A Century of Christmas Memories, 1900-1999

by Peter Pauper Press

Make a cup of tea, curl up by the fire, and take a nostalgic journey to Christmases past with this merry little Keepsake book! A Century of Christmas Memories celebrates 100 years of seasonal firsts and favorites decade by decade, from the 1900s through the 1990s, including movies, songs, events, traditions, toys, and games . . . from the first electric tree lights, first Macy's parade, Bob Hope's USO shows, Bing Crosby's Christmas Special, and It's a Wonderful Life to Etch-A-Sketch, Mr. Potato Head, Cabbage Patch Dolls, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Includes summaries of each decade and listings of firsts and favorites year by year. Packed with historic photographs and illustrations, many rarely seen, including magazine covers, Christmas cards, news photos, movie and TV scenes, and more. Get a glimpse of what Christmas was like when you, your parents, or grandparents were born! 128 warm and fuzzy-filled pages. Full-color, hardcover book with dust jacket. ''From/To'' gift dedication page. 6-1/4'' square.

Genres: Christmas, Nonfiction, History, Holiday

128 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2009

About the author

Peter Pauper Press, founded in 1928, is one of America’s leading publishers of fine gift books, humor books, compact references, travel guides, unique journals, quality stationery, holiday cards, and innovative children’s activity books.

Reviews

[Lorraine]

Memories! Peter Pauper Press’ A Century of Christmas Memories: 1900-1999 enables the reader to reminisce about the Christmas gifts she/he may have received during the 20th C. or learn how and when gifts or items came into being as well as how these items changed throughout the 20th C. I wish this book had been more thorough, but that is not what Peter Pauper Press is about. I did enjoy this small square book. It would make a great stocking stuffer!
3 stars.

[Fred Shaw]

Fantastic nostalgic read. Brought back some wonderful childhood memories. Highly recommended.

[Ann]

Small book with lots of trivia and nostalgic pictures.

[Leslie Goddard]

This very brief book only took me about 1.5 hours to read. In some ways, it’s a lot of fun. It consists mostly of bullet-pointed lists of a few highlights from each year. Some of these are directly related to Christmas (the years of introduction of things like bubble lights, White Christmas, aluminum trees, and Tickle Me Elmo). Others are more of a stretch — just notable things that happened to happen that particular year.

Mostly, though, it just left me wanting to learn more. You aren’t going to learn much about why or how aluminum trees were invented, what makes a bubble light bubble, or what exactly drove the Tickle Me Elmo craze. Some might find this book’s ultra light approach fun; but most, I’m guessing, will be left just wanting something meatier.

[Debi]

Full of interesting little Christmas trivia. Could have used more.

[Pam]

This was a fast fun Christmas read! It gives the highlights of Christmas of each year from 1900 to 1999. Depending on the reader's age they will remember alot of what it tells either because they lived it or they were told by relatives. Some of the things in years I should know about were unfamiliar to me and there were things I learned and things I evidently forgot.
All in all it was a good read and I'm having everyone in my family go through it - for the youngest ones it's a quick brief history lesson.

[Roberta]

I read this in one day. It is a nice compilation of Christmas-related events, music, books, movies, fads, etc. from 1900-1999. The 50's-70's were of particular interest to me. This book touches on everything from how some Christmas traditions began to war protests and everything in between. It is brief, but covers a lot of territory. I'm off to a good start for this year's holiday reading.

[Darla Stonehouse]

Good, quick compilation of Christmas nastalgia. Brought back some memories and I learned some new things too.

[Jason Pierce]

Just a short book showing what was going on at Christmastime each year from 1900-1999, about a year per page, give or take. It reviews songs, radio shows, movies, TV shows, etc. that came out that year as well as what the biggest toys were (if there was a craze). It also covers events that happened in December even if they weren't Christmasy though they're now associated with Christmas if you lived through it. E.G.: The Berlin wall coming down in December of 1989. And do y'all remember when Chelsea Clinton was the Favorite Aunt in Washington DC's production of The Nutcracker in 1996?



Neither did I, and I wish it had stayed that way.


"DC, your dancers. Woof!"

Yeah, Home Alone was mentioned too.

I especially enjoyed the section on the 1980s since I'm a 1978 model and pretty much a child of the 80s. I still think my favorite Christmas gift was Megatron in 1984, and the Transformers franchise was mentioned... not that any of you asked.



Times were different back then. A kid could play with a realistic looking toy gun without anyone thinking he was going to run around shooting up the hood with the real thing, and he didn't have to worry about his ass getting capped by the popo. Hell, I took that thing to school all the time, played with it while waiting for the bus, and nary an adult batted an eye. I still have him, but he's missing an arm and a leg now. (He was well played with for years.) And do you realize that if we had just gotten a second one of these, kept it in the box, and kept the box in perfect shape, it would be worth over $5,000? It retailed for $20. That's a 24,900% increase in value... Coulda, shoulda, woulda.

By reading this book I can appreciate how good I had it at Christmastime as a tyke. Kids during the depression didn't get jack, and they got even less during the war years. (WWII, that is.) The kids getting spoiled with toys thing really started happening in the 1950s for multiple reasons. I'll mention just one toy since I was so titillated by the accompanying picture. The big seller for 1958 was WHAM-O's Hula Hoop.



I've made questionable choices in outfits before, and I'm no expert on fashion, but swinging a Hula Hoop while wearing a one-piece bathing suit and a pair of pumps in the middle of a well-manicured field... I don't know. This picture has to have come from a Playboy spread, or something. Still, it's no wonder Alvin and the Chipmunks wanted one for Christmas.

This was a fun, informative read, so check it out if you've an interest in Christmas history lite.

[tony dillard jr]

This was a charming little book about the evolution of Christmas in the 20th century. In 1900, there were no such thing as electric string lights or even Christmas cards. By 1999, inflatable yard decorations and electronic skyping of holiday greetings were the new norm.

I learned a lot about Christmas and other holiday traditions here. From things like how the earliest Thanksgiving Day parades had live animals walking in formation down the streets to how soldiers during World War I exchanged holiday pin-up postcards to each other.

Why is there a Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center? How did It's a Wonderful Life become an annual tradition on TV? What is the only Christmas song to be the #1 song on the Billboard charts on December 25th? All those questions and more are answers in this digest sized fact book.

I love to read such a book every year. You'd think by now these things would start getting monotonous. Yet this one was full of a lot of details that I had always wondered about yet I never seem to have gotten the answers to!

[Jennifer]

A fun, quick read at Christmas time. Brings back memories of Christmas past and you'll learn some new things about Christmas. I wonder what this centuries Christmas Memories will be?

[Ray Palen]

Christmas is a time for looking backward and reliving the traditions that not only we ourselves grew up with but also the memories made by families since 1900. Essential annual Christmas reading!

[Bryan]

Too general -- had hoped for more direct relation to Xmas.

[Ashley]

As the decades go on, the book contains more and more seasonal facts that aren't necessarily related to Christmas.

[Cathy]

A cute little look back of Christmas Memories for a century--1990-1999. I remember some of these things but not all. It was so fun to reminisce.

[Deann Doolittle]

Cute! Wish it was longer!

[Doris Ware]

Good book

[David]

Nice book

I bought this and finished it in three hours.
A wonderful look back at Christmases through the last century!
I would recommend this to anyone needing a reminder of what made their Christmas so wonderful.