This article originally appeared in the pages of the Gettysburg Times, in December of 2024. It was penned by Wendy Allen of the Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania, in the hopes of sharing the work the Fellowship does.

Christmas itself didn’t become a national holiday until President Ulysses S. Grant signed a congressional bill into law in 1870. But it became a national holiday because of its growing popularity in the 1850’s and 60’s.

According to Lincoln historian David Kent, the brutality of the Civil War also played a role in the resurgence of Christmas in American life. Ironically, it was the non-religious aspects of Christmas that saw the biggest growth during this period. Not the least of which was the popularization of Santa Claus.

Kent continues, while Santa may have had some origins in St. Nicholas and other regional folklore, he evolved into the jolly old elf we know today thanks in large part to Thomas Nast, a prolific illustrator and cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly magazine. It was Nast who first introduced Santa Claus (aka, Father Christmas) – surprisingly, as a recruiting tool for the Union army. One interesting illustration appears in the January 3, 1863 issue of Harper’s, depicting Santa “on a sleigh handing out packages to Union soldiers in Civil War camp.”

To us now, having state legislator Abraham Lincoln vote against making Christmas a state holiday in 1834 seems unthinkable. However, throughout his life, Christmas was a normal day at the office and that was not unusual. Up until the mid 1800s, Christmas was celebrated with church services, not parties and presents, which were seen as unchristian.

According to the National Park Service at the Springfield, Illinois Lincoln Home, “the Christmas tree was first represented in popular print in a woman's magazine, Godey's Lady's Book, in 1850. The image was an Americanized version of a very popular image of Queen Victoria and her family from the Illustrated London News. America's fondness for Queen Victoria helped popularize the idea of having a Christmas tree inside the home. While we have no evidence that the Lincolns had a Christmas tree, the family may have visited the Christmas tree exhibited at the First Presbyterian Church located a few blocks away.”

The NPS continues to suggest evidence that the Lincoln family participated in the Christmas tradition of stuffing stockings with small gifts. Lincoln family biographer Ruth Painter Randall's 1955 work, Lincoln's Sons, tells of the Lincolns hanging Christmas stockings. The eldest son, Robert, "was careful not to disturb the illusions of Willie and Tad as to the one who had filled those stockings.”

The Christmas season also called for special menus. Typical food for the holiday season may have included boned turkey, oysters, venison, chicken salad, biscuits, bullion, glazed fruit, fruit cake, ice cream, cake, candy, macaroon pyramids, citrus fruit, preserves, wine, eggnog, and hot coffee. It is believed that Abraham Lincoln was the first president to pardon a turkey. As the story from 1863 relates, Lincoln and his family, after feeding and fattening the bird, couldn’t bring themselves to kill and eat it. This animal was a Christmas turkey, not a Thanksgiving turkey. Still, it was “pardoned.”

The Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania wishes everyone a warm and safe holiday season and a most wonderful New Year!