19THCentury Christmas Engravings

Bringing in the Yule log





Christmas shopping





Chopping down the Christmas tree







1870's decorating the Christmas tree

Poinsettia Plants: A Christmas Classic

Dr. John Roberts Poinsett was an American ambassador to Mexico in the early part of the 19th century and he was very interested in native plants. In Mexico there was a plant called "The Flower of the Holy Night" that was considered a homage to the nativity.

When Pointsett returned to his native South Carolina he brought some of the plants with him. He grew several plants and they became a popular Christmas decoration. Because he was the person that introduced the plant and made it popular, Poinsettias were named after him.

In warm climates the plant can grow in the soil and in cooler areas it is grown in greenhouses, in time for the Christmas season. The red petals of the plant are not flowers, the yellow centers are the actual flower. The red and green parts are just the leaves of the plants.

The plant has been a popular subject for greeting cards for years and these are some examples.

Saint Nicholas was a bishop in Asia Minor, he lived in the 4th century. There is a story about the bishop who knew of a man who was going to sell his daughters into slavery because he was unable to afford to dower them into marriage. So Saint Nicholas gave each of the girls gifts of gold coins when it came their time to marry.

But Saint Nicholas didn't want any credit for his good deed so he threw the gold into the house. One legend is that he threw it down the chimney and it dropped onto a stocking that was drying on the mantel. This is 1 story behind the reason children still hang stockings up on Christmas Eve.