The FReeper Foxhole Remembers "Ought it not be a Merry Christmas?" - Dec. 25th, 2005

City of Alexandria / Fort Ward Museum ^

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

.................................................................. .................... ...........................................

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"Ought it not be a Merry Christmas? "
Holiday observances during the American Civil War

Click the flag



Lonely camp scene from an 1862 Harper's Weekly entitled "Christmas Eve".

Even with all the sorrow that hangs, and will forever hang, over so many households; even while war still rages; even while there are serious questions yet to be settled - ought it not to be, and is it not, a merry Christmas?"
Harper's Weekly, December 26, 1863

Introduction



Harper's Weekly depicts a family separated by war in its January 3,1863 edition.

For a nation torn by civil war, Christmas in the 1860s was observed with conflicting emotions. Nineteenth-century Americans embraced Christmas with all the Victorian trappings that had moved the holiday from the private and religious realm to a public celebration. Christmas cards were in vogue, carol singing was common in public venues, and greenery festooned communities north and south. Christmas trees stood in places of honor in many homes, and a mirthful poem about the jolly old elf who delivered toys to well-behaved children captivated Americans on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line.

But Christmas also made the heartache for lost loved ones more acute. As the Civil War dragged on, deprivation replaced bounteous repasts and familiar faces were missing from the family dinner table. Soldiers used to "bringing in the tree" and caroling in church were instead scavenging for firewood and singing drinking songs around the campfire. And so the holiday celebration most associated with family and home was a contradiction. It was a joyful, sad, religious, boisterous, and subdued event.

Before the war



"The Christmas Tree" by F. A. Chapman.

Many of the holiday customs we associate with Christmas today were familiar to 1840s celebrants. Christmas cards were popularized that decade and Christmas trees were a stylish addition to the parlor. By the 1850s, Americans were singing "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem," and "Away in a Manger" in public settings. In 1850 and 1860, Godey's Lady's Book featured Queen Victoria's tabletop Christmas tree, placed there by her German husband Prince Albert. Closer to home, in December, 1853, Robert E. Lee's daughter recorded in her diary that her father - then superintendent at West Point - possessed an evergreen tree decorated with dried and sugared fruit, popcorn, ribbon, spun glass ornaments, and silver foil.

Clement Clarke Moore, a religious scholar who for decades was too embarrassed to claim authorship of the 1822 poem, "A Visit From St. Nicholas," was now well-known for his tribute to Santa Claus. "Santa Claus" made his first public appearance in a Philadelphia department store in 1849, marking the advent of holiday commercialism.

For enslaved African Americans, the Christmas season often meant a mighty bustle of cooking, housekeeping, and other chores. "Reward" for these efforts was a suspension of duties for a day or two and the opportunity for singing, dancing, and possible brief reunions with separated family members. Further gestures of "goodwill" by masters who saw themselves as benevolent owners were small and the semi-annual clothing allotment.

By 1860, many worried about civil unrest, fearful this Christmas would be the last before the outbreak of war. An Arkansas diarist writes:

"Christmas has come around in the circle of time, but is not a day of rejoicing. Some of the usual ceremonies are going on, but there is gloom on the thoughts and countenances of all the better portion of our people."

[Valin]

Hmmmm? Could this be part of a giant Zionist PLOT?
You know how sneeky they can be.

[Soaring Feather]

Brave woman, shopping day after Christmas.

Not me, without mail and armor on.

I did have a wonderful Christmas, we always celebrate on the Eve. My family does the in-law thing on Christmas Day.



Bittygirl's pictures with the dolls is priceless. She has stolen my heart.

[Peanut Gallery]

Hehe, she stole mine too. I meant for her to be clothed in the pictures, but she had just eaten a quite messy plate of turkey, stuffing with gravy, and broccoli and rice cassarole. She was in-between-dresses when the picture was taken. LOL!

[Peanut Gallery]

Haha! you know, it's also hannukah... On Christmas Eve I got karateboy in the car, ready to go home from my Uncle Felton's house, and he wised me a Merry Christmas, then he says, "Happy Hannukah mom!" I did a double take. Then he asked, "Can we celebrate Hannukah too?"

[Peanut Gallery]

wised=wished

That dang spell check doesn't work

[The Mayor]

December 26, 2005

Love Needs Expression

Read:
Matthew 22:34-40

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. —Leviticus 19:18

Bible In One Year: Revelation 4-6

Somehow the command to love doesn't get through to us. We may confess that we lack a strong faith, but seldom do we admit that we are deficient in love. Perhaps we feel we're as loving as the next person, and maybe a little bit more.

