Christmas in Kansas

A Kansas Portrait

In 1936, writer Jennie Small Owen gathered information on the Christmas traditions of prominent Kansans of the day. Responses varied but common themes in all of the replies were gatherings of family, friends, and feasting.

William Allen White, editor of the Emporia Gazette, wrote a brief reply and indicated that the White family's celebration did not "differ from the Christmas in any other house in town; a turkey or a goose for dinner in the evening and some friends, Santa Claus in the morning."

Will Beck of Holton described family gatherings that had taken place for 60 years. All the members of the family came home, if at all possible. Gifts were placed on and around the "old square piano" in the parlor and they were opened on Christmas Eve.

Charles M. Sheldon, a Congregational minister and writer, described a typical holiday. "Christmas with us is always a family home day. At the breakfast table we read the story of Christ's birth as told in my own 'Everyday Bible.' Dinner is a family custom often with some invited guests who are alone or without friends near. We have the usual things to eat including homemade mince pie made by Mother. After dinner I usually read a Christmas story, and have one of my own to read this time. We spend the day quietly looking over Christmas cards and talking about the friends who have sent them. We have stopped giving things to the grown ups, and don't expect any from others. But if we can find a college girl or boy who is having hard sledding we try to do something for them. We thus save all the worry that so many people have over Christmas gifts."

The account by Myra Williams Jarrell applies, perhaps, more closely to present Christmas celebrations though it also reflects the less tangible "feeling" of Christmas. She wrote that "the Jarrell family Christmas probably differs little from that of others in that the spirit of season is paramount to common sense; which translated means that we go berserk in the matter of buying gifts we can't afford, getting out from under one year's burden of debt in time to assume other debts that will keep us jumping for another twelve months. Even that, however, is powerless to dim the joyousness of the occasion, especially, as happens this Christmas, the children are all at home."

Mrs. Jarrell said she believed that "stuffing" in the turkey ruined it for leftovers and provided her recipe for dressing that was to be baked separately. "But-important as the Christmas dinner is-I sadly fear that even the spiritual man would not be satisfied merely with gifts and good fellowship-the best part of Christmas is intangible. It is in sitting before an open fire, longing to begin one of the new Christmas-gift books, yet not wanting to lose one precious moment of the companionship of those who have, as children before the day was over, squabbled under the shadow of the very tree so inspiring in the early dawn; who now, as adults, are perhaps discussing the deep things of Me and politics and philosophy. It is the warm, secret thought-'This day, at least, is mine.'"

Franklin G. Adams served as the director of the Kansas Historical Society from 1876 to 1899. In addition, he was a family oriented person and his daughter Harriet described an 1870s Christmas she remember from her childhood:

"The Christmas which made the first lasting impression upon my mind, I think, must have been the one following my seventh birthday. I remember so distinctly the air of expectancy and secrecy, which invaded the household. Sister Zu was quite active in fostering the spirit. She was an able entertainer, and furnished the stimulation necessary to make the approach of Christmas a very exciting event. Among our books was a volume of selected poems, some of which were illustrated. Zu often read to us from this, and before that Christmas this invaluable collection must have been consulted again and again, for between its covers, somewhere in the middle, was a fascinating picture of a jolly, white-bearded old man with a sleigh and reindeer, and oh! the undescribable delight of that little group as Zu read, Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Then too, the moon and the weather must have fitted in more perfectly to the description, The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow, gave the luster of midnight to the objects below. For, after dark I would peep out of the window, or out of the door to consider anxiously whether all conditions were favorable, the glistening expanse of snow deep enough to support that wondrous reindeer-drawn sleigh.

"Then as Christmas Eve approached I was filled with anxious questioning as to how St. Nick could get into our house, to fill our waiting stockings. There was no chimney down which he could slide safely; in fact I finally decided that it was an absolute impossibility for him to fit into the house through any chimney it possessed. My concern on this matter finally reached such a pitch that I took it up with Mother, I told her my fears, and she said he would most certainly be able to leave his gifts, for when no large chimney was provided, the parents would leave the door open a crack at least, so he could push his way in with no difficulty whatever. This was a most reasonable solution of the difficulty, and I was fully satisfied, and later events proved that my faith in her explanation was justified.

