Learn from the Ghosts of Christmas Past ...

Friends, please accept these random flashbacks to Christmases in Lynn from times long past. Just like Christmastime for each of us, some are stressful and some sad, and hopefully many are joyous and delightful. Let generations of people from Lynn, Massachusetts tell you about their Christmas:

1863: The Civil War was affecting everyone; during the Christmas shopping season of 1869, parents were encouraged to buy their children such war-themed table games as “Conscript,” “Union,” “Rebellion,” “Fort Sumter,” and “Battlefield.” [See PROMISING CURES, Chapter 7 – Reconstructive Surgery]

1869: Baseball became especially popular after the war was over and was touted as a “healthy game” that “not only improves the health of young men, but … has a tendency to draw them away from the billiard-room, the grog-shop, and other places of questionable repute.” It was so popular, a game was gotten up on the ice at Flax Pond on Christmas day of 1869; the players wore skates and a large crowd gathered to watch the spectacle wherein “it was not at all difficult … to steal bases.” [See PROMISING CURES, Chapter 7 – Reconstructive Surgery]

1873: When the Panic of 1873 had begun to set in over Lynn, “the popular landlord of the Lynn Hotel” had gained his townsmen’s admiration for purchasing a turkey and other holiday feast groceries from the local provision store and having them delivered to a needy West Lynn family whom he had learned had nothing to eat on Christmas – it was a moment that would have brought a tear to the eye of Ebenezer Scrooge himself. [See PROMISING CURES, Chapter 8 – Heroine Addiction]

1879: Switchboard-controlled telephones were installed by 1879 in businesses like Davis Adams’ coal office on Shepard Street and Frank Lindsey’s variety store in Market Square. ­­­French’s new grocery store had successfully connected to the North Pole: “BY TELEPHONE … Santa Claus announces that he will visit our good city next Christmas Eve.” [See PROMISING CURES, Chapter 8 - Heroine Addiction]

1899: A feature column appearing in the Lynn Item in 1899 continued to put pressure on the American woman, even as its male author was trying to convey that she shouldn’t stress over preparing the Christmas dinner: 

The approaching Christmas dinner will be the first served by many an American housewife who may read this column. To her the meal is looked forward to with apprehension if not with dread. ...

Now, my young friend, let us build your Christmas dinner on simple lines, have a bill of fare that you know you are equal to preparing without too much fatigue, and let your easy grace and pleasing smile serve as a sauce. [I just love that line!] You should wish to please your guests, not to stuff them, to satisfy their appetites, not to overload their stomachs. A good soup, followed by fish, a roast and dessert is enough.

With such a dinner you may give plenty of time to a simple decoration of the table and the preparation of a few dainty salads and side dishes that will make the meal the equal of a banquet. … A handsome vase with appropriate flowers and a few sprays of vine on the cloth is enough in the flower line, for your glass and silver ware will complete the setting. …

So the well-intentioned author wanted the woman to relax and not stress, but nonetheless to decorate the table and make a lavish meal consisting of soup, fish, a roast, salad, side dishes and dessert ... Christmas dinner still sounded like a gift of stress wrapped in anxiety. [See Promising Cures, Chapter 10 – Exposing the Naked Truth]

2023: If you come to our house for Christmas, just plan on talking, laughing, and playing some table games ... and a good dessert – on paper plates.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! And may Santa Claus bring you more than just high-top shoes!