Christmas Holiday Traditions

 Croxton Family Christmas Celebration-Rochelle FL 1892.

 Croxton Family Christmas Celebration-Rochelle FL-1892. N039069.

Christmas was a time to gather the family and enjoy the festivities of the season. The Croxton family above is shown gathering to enjoy a Christmas meal. Serenading was another country gathering tradition that evolved from European practices of noise making and firing of Christmas guns. Groups would walk from farm to farm ringing cow bells and banging on tin pans. The homes visited were expected to invite the noise makers in for small gifts, treats and entertainments.

Haya Parlor Decorated for Christmas, Tampa Fl. 1895

Haya Parlor Decorated for Christmas-Tampa FL-1895. RC05853. 

In the Haya Family Parlor that you see in the above photograph, you may notice all the wonderful presents that the Haya children received in their Hyde Park Home (Tampa, Fl.) in 1895. This year the Haya children received very nice presents such as two doll beds and a toy piano. When you look at the more rural areas of Florida, most gifts would have been hand made, with a rare store bought item gracing the tree or stocking.  In “A Foxfire Christmas” most rural Appalachian residents recall receive nothing more than fruit, cakes and nuts.  Christmas may mean one hand made toy, the only one the child would receive until next year. 

Pearsall Family Christmas Dinner-Melrose FL-1893

 Pearsall Family Christmas Dinner-Melrose FL-1893. RC18410.

In the above photograph is the Pearsall Family enjoying their Christmas dinner. On the table you see a small Christmas tree decorated with gifts and homemade decorations. It was very typical of a rural Florida household to use natural ornaments such as Florida holly, citrus fruit, palmetto fronds, and magnolia branches as well as homemade popcorn chains, and paper ornaments in their holiday decorations.