Bah-Humbug I tell you!

As the holiday season quickly approaches I feel a bit bah humbug-ish. Everywhere that I’ve been today people have politely told me to “have a Happy Thanksgiving.” I want to yell out, “What’s so happy about it?” Instead I give the old standby answer, “Thanks, you too.”

The winter holiday always get me down … or at the very least frustrated and angry, because I want my children to have a perfect holiday, but it never works that way. If it isn’t because they didn’t get the perfect gift then it is because I am so tense (as I seek that perfection) that I’m yelling at everyone. The cold, dark winter days bring on depression for me, and the holidays is just one more reminder of my illness.

You may be asking, “What in the world does this have to do with genealogy?”

I’m sitting here, at my desk wondering what the holidays were like for my ancestors. Did they worry about perfection? Where does my depression come from? Were they worried about the perfect gift, or did their children just take what they got and appreciate it? Did they spend holidays together, or were there too many squabbles to handle a holiday together? What was it like in the late 1800s, early 1900s.

I do know that my maternal grandmother’s family must have had it tough as there are several federal censuses that list them as living together. Their widowed father and adult children, doubled, tripled, and sometimes quadrupled up in the same home. They probably spent a lot of time together, especially holidays, but, were they prosperous holidays, or just another day!?

What was a celebration like? Was it traditional … or did they form their own traditions? Was Uncle so and so a happy holiday drunk, or did he start fights? What, exactly, was life like for them? Were they Scrooges?

Before the 1950s holidays weren’t quite so commercialized, but now … we have expectations. Back in the day, the holiday was what people made of it. What are you going to make of your holiday season?

I’ve left more questions than answers, but I wanted you to think about this when you are with your family over the holiday season, ask the elders about their early holiday lives.