If I Had My Own Blue Box:

Peterson’s 1861

Carrying Home the Christmas Turkey

I stumbled across this book Jennie Juneiana: Talks on Women’s Topics by Jennie June (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1864) while looking up something else. I hope you enjoy a selection of transcriptions over the next few weeks….

Christmas is Coming.

“At Christmas play, and make good cheer,

For Christmas comes but once a year.”

Christmas is coming! Good news for the children, who know that with it comes the jolly, merry Santa Claus, his panniers piled high with toys and confectionery, skates and sleds; who topples down the chimney in such an extraordinary way, and mysteriously fills little socks and the larger stockings with just what the busy little owners most wished to see! Yes, Christmas is coming, that pleasant time when the good christkindlein plants lovely trees in the dwellings of his favorites, brilliantly illuminates them with myriads of lights, and then hangs from each branch and twig all that is prettiest and rarest for those who have pleased him, by showing kindness and love to each other during the year that is past. An emblem of the Providence which always rewards the good, and punishes the bad, it the beautiful Christmas tree, and an object of sacred mystery to the crowd of delighted little ones, who look, at first awe-struck at the shining wonder, which seems to have dropped right down from the stars.

Christmas is coming! not only in America, but all along the shores of Old and still “Merrie England.” At this moment thousands of mothers, and thousands of little ones, are anticipating with eagerness the approach of the grand national plum-pudding day; and even dignified fathers of families will not object to carry home, after nightfall, the boxes of raisins, and pounds of suet, which are necessary to the composition of the celebrated dish, for which even the most super-human mortals have a tender weakness.

            Christmas is coming! Pile up the wood, bring out your nuts, and cider, and apples, and prepare to enjoy the genial influences of the season; but do not forget the poor.  You will not miss a piece of beef, or pork, a pair of chickens, a basket of wood, a cabbage, and perhaps a little meal of flour. Tell your wife what you are doing before it is quite packed up; and trust a woman, but she will find “something good” – a pie, some cookies for the children, and perhaps a blanket of comforter to throw over all, and which she will tell you (bless her womanly heart!) that you “needn’t bring back.” Try it once, if you never did before, and you will experience a keener sense of enjoyment in your own comforts that a mean and selfish absorption could ever dream or think of. 

Thank the Lofd, reverently, that Christmas is coming, – the time when Christ was born, who brought peace on earth, and good will to men. Pray that he may be born again in every human heart, and that the old anthems may be again sung which echoed over the hills of Judea when the Saviour saw the light on the first Christmas morning in the manger at Bethleham.

This passage by Jennie June in her Jennie Juneiana: Talks on Women’s Topics (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1864) touches on a topic that I struggle with. There are so many people I would love to give gifts to, whether handmade or store-bought. But, often it just isn’t possible to do so.

The Season of Gifts

“Who to give to?” is sometimes a puzzling question; for each one cannot give to all, or all who have claims upon them, and it is sometimes hard to decide between sisters, and aunts, and cousins, and still nearer and dearer relations. Some philanthropic people, who, however, rarely follow their own advice , advocate the ignoring of family ties altogether on these festal occasions, and urge the giving only to those who absolutely need something. But this is too hard and rigid a policy; it may be, and probably is the extreme of unselfishness, but we frankly own that it is beyond us. Give all that is possible to those whose friends are few and wants many, but yield something also to inclination and affection, and the kindly feelings which prompt and demand a fitting expression.

            But who to give to is not yet received a definite answer. First, as a loyal woman (we are talking to women), to those you love best; second, to those to whom perhaps you have done an injustice, if only in thought, and to whom you feel is due some slight reparation; and third, to those who need it. But it must be remembered that the sentiment of the gift is more than the gift itself. A very costly gift is sometimes not half so much valued as a flower, a book, or a kind word; but this is only true of very unsophisticated people. We have seen vulgar women, in garb of silk or satin, who would coarsely express undisguised contempt for a gift which did not come up to their ideas of cost. Such persons are incapable of appreciating a sentiment, and therefore give them nothing, or if that is impossible, let it be a check for so much money, which is the only point for which they care.

            What is proper to purchase for gifts, is a very embarrassing question to sensitive individuals, who desire to do the thing just right, and are afraid of making some mistake or committing some gauche-rie. Between husbands and wives, or in a family circle, such a difficulty can hardly exist, a wide range of the useful, as well as the sentimental and beautiful, being proper to choose from. For mere friends, however, the choice is sometimes very perplexing, notwithstanding that the variety of goods in every department is almost infinite, and books always exist as a dernier resort, although, in fact, they are the most suitable and valuable of gifts. To pretend to indicate those things which are most adapted as gifts to varied circumstances, would be to give a catalogue of every jewelry establishment, dry goods store, and fancy goods house, not to speak of toys, furs, groceries, bonnets, greenhouses, picture galleries, and furniture shops, all of which supply their quota to the generous influences of the season. A safe way is to ascertain a want or a taste on the part of the recipient, and then supply the one or gratify the other, according to means or convenience. Young ladies, or others who have time, and know how to execute the different kinds of fancy work, cannot pay a more delicate compliment to their friends than by presenting them with some pretty trifle of their own making.

Godey’s 1863

Jennie Juneiana: Talks on Women’s Topics by Jennie June (Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1864)

 A Family Santa Claus

Another method of disposing of Christmas presents for distribution is still more rare, and occasions and immense amount of fun. This is to improvise a family Santa Claus, which can be easily done by enveloping a large stout man in sheepskins, or any rough, shaggy covering, with a cap of the same material, from which fur tails should hand about his neck and ears. These must be ornamented with imitation icicles, which must also be suspended below his forehead, while patches of white cotton batting make on his habit a splendid imitation of snow. To the outside of his nondescript animal of gifts are attached, so that they glitter and rattle in the most imposing style whenever it steps, and, ushered into a well-lighted room, in the midst of the family circle, is invariably greeted with shouts, and acknowledged to be a veritable Santa Claus.

Godey’s 1864