L. Frank Baum's Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

By | July 20th, 2021|Categories: Christmas, Entertainment, Holidays, Victorian Era, Victorian Era Celebrations|Tags: , , |

Did you know that Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum wrote an entire novel on the life and times of Santa Claus? I had never heard this before and came across a reference to it while doing some online research on the history of Mother Goose. The novel, The Life and Adventures of Santa [...]

Thomas Nast and Santa Claus

By | December 6th, 2017|Categories: Christmas, Holidays, Victorian Era, Victorian Era Celebrations|Tags: , , |

When Thomas Nast (1840-1902) died, he was eulogized as the “Father of American Political Cartoon” by the New York Times. He spent thirty years between 1857 and 1887 as an illustrator and cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly. But, political cartoons were not his only claim to fame. A more lasting legacy that touches us all still [...]

Christmas and the Victorian Era: 5 More Interesting Observations

By | December 10th, 2016|Categories: Uncategorized, Victorian Era, Victorian Era Celebrations|Tags: , , , , , , |

Looking into the Victorians and how they influenced our modern Christmas celebration was so much fun that stopping at five was just not possible! So, here are five more interesting observations. The first of our observations is that the singing of Christmas carols was revived and popularized during the Victorian era. Old words were paired [...]