"No Christmas is ever quite complete without a tree and candles, and we little folk saw all the preparation of the tree. We were living but a short distance from the Little Blue River, and on the bluff nearest our home was a scattering growth of cedars. Father took us with him as he carried an axe and selected the tree, which he cut, and big brother helped carry it home. Then Father set it up securely in the center of the living room and found a piece of tin and made the candle holders, and fastened them to the tree. When that much was accomplished, it was time for the little folk to get to bed, for under no consideration would it be good form for any of the children to be awake when Santa would arrive.

"Christmas morning we were awake early, but it was an inviolate rule that the tree could not be seen until after breakfast was eaten. So we hurried through a perfunctory meal, then lined up outside the living room door, the least child ready to lead the grand march, while Father and Mother went in to remove the sheet with which it had been necessary to cover the tree to protect it from prying eyes, and to light the candles.

"When the door was opened we marched in and clear around the tree, taking in the beauty of the candles, and the tree festooned with strings of cranberries and popcorn and gay colored ribbons, while we looked for the gifts hidden in the branches and protruding from our stockings. Then there was the most delightful odor of scorching cedar, and Father would keep walking around and around the tree smothering every smoking stem and keeping the candles burning safely, while he and Mother distributed the gifts which Santa Clause had brought.

"I was blissfully happy, and I am sure my little brother George was too. There was nothing lacking to make it a perfect Christmas. I have long since forgotten what toys that magic tree bore, except one thing, and that was a Noah's Ark. To this day when Christmas shopping and I see a Noah's Ark among the other toys, I can picture two small children, a little girl and a smaller, sturdy little boy, side by side as they arranged twigs from the Christmas Cedar into rows or groups of trees and placed amongst them the animals which Noah had saved from extinction.

"In children the sense of comparative values is largely undeveloped, and I doubt very much if children of the present day, with the profusion of toys now attainable, derive any more joy from their expensive array than did we, with the less expensive and simpler ones which Santa Claus gave us."

These childhood Christmas memories were written by Dr. Harriet E. Adams in the 1920s. They are part of the Lilla Day Monroe Collection of Pioneer Stories and this excerpt was used by Joanna L. Stratton in her book Pioneer Women: Voices from the Kansas Frontier.

In spite of the hardships inherent in settling the frontier, people living in territorial Kansas celebrated Christmas. While the surroundings were not as elegant as those depicted in the popular illustrated magazine Harper's Weekly, in the late 1850s, the basic elements of the celebration-a Christmas tree, social events with family and friends, special church and school programs, and religious services-were part of Christmas in Kansas Territory.

Reminiscing about her childhood in Kansas, Mary Rarick Rouse wrote, "We knew the Christmas story well and the boy Jesus whose birthday it was. As for gifts, if we ever had any, they were homemade. No toys to buy if we wanted them, and nothing to buy with. Our stocking was always hung up, faith of childhood for Santa, an apple or popcorn ball or wooden doll or rag one, all homemade. We always found something and how happy we were."

If nothing else, Christmas was a day on which the daily routine was put aside. Mrs. S. B. White came to Kansas from Ohio with her husband Stephen in 1854. They settled near Junction City and she wrote about her Christmas dinner in 1855. Her husband and a friend named Mr. Lincoln wanted to fix Christmas dinner and Mrs. White agreed to let them try their hands at it. The chickens they used had been found at an abandoned claim. Mrs. White described their efforts, "The boys prepared the fowls, made their dough for the crust, and began filling in their pie. After the fowls were in, Mr. White said tomatoes would be good in it. I had dried ones, and they put in a plentiful supply. Then Lincoln said sugar is good in anything, so in went a large cup of sugar. The pie was baked in the big Dutch oven, dished and put on the table and eaten. I surprised the two fellows, casting glances at each other as they ate, but I said nothing and ate as if it had been a dish to set before a king."

Special foods are a part of many family Christmas traditions. Nellie Goss wrote of early Kansas holidays: "Christmas was a glad time for us. We were happy when it came and sorry when gone. In the late fall would come a barrel of canned fruits, preserves, Jelly and the cans packed in dried apples, quinces, peaches, pears, and cling peaches dried with the pits in them, and the contents were kept from us children- and on Christmas eve we would hang up our stockings and in them was placed some of each kind of the dried fruits. In the barrel was also packed a pail of sorghum molasses for Mother to make the Christmas taffy and gingersnaps."

Though Christmas in Kansas history could be somewhat limited by the surroundings, Kansans always found a way to celebrate the season.