Photo: candle on a Christmas tree. Credit: Malene Thyssen; Wikimedia Commons.

Memorable Events Connected with Christmas (part 1)

By Melissa Berry on December 18, 2024

In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry shares some stories and trivia connected to Christmases past... (Read More)

Illustration: “The Christmas Tree” by Albert Chevallier Tayler, 1911. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Our Ancestors’ Christmas Happenings

By Katie Rebecca Merkley on December 17, 2024

In this article, Katie Rebecca Merkley tells some funny and touching stories from Christmases past... (Read More)

Illustration: “The Adoration of the Shepherds,” by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, c. 1650. Credit: Museo del Prado; Wikimedia Commons.

Our Ancestors’ Christmas Messages (part 2)

By Katie Rebecca Merkley on December 10, 2024

In this article, Katie Rebecca Merkley writes more about the special Christmas messages our ancestors had printed in their local newspapers... (Read More)

Our Ancestors’ Christmas Messages (part 1)

By Katie Rebecca Merkley on December 9, 2024

In this article, Katie Rebecca Merkley writes about the special Christmas messages our ancestors had printed in their local newspapers... (Read More)

Illustration: “Twelfth Night Merry-Making in Farmer Shakeshaft’s Barn,” from Ainsworth’s “Mervyn Clitheroe,” by Phiz, c. 1850. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Traditional Celebrations for ‘Little Christmas’

By Melissa Berry on January 5, 2024

In this article – to celebrate the traditional end of the Christmas season – Melissa Berry describes the history and traditions of “Little Christmas.”.. (Read More)

Illustration: cover of "Harper’s Weekly," Volume 23, 4 January 1879.

Christmas Letters (part 3)

By Melissa Berry on December 26, 2023

In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry shares a Christmas letter written by the daughter of a California Gold Rush 49er in 1879 when she was 15... (Read More)

Photo: a “Talking Letter” from Eugene Daly during WWII, February 1945. Courtesy of Portraits of War.

Christmas Letters (part 2)

By Melissa Berry on December 22, 2023

In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry shares “talking letters” families sent to their loved ones serving overseas... (Read More)

Photo: Christmas at the Annunciation Church in Nazareth, 1965. Credit: Israel Press and Photo Agency (I.P.P.A.) / Dan Hadani collection, National Library of Israel / CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons.

Christmas Celebrations – Some Other Opinions

By Katie Rebecca Garner on December 21, 2023

In this article, Katie Rebecca Garner writes about how some of our ancestors c. 1800 were opposed to Christmas celebrations... (Read More)

Illustration: “Nativity of Christ,” medieval illustration from the “Hortus Deliciarum” of Herrad of Landsberg, c. 1180. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Our Ancestors, Religion, and Christmas

By Katie Rebecca Garner on December 20, 2023

In this article, Katie Rebecca Garner writes about how some of our ancestors c. 1800 were concerned there wasn’t enough Christ in Christmas... (Read More)

Tag: Christmas