The commercialism of Christmas overwhelms me! We’re bombarded with flyers, Christmas music 24/7, mall traffic and shelves lined with environmentally-unfriendly toys and decorations, sometimes as early as the day after Hallowe’en! How I long for simpler times, without all the hustle and bustle and stress! Join me as we time travel to years gone by to celebrate an old-fashioned Christmas in the homes, schools and businesses of former North Shore residents!
Let’s start with the tree! Many times, especially in the early 20th century, trees were sourced locally. For early North Shore pioneers, this would have meant bundling up, donning their sharpest axe and trekking into the forest to cut their own special tree. For sure, this would have been the case for Don and Phyllis Munday, the famous North Vancouver mountaineering couple, who had the world’s best selection of trees literally at their doorstep on Dam Plateau at the top of Grouse Mountain!
Our Christmas Tree at Munday’s cabin on Grouse Mountain Plateau, 25 December 1923. Inventory #5685HH. Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.
And the decorations were often homemade – simple paper chains, popcorn or bead strands, oranges or lemons and paper cones containing nuts.
Etta Wardlaw on Tricycle. Taken in living quarters behind Jack Wardlaw’s Photo Studio. December ca. 1926. Inventory #3449. Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.
Tinsel is one exception to the home-made tradition! Although tinsel (originally made of silver) was invented in Germany in the 17th century, it became prevalent in North America in the early 1900’s, when manufacturers found that they could use copper and aluminum with the same effect but at a much lower cost. But aluminum was combustible (not great when combined with real candle lights!) and with the advent of WWI, copper was needed for the war effort and tinsel disappeared from the Christmas tradition…until it made a raging comeback in the 1950’s/1960’s with the advent of…wait for it… lead-based tinsel…yikes! I grew up in the 1960’s and our tree was no exception to this tinsel trend. What I remember most though was the annual “discussion” between my parents about “tinsel best practices”! My dad practiced the single-strand-draping technique (read: time consuming but great for a type A person like my dad) while my mother felt it was more efficient to put clumps of the stuff on the tree (so she could go and make the rest of Christmas “happen” as was expected of a 1960’s housewife!). From the photos below, it seems that Bob Lewis (of post and beam construction fame) subscribed to the single strand technique!
Tree in the Bob Lewis Family home at 1124 Eyremont Drive in West Vancouver circa 1965-1968. From left to right: Maureen (Peter Lewis’ wife), Sherry, Evelyn and Bob Lewis. Photo courtesy of the Lewis family.
Cash family Christmas, 195-?, Inventory #14509. Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.
Christmas Tree in Grouse Mountain Chalet, 27 December 1929. Inventory #7238. Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.
North Star School, 1938. Inventory #5272. Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.
Blown Glass baubles were another type of tree decoration that originated in Germany, in the town of Lauscha. Germany had a hold on the market until WWII stopped the flow of goods from Germany in 1939. This prompted the Corning Glass company in the USA to pivot from light bulbs to glass Christmas ornaments, quickly producing 2000 ornaments/minute to satisfy the demand of the North American market. However, the US version was initially more simplistic and less colourful than their German counterparts since metal materials used for decorating the balls were being used for the war effort. As well, cardboard caps at the top of the ball replaced metal caps. Post WWII, the original glass balls from Europe were once again imported, but this time, with fancier designs including indentations.
Christmas Tree inside log house (Scott’s Ranch), Pipeline Road (now Mountain Highway), December 1945. Inventory #5154. Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.
Now let’s turn to what was likely to be under the tree in the good old days! Unlike today, when children receive a ridiculous number of gifts, most children of the past, received only one or two special gifts. This was likely because times were tough in the early 20th century with the Depression and two World Wars so parents had to scrimp and save to buy presents, or the materials to make gifts, for their kids. There was also less international trade at the time, limiting gifts to those that were locally sourced. It seems, based on the photos below, that a typical gift might be a bike, doll, rocking chair, toy car, wagon, or new shoes.
Cash brothers at Christmas, 195-? Inventory #14342. Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.
Ken Harrison sitting beside a decorated Christmas tree in the front room of 1510 Jefferson Avenue opening presents on Christmas morning, December 25, 1944. 0799.WVA.HAR. Courtesy of West Vancouver Archives.
Derek, Brian and David Cash, 25 December [ca. 1949]. Inventory #10442. Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.
Finally, celebrations were the biggest part of the holiday season. School concerts, work dinners, family dinners, roaring fires and evidently, for the Maginnis family, silly hats, perhaps inspired by the British Christmas cracker tradition.
Maginnis Family, 25 December 1908. Inventory #5565. Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.
June Gillrie sitting by a fire in Hutchings' cabin at Christmas time on Hollyburn Ridge. Inventory #WVA.HHS.GIL. Courtesy of West Vancouver Archives.
Our Christmas Dinner, Mundays' cabin on Grouse Mountain Plateau just 10 days after they had moved in! 25 December 1923. Inventory #5685-61-II. Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.
Christmas Dinner with Santa, Burrard Dry Dock. Christmas, 19--. Inventory #27-956 Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.
Burrard View School Christmas Concert in the Deep Cove Dance Hall. L to R: Irene Petersen, Maureen Murdoch, Arleen Stephenson, Gerald Wilson, Clara Whitten, ? . December 1946. Inventory # 12703. Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives.
Even Rusty the Dog got to enjoy his own special Christmas dinner of leftover turkey!
Rusty’s Christmas dinner, 1940’s. Inventory #16196. Courtesy of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives
We hope you have enjoyed this blast from the past!
Wishing you a holiday of peace, joy, warmth, goodwill and sentimentality!
If you have any treasured Christmas memories or photos, please feel free to email them to us at info@northshoreheritage.net. Who knows, if we get enough, we might do a follow up blog next year with all of your contributions!
Except where indicated, text and images Copyright @ North Shore Heritage and Jennifer Clay. All rights reserved. Republication in whole or in part is prohibited without the written consent of the copyright holder.
Big shout out to Georgia Twiss of MONOVA/North Vancouver Archives and Reto Tschan of the West Vancouver Archives for helping me to gather these photos!
References
The History of Glass Ornaments - Lee & Cates Glass (leeandcatesglass.com)
Why do we have Christmas crackers and where do they come from? | Metro News