For various reasons that I might have the courage to write about next year, this is shaping up to be the worst Christmas ever for me. So naturally I’ve been tapping into memories of more innocent Christmas seasons. If your late December could also use a pick-me-up, or if you just enjoy retro style, join me in this look at one specific holiday season, 1959.
Because I was not quite four years old that year, my memories are a little thin, but I imagine it being a very happy time for my family and me. My dad, a pretty sappy guy at Christmas, used his limited artistic talent to build lots of yard decorations and silk-screen homemade Christmas cards. Here are several family photos from that 1959 Christmas, the front and inside of our family cards, a picture of our house, and a close-up of some of the wooden elves my dad had skating back and forth on a mechanical track.
Click on any image to get a larger version.
The rest of the images in this column are from a 1959 special Christmas edition of Better Homes and Gardens magazine.
It seems that everyone had more time in 1959 than today — most of the articles are about how to make things. I do remember many Christmas seasons spent making ornaments, and even a couple of gifts, but I don’t recall them being nearly as clever as some of the ideas presented by Better Homes and Gardens. Here are the results of craftwork using ribbons, spools, and egg cartons. I still see ribbons and egg cartons, but when was the last time you had spare spools sitting around?
And who would have thought you could make such beautiful things as these from toothpicks, yarn, and cotton swabs? Our craft projects consisted mostly of things you could make with Sweetheart soap bars, nylon netting, and hatpins.
If you were so inclined, you could even use old dog dishes and tin cans to make stunning centerpieces and children’s toys.
In 1959, two areas of the home deserved special Christmas decorations. The first, if you were lucky enough to have one, was the fireplace, decked with stockings and evergreen branches. My mother was too paranoid of fire to ever light a candle, so we didn’t have any of those dangerous devices on our mantle.
The second-most important canvas for Christmas spirit was the front door.
While we always had a normal green Christmas tree, the ’50s were a wild time for tree styles. Not only were colored tress in vogue, but it was also the era of flocking, which you could easily do at home with your vacuum cleaner and a flocking kit.
My grandmother had an aluminum tree, which is the style I prefer today. Nothing says the ’50s like an aluminum tree with a color wheel shining on it.
And under all those trees were well-wrapped and decorated packages, at least for those crafty types reading Better Homes and Gardens.
My dad wasn’t alone in his outdoor-decorating habit. Back then you had to make your own outdoor decorations — there weren’t any inflatable snowglobes to buy at Walmart.
And of course, the holidays have always been a time of entertainment, so you want to make the entire house look festive.
But for many, and especially in my childhood home, the holidays were about eating as much as possible. Except the food in my house didn’t look as good as this.
I sincerely hope you and your close ones have a terrific holiday season, and I ask for patience from those who don’t celebrate Christmas. Next year I’ll look back at different holiday celebrations.
If you remember Christmas 1959 or any other Christmases past, please share your stories by clicking on the Comment button below.
This article was last modified on May 18, 2023
This article was first published on December 19, 2008
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