Old Tyme Christmas Photos
- Thread starter JWFilips
- Start date
358156 hp
At large, whereabouts unknown.
"It's a major award!"
JWFilips
Well-Known Member
December 1900. Christmas tree in the home of Wilbur and Orville Wright at 7 Hawthorn Street in Dayton, Ohio, three years before their famous flight. 4x5 dry-plate glass negative by the Wright Brothers. View full size. There's a lot of detail here for fans of old-school Christmas decoration
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
That could have been one of my great aunts "sitting rooms". I think she had that exact rug, only her's looked brand new and smelled, as she did, of mothballs. She never would have been so gauche as to have a plain roller shade on the door, heavens no! I hated going there because you couldn't touch anything, had to sit in a chair and not fidget and not say anything unless asked. It was still about 1896 to her and thats all there was to it! RIP Aunt Olive.
Rally Hess
Well-Known Member
Someone spent a lot of time with the tinsel on that first tree. All appear to be single strands all carefully spaced and hung evenly
fiver
Well-Known Member
it looks nice though.
a thought just occurred to me.
I have read a lot of old outdoor magazines and remember reading a few from the 1900 era that had photography sections in them.
anyway to the point of the thought.
people haven't changed much in the subject matter of their picture taking and sharing over the years.
hunting success pics, group selfie's, check out my stuff pictures.
I think the only new fad of picture taking is pictures of food, which I guess is really a check out my stuff picture, or not,,, the old paint the bowl of apples, grapes, and banana's in oil on canvas has been around a long time.
a thought just occurred to me.
I have read a lot of old outdoor magazines and remember reading a few from the 1900 era that had photography sections in them.
anyway to the point of the thought.
people haven't changed much in the subject matter of their picture taking and sharing over the years.
hunting success pics, group selfie's, check out my stuff pictures.
I think the only new fad of picture taking is pictures of food, which I guess is really a check out my stuff picture, or not,,, the old paint the bowl of apples, grapes, and banana's in oil on canvas has been around a long time.
JWFilips
Well-Known Member
I my family the person in charge of Christmas Tree icicles was my Dad! In the 50's I remember we still had those lead Icicles! Now that could be that my Dad saved them every year!. He always finished off the tree by laying the icicles on it one strand at a time! ( as a kid I'm certain that it took 3 hours....before I got to run the Lionel!) After Chrismas He was the first one to work on the tree to take it down,
He would remove each Icicle one at a time and place on a cardboard pallete he made for storing them each year.
When I got to age 7 or 8 I remember helping him once but I got quickly sent out of the room! For some reason he disliked my technique which appeared as tinsel bird nests instead of handing icicles!
I don't know when these went out of vogue, but we had them into the late sixties. I remember very specifically that my grandmother would tuck those away so that no one else could get to them and she'd consecrate the trimming with deliberation and precision placement of each strand. She kept them on a cardboard pallete as well, untwisting each as she removed them from the tree individually after Christmas, and draping them over the cardboard rectangle. It seemed a mighty sanctimonious event on either end of Christmas to me but once I was out on my own, I realized yiou couldn't buy them any more.
I never figured out if they were lead or tin. They were heavy and draped nicely, so I assumed lead, but they never seemed to oxidize too much or get too dull - they sparkled in the light filtering in from the kitchen once all the other lights were out. I miss them, but I'm not sure I'd have the patience for the tedium involved in putting them up right. All the hustle-bustle, I think, has made it more difficult to relax and focus like we used to no matter how hard I dig in my heels.
JWFilips
Well-Known Member
Many great things have passed us by in our life times! My Aunt's tree in the 50's was decorated with Spun Glass "Angle Hair" As A kid I thought it was the real thing! Her tree was so dreamy! Especially combined with original bubble lights.
My Dad and Mom would pick twigs and branches in the fall and paint them silver and white to be used under the Christmas tree in the "Villages"
My Dad made 2 platforms both 8 x4 ft Put together we had 16 feet of under tree miniature world!
From the Plains of Bethlehem to the Streets and parks of the United States! They had many lead figurines; Ice Skaters Park benches Deer etc! They had street lights which glowed in the dark when the lights were out ( must be magic to a young child) My wife and I still have 10 of their plastic glow in the dark Icicles on out tree each year! Shut the lights of and the glow purple! No doubet soaked with Radium of that time period!
My Dad and Mom would pick twigs and branches in the fall and paint them silver and white to be used under the Christmas tree in the "Villages"
My Dad made 2 platforms both 8 x4 ft Put together we had 16 feet of under tree miniature world!
From the Plains of Bethlehem to the Streets and parks of the United States! They had many lead figurines; Ice Skaters Park benches Deer etc! They had street lights which glowed in the dark when the lights were out ( must be magic to a young child) My wife and I still have 10 of their plastic glow in the dark Icicles on out tree each year! Shut the lights of and the glow purple! No doubet soaked with Radium of that time period!
JWFilips
Well-Known Member
Another from the past: The Dickey Family had a Christmas picture Each year!
Shoropy.com tells the story:
"Dickey Christmas tree." From around 1912 comes our sixth holiday greeting from the family of Washington, D.C., lawyer Raymond Dickey in what has become a Shorpy holiday tradition . National Photo glass negative
Shoropy.com tells the story:
"Dickey Christmas tree." From around 1912 comes our sixth holiday greeting from the family of Washington, D.C., lawyer Raymond Dickey in what has become a Shorpy holiday tradition . National Photo glass negative
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
In our bar/restaurant we had one of those awful chrome and silver artificial trees. They'd decorate the place about the 1st of December and that tree would always go in the same corner, complete with the groovy red/blue/yellow/orange revolving light shining on it to change the color. It was probably purchased around 1964 and I think it was still going strong in 1988 or 9, last time I saw it. Gaudy doesn't begin to do it justice!
JWFilips
Well-Known Member
You know there is something magical about this time of year....no matter our troubles if we look at Christmas's past we relive our history , our lifetime and our dreams!
This year due to the fact that we have brought a viberant young male kitten into our family, my wife and I decided not to put the regular tree up! ( I just can not chance any destruction of our family's history!) ( We did this also for the same situation 4 years ago)
So The Blue fake tree will go up with the Kitten proof ornaments! After January his migglets will be gone! and next year we go back to normal!
This year due to the fact that we have brought a viberant young male kitten into our family, my wife and I decided not to put the regular tree up! ( I just can not chance any destruction of our family's history!) ( We did this also for the same situation 4 years ago)
So The Blue fake tree will go up with the Kitten proof ornaments! After January his migglets will be gone! and next year we go back to normal!
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Rally Hess
Well-Known Member
Jim,
I’m sitting in a Quality Inn motel in Dixon, I’ll. My wife and I are visiting her mother, who is in a nursing home here. The motel and the next door Wal mart , are sitting on what used to be my aunt and uncles farm. Spent many an hour hunting and just raising cane with my cousin on this location. Spent several Christmas days on the farm during family get togethers. The Wal mart is sitting on what used to be a hog lot, some irony in that!
I’m sitting in a Quality Inn motel in Dixon, I’ll. My wife and I are visiting her mother, who is in a nursing home here. The motel and the next door Wal mart , are sitting on what used to be my aunt and uncles farm. Spent many an hour hunting and just raising cane with my cousin on this location. Spent several Christmas days on the farm during family get togethers. The Wal mart is sitting on what used to be a hog lot, some irony in that!