Victorian Christmas
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Christmas Warms the Heart

Think of Christmas romance, and the Victorian Christmas automatically comes to mind. Most Americans were finally beginning to embrace the idea of celebrating the Christmas holiday by 1851. It was, after all, an excuse to lavish gifts and attention on their children, without appearing to spoil them!

It was customary in those days to treat one's children as if they were merely small adults. This was the perfect family holiday!

New York made history when it opened its first Christmas tree market in 1851. It did not take long for the idea to spread, and before the end of the decade, several major cities boasted their own Christmas tree markets each year.

By 1860, 14 states had included Christmas in their list of official state holidays.

Macy's flagship store in New York City hosted the first ever in-store Santa in 1862. In 1864, they unveiled the first of their famous annual Christmas window displays. It was also the first in the country. Macy's is noted for being the first to start several traditions in Christmas history.

By the first year of the Civil War (1861), 31 of the then 36 states had declared Christmas to be an official holiday. Though these were sad years, Victorian Christmas history was made several times.

Retailers, of course, helped this along, with the first Christmas wish books, and magazine articles described once again the methods of making many useful and practical Christmas gifts.

People needed a respite from the ravages of a war which tore the fiber out of both sides, and Christmas provided not only that respite, but also a perfect occasion for hosting fund-raisers for the armies.

After the Civil War, Christmas history begins its spiral into becoming a secular holiday, and major economic force in the United States.

Children's books were a vital force in bringing about the commercialization of Christmas. Beginning shortly after Thanksgiving (now an official Federal holiday), the children's books and magazines began to feature stories about Christmas, and pictures of decorated Christmas trees.