A Victorian Christmas

For Real!!!!

This is a family photo.

My Mother grew up in a big old victorian house in Highland Park, Illinois,

just outside Chicago.

The home she grew up in, had been in the family for generations.

This photo was of the Christmas tree in the living room of that home a long, long time ago.

I don't know what year this was. 

It was before my Mother's time.

She was born in 1939 and her Mother grew up in this house.
You'll notice no lights on the tree so it's before electricity.

I spent one Christmas in this room about 1965 or 66.

That wallpaper was not there or that sofa but I know those little tables were still in the house.

And that little bit of a windsor rocker that you see in the bottom right sits in

my Mother's living room today.

I am sure there are ornaments on this tree that were on our tree as children.

Ornaments my Mom has now.

See the neck ties hung on the tree and the slippers underneath and opened boxes?

This must have been taken Christmas morning.

You can't see it in this photo but I'm sure its there...

the victorian tree stand that we used every year for our tree.

Something similar to this.

No place for water for a real tree.

But we always did a faux one.

Still it was so hard to get the tree straight in it.

One person to hold the tree and one person to screw the screws into the tree.

Mom and Dad handled that,

While I said...."No this way....no it's still leaning...no a little more that way".

That stand made it so difficult...but we all loved the stand and it just was not Christmas

unless it held the tree.

We never put a tree skirt over it.

We loved it so much we set it on top of the skirt to show it off.

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