With the help of my two-year-old self and Santa, may I wish you a Merry Christmas.  Thank you for reading, following, liking and commenting throughout the year.  Your lovely feedback is always encouragement to keep Western District Families rolling along.

Over the past two weeks on the Western District Families Facebook page, I’ve posted my Western District Christmas series.  It was interesting to read the posts again, ranging from the 1850s to the 1950s and chart the changes in a Victorian Christmas over 100 years.  Also interesting were the societal changes and the highs and lows of each decade and how Christmas changed as a result.  When thinking about how your ancestors may have celebrated Christmas, considering such factors will give you a more realistic idea of what their Christmases were like.

Also noticeable was the rise of commercialism and the changes in the media’s focus on women and their portrayal of women. The arrival of the Australian Women’s Weekly is an example, with it projecting an image of the ideal homemaker.  At Christmas the pressure mounted for women to meet that idealised expectation as they stressed over recreating the Weekly’s suggested Christmas dinner menus.

If you would like to read a Western District Christmas 1850-1950, it is in two parts,  A Pioneer Christmas 1850s-1890s here and a Western Victorian Christmas here.  Each link opens with the most recent post first.  For Pioneer Christmas that is the 1890s and for WD Christmas, you will find two general Christmas posts followed by 1950s-1900.  If you scroll to the bottom of each page you will find the earliest posts to start reading.  They are best read from the 1850s to the 1950s to fully appreciate the evolving celebration of Christmas.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR