Memories of a Victorian Christmas . . .

I grew up in the early 1950's in a late-Victorian house in Gettysburg, PA. My parents, especially my Mom, were avid Victoriana collectors. Naturally, my homeplace reflected their tastes - especially during the Christmas season. Our house was filled with decorations that were either inherited from their ancestors or homemade my Mom. Everyone joined in to decorate the home and the tree. Pop would curse the tree set up every year. It was a love-hate relationship he had with the tradition of first finding, and then setting up a real 10 foot short-needled tree. At the end of the day . . . it was ready to trim and Pop was always pleased.

The Victorian-era decorations are all but gone . . . time and cork guns took their toll. I think the best of the tree decorations are the ones we made from Mom's vast collection of costume jewerly and beads. The ones I posted aren't one that we made . . . but damn close to them! Every November weekend, we'd spend countless hours designing, gluing, and fabricating decorative tree balls. My only lament is that very few survived. My brothers have the modest collection - I chose instead to "inherit" the paper mache manger set that was always the center piece on a large Victorian sideboard in the same room as the tree.

Our home had pocket doors between the living room and parlor . . . the archways were always trimmed with pine, lights, and other decorations. Through in full rooms of Victorian furniture and antiques, you have a Victorian Christmas setting that I'll never forget.