Christmas in the East and West
Those who have read At What Cost, Silence? may remember the scenes that took place at Blue Hills during Christmas. Adrien and Berni with help from Betta decorated the home with greens, and the family enjoyed a bountiful Christmas dinner.
There was no Christmas tree.
The Christmas tree tradition didn’t begin to become popular until the “London News” published an image of Queen Victoria and German Prince Albert and family gathering around a Christmas tree in 1848. Though the trees had been a tradition in German homes since the 16th century. The first record of a Christmas tree being displayed in an American home was in the 1830’s by German settlers, which may account for the fact that they began to appear in Texas earlier than most places in the west. They founded the towns of Bulverde, New Braunfels, Fredericksburg, Boerne, and Comfort in the Texas Hill Country, and Schulenburg, Walburg, and Weimar to the east. They decorated their trees with moss, dried fruit, pecans, red peppers, and whatever was handy.
As an aside, Adrien’s bed was German-made, and Texan (Texian as known then) well-to-do families likely owned at least as much local German furniture as they did English and French imports.
As Christmas trees caught on, other Americans began decorating trees with dried fruit, wrapped candy, cookies, nuts (plentiful pecans in Texas), and strands of popcorn and cranberries.
Christmas trees were first commercially sold in the United States around 1851, but it wasn’t until 1870 that President Grant made Christmas a national holiday. Before long commercial markets took advantage of the popularity of the Christmas tree, and around 1883, Sears, Roebuck & Company offered the first artificial Christmas tree. For more on the history and commercialization of Christmas and the tree, read here.
Maybe the Villere family will bring a tree into their home in the third book of The Texian Trilogy series, during Reconstruction.
The Texian Trilogy News
The second book in the series, War and Preservation, is being copyedited. I’m also in the process of preparing the book’s Tip Sheet. This is all the data about the book that will eventually be sent to retailers. It will also indicate where my novel can be found on Amazon, bookstores, library shelves, and the like.
Book Recommendations
I loved The Madstone by Elizabeth Crook. A fantastic tale with echoes of Lonesome Dove and News of the World, a riveting story of a pregnant young mother, her child, and the frontier tradesman who helps them flee across Texas from outlaws bent on revenge.
I’d love to hear what you like or don’t like here, and what would improve this newsletter.
Here’s wishing y’all the best of holidays . . .
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