Free Church of Scotland was formed. Then on May 22, the first wagon train left Missouri for Oregon along the Oregon Trail, with a committee appointed to establish a civil government that summer.
An unexpected snowstorm hit Rochester and Buffalo, New York, and Cleveland, Ohio, on June 1, the same day that Isabella Baumfree would change her name to Sojourner Truth, leaving New York on a traveling tour to speak against slavery.
Photo credit: kues1 on Freepik
In July of 1843, Great Britain would launch the SS Great Britain, the first vessel with an iron hull and screw propeller. Later that summer, American inventor Charles Thurber would patent the first practical typewriter.
Image of Mr. Fezziwig's Ball from
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Sketch by John Leech.
Photo credit to Wikimedia Commons
As the world entered December 1843, Manila paper was patented in Massachusetts, the first Christmas card was commissioned by Sir Henry Cole and sent by Queen Victoria, and Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol on December 19, with the first edition selling out by Christmas Eve.
The Christmas of 1843 found the world on the cusp of cultural transformation. As people immigrated from Europe, they brought their traditions with them to America, blending and adapting them across continents. The 1800s also saw Christianity expanding into Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, influencing how Christmas was observed or introduced. The Victorian Era in Great Britain was a time of industrial progress, making Christmas a holiday that more people could experience.
However, much of what we call the spirit of Christmas is thanks to one man: Charles Dickens. Before 1843, some families celebrated while others let the day go unnoticed or treated it only as a religious observance. As A Christmas Carol made its way into homes, what Christmas felt like was rewritten. Through the miserly Scrooge, he showed readers what a life without charity, kindness, generosity, and social responsibility looked like. Dickens reminded us through the Cratchits that the holiday is not about extravagance; it's about spending time together. No longer just a date on the calendar, Christmas is a season with a shared spirit.
Thank you, Charles Dickens, for giving Christmas its heart!
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