After all, we're sensitive to the hurts of other people. Our hearts go out to battered wives and abused children when we read about them in the newspaper. We shift uneasily in front of our TVs when we see little children sobbing with hunger or sitting in silent despair beyond crying.

But deep inside we know that genuine caring reaches beyond feelings to action. Caring, like steam or electricity, isn't worth much unless something happens as a result of it. Love without deeds is useless, just as talent not demonstrated in creative ways is wasted. Both must be expressed or they are no better than a myth.

Because we can't do everything, we often don't do anything. If you want to be a loving person, don't start by taking on the needs of the whole world. Start with caring about one person and build from there.

You can't do everything, but you can do something. What you can do, you should do. Today, determine that in the power and grace of God you will do it. —Haddon Robinson

Let us be Christ's true disciples,
Looking to another's need,
Making stony pathways smoother
By a gentle word or deed. —Thorson

In a world that couldn't care less, we are to be people who couldn't care more.

FOR FURTHER STUDY
What Is Real Love?

[alfa6]

1943 The 32,000-ton German battleship Scharnhorst sank off Norway following an Allied attack led by the British battleship Duke of York. Only 36 of the 1,900 crew survived.

Hmmmm, something about the Scharnhorst being a battleship didn't sound right so I did a little digging. What i found is as follows.

The Graf Spee class of Pocket Battleships had the following specs: Standard Dispalcement about 14,000 metric tons depending on the ship. Armament Main 6x11" guns,Secondary 8x 5.9" guns. Armor 80mm belt 40 mm deck.

The Scharnhorst clas of Battleships? had the following specs: Standard Displacement 31,500 metric tons, Armament Main 9x11.1" guns Secondary 12x5.9" guns Armor 320mm over 70% tapering to 170mm Belt 150mm armored deck.

The Bismark class had the following specs: Standard Dipslacement 41,700 metric tons, Armament Main 8x15" guns Secondary 12x5.9" Armor 320mm belt 120mm armored deck

From the basic spec it appears the the Scharnhorst class has the armor of a BB but the gun power of a very heavy cruiser. 11" guns just are not going to cut it if you have to get into a slugging match with opposing BB's.

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[alfa6]

That's a great pic of the bittygirl

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[Professional Engineer]

1865 James H Mason (Massachusetts) patents 1st US coffee percolator

What did Darksheare know, and when did he know it?

[Professional Engineer]

Africa(?), US : Kwanzaa (1966)

Happy Festivus to you as well

Fiiiiive gooooldeeeen tukes.
Four pounds of back bacon
Three french toast
Two turtle necks

And

A beer,
in a tree.

[Professional Engineer]

Hi miss Feather.

Decisions, decisions. Philco or Elecraft?

Sorry Phil.

[snippy_about_it]

Merry Christmas Dave.

[snippy_about_it]

Merry Christmas Reaganwuzthebest.

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks for the music feather.

[snippy_about_it]

Spiderboy watches the lamp after eating the brownies.

lol.

The kids are just adorable. Love the tagline, too. Has Darksheare seen it?

[snippy_about_it]

Hope you had a relaxing and Merry Christmas Valin.

[snippy_about_it]

Our largest thrush (approximately 10 inches in length), the American Robin is found throughout North America, from extreme northern Canada and as far south as Guatemala. This common and well-known bird is noted for its habit of feeding in lawns where it finds earthworms (by sight, not sound), and for its cheery voice. Robins are often one of the first birds to sing in the morning, singing long choruses of rhythmic paired phrases of two or three syllables that alternately rise and fall in pitch. The dawn singing is reprised at dusk and occasionally throughout the day. Once breeding season is over, the sweet-singing and familiar robin of our backyards becomes more furtive and shy. Large nomadic flocks form and range over the countryside in search of berries such as mulberry, sumac, grape, viburnum, and cedar, as they shift from their breeding season diet of insects and earthworms to become wholly vegetarian. By September, many are moving south from the northern parts of the eastern half of the country to winter with southern residents in the Middle Atlantic and Gulf states. In the West, Robins wander broadly in search of food and move generally to areas of lower altitude. But some linger as far north as Canada when food supplies are adequate, so the first robin you see in spring may not have come from too far away.

[snippy_about_it]

Those bears look so sweet.

[Colonel_Flagg]

Didn't see the thread until just now .. Merry Christmas to you both! I hope this finds you well!

[snippy_about_it]

Merry Christmas Colonel.