At the turn of the nineteenth century, holidays were not a huge part in the American culture. They were celebrated but they were not seen as major component throughout the year. Christmas was probably effected the most at the turn of the century because with all of the technological advances taking place, new things were available to buy as Christmas presents.  People would buy the new things for Christmas just to have them, and everyone wanted them because they were the new and in things.

                The big changes to Christmas occurred when people started to buy Christmas presents out of the Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward. It was almost like people were continuing to do this because it was really the first time a catalog came into play and people took advantage of it. People were buying all types of things from teddy bears to a sheet music cabinet. The teddy bear became a really popular gift after a cartoon displayed Theodore Roosevelt save the life of a bear. Before everyone really got into the idea of buy from catalogs and buying gifts for people in general, they thought it wasn't celebrating Christmas in the right way. Personally I think that after people started buying presents for each other, people started to become closer. Buying a gift for someone really shows them that you cared enough to spend your money on them, which is something that people started to accept. People would buy all sorts of things as Christmas presents. The popular gifts included toy cars with rubber tires, woman’s corset, and boy’s worsted sweaters. Dodge and Chevrolet used this to their advantage and introduced themselves to the world. Popular kid’s toys included things like Lincoln logs and tinker toys. Along with the new idea of gifts came a new idea of Christmas.

                The whole idea of Christmas changed as well. Washington Irring wrote a book, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, which played a major role in introducing these ideas to the world.  The book itself had a sketch of a squire who had invited peasants into his house for the holidays, mainly referring to Christmas. Washington himself thought that Christmas should be a time where the lines between status, and ranking, should disappear. The book itself was not based off of any events or times in Washington’s life so they do not know where he got the idea from, but because he put it in the book and many people saw it, it began to be an image of Christmas in the heads of people during this time. Historians actually say that Washington was responsible for “inventing” this tradition by implying that the story was suppose to be the true customs of the season.

                After this happened people really began to fully accept Christmas and it was turned into a family centered holiday of peace. Peace would be considered an understatement in some cases. Before Washington really got to put his idea out into the world, Christmas was not celebrated like most people wanted it to be. Riots would usually take place during this season. Christmas riots were the reason that New York had to have its first police force in the city. Members of the upper class wanted to change the idea of Christmas, so they took it into their own hands. Later is when Washington stepped in and made the idea of a peaceful and heart-warming time come true, even without having a riot.

                Christmas was not the only holiday that changed at the turn of the century. Arbor Day was officially launched by J. Sterling Morton. The point of the day was to encourage people to plant trees on bare and possible torn-up land. Within twelve years, forty-four states had named Arbor Day as an official holiday, and 600 million trees had been planted on the land. New Year’s also became recognized as a major holiday during this time. People celebrated it during the day on January 1^st instead of the night before. As everyone knows, today, the night of is the time to celebrate and watch the ball drop but that was not a concept known to them yet. Lastly, Easter was being viewed as a major holiday at the turn of the century. During the civil war it was used as a day to mourn the ones that had dies in the war. After the civil war, it became a favorite holiday in the United States. In 1878, President Hayes had the first Easter egg hunt on the front lawn of the White House. People also used this day to dress up in bright, spring colors. Many of the holidays became more important at the turn of the century and they were used to bring people together and create peace between everyone.

                Yes, Christmas was the holiday that changed the most and became one of the most favorite holidays to everyone, but other holidays changed too. I think that every holiday did have one thing in common and that was that they brought everyone closer and made everyone forget about their social status or how much money they had for a day and celebrate a holiday that was loved by everyone as one. So I think Washington had it right when he said that the lines should disappear and every should celebrate together.

Boy's Worsted Sweater

Easter in the City 

Christmas Tree in a House

People planting trees on Arbor Day

Women's Corset 

Family Christmas in the 1900's 

This website gave me the background of Christmas and then also listed some things that people would buy for Christmas which was helpful.

Christmas History in America

This website was really helpful because it told me how Christmas was viewed before and after the Civil War and then it also talked a lot about Washington so that was really helpful. 

American History: A Survey by Alan Brinkley

The book was helpful because again it gave me the basic information that i needed to start my research.

The Fabulous Century, 1870-1900

This book was really helpful because it actually gave me more holidays than just Christmas and talked about how they changed at the turn of the century. 

American Culture History

This website talked about what clothes were popular at that time which was helpful because I could use that to see what people would be interested in at that time.