This is a collection of all my vintage Christmas themed articles. Lots of scanned images from department store catalogs, like Sears, JCPenney. Feature stories on retro Christmas hard candy, artificial Christmas Trees, gift packs and more!

1968 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

1968 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

In this entry to the Christmas Catalog Extravaganza series, I give you Artificial Christmas Trees! I really thought this was a rather recent invention, but a little research proved me entirely wrong. Check out Wikipedia for the full history. In terms of these catalogs though, 1942 is one of the first advertised versions I found, proudly exaulting the low cost and the lack of falling needles. But first, a little about me.

Jason’s Christmas Tree History

When I was growing up, my father would march into the lush pine wooded forests of Vermont on December 10th, hickory handled axe perched over his shoulder. His quest? To find that one perfect Fraser Fir. He would fell the noble tree in one great motion and drag home to our log cabin. His job done, my mother and I would decorate the tree with festive glass ornaments and strings of popcorn, while dad read the paper and sipped a tumbler of Jameson. I hid the pickle in the tree. Then we’d settle in to sip eggnog and watch “White Christmas” or “The Bells of Saint Mary’s”.
This Norman Rockwell / Charles Wysocki version of my family’s Christmas tree tradition is, of course, only partly true.
The reality was, we lived in Homestead, Florida. The only naturally growing real pine trees were usually about 70 feet tall, so they weren’t quite right for decorating. We usually hit a few of the Christmas tree tents running down US1 in Cutler Ridge, trying to find a tree that hit that perfect ratio between size and price. We wanted a six or seven footer, but dad wasn’t into paying a bundle for it either. My mom also had a prejudice against Scotch Pines, which I have adopted as my own. We were a fir and spruce family. Usually, we’d find one that looked great from one side and had a deformity on the other. Tall tree, plus deformity equals lower price, so that was the one for us. We’d stick our purchase in the back of the pickup. When we got home, dad would saw an inch off the bottom so it would fit properly into the tree stand. Take it inside the house and rotate it until the best side was up front. It was never level when we first stood it up, so my mom borrowed a couple of my Archie Comics to stick under whichever leg the tree was listing towards.
The rest of the story, where mom and I decorated while dad sipped whiskey, that’s all pretty accurate.
I guess my point is, when I was growing up, my family was going for as much holiday tradition as possible. Christmas was too special to replace a natural tree with a pile of green metal and plastic. Years later, this would all change. By the time I was in my teens, we had purchased a high quality artificial tree. It all came down to the recurring annual hassle and of course, the cost involved. For the price of a real tree or two, you could have a very authentic looking fake tree that was easy to assemble and would last many years. I have a fake tree now, but if Ginny and I ever have kids, we might be tempted to buy a real one for a few years, just to give our kids the experience of owning a real, forest grown Christmas Tree.

Department Store Artificial Christmas Trees

As established already, this is a tribute to the all American fake Christmas tree. Taken from the pages of vintage Sears catalogs from 1942 through 1983, you can almost smell the pine scented candles used to create a festive evergreen smell in the absence of a real tree. Thanks again to Wishbookweb.com for making these scans available. If you’re into 20th century advertising design, department store history or just enjoy looking at the Christmas catalogs from your childhood, this is an amazing website! Go there!
As always, click any image for the full page scan.
1942 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree
1942 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree
We start with 1942. The artificial Christmas tree starts out pretty weak. That is not a lot of branches and definitely not a lot of variation in shape or length. To be honest, this looks like it was a made out of a bunch of pipe cleaners. But hey it’s a start, and at only 49 cents, quite a bargain!

1945 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

1944 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

Another tree that is barely there. Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree indeed. Still, if you manage to put enough ornaments on it, it could be very festive.

1947 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Trees

1947 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Trees

We’re improving. The one on the left is pretty bare, but the one on the right is quite good considering what came before.

1952 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree and canned snow

1952 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

There’s a fake tree on the right, but the “Make It Snow” spray snow is what really intrigues me in this ad. “Just Press the Button. It Snows Glistening Magic Flakes.” The ad doesn’t tell you about the chemical ingredients, but I wonder how toxic that stuff was.

1956 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

1956 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

I like these lovely colored trees. The pink one in particular. Now, can someone please explain to me the horrifying death effigy on the door? I’m serious. I don’t want to bring the Christmas mood down, so I won’t say what I think it looks like. I would suggest, however, that other sentient snowmen steer clear of this particular home, lest they suffer the same fate.

1958 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

1958 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

Remember the fake cardboard fireplaces you could buy to hang your stockings up on? What a perfect accompaniment to your fake tree and fake Santa Suit.
This is unrelated, but I just remembered that I forgot to buy eggnog when I was at the store an hour ago. I was really hoping to sip on that with some rum swirled in while I write the rest of these captions. Sorry… stream of consciousness.

1962 Sears Catalog Aluminum Christmas Tree

1962 Sears Catalog Aluminum Christmas Tree

I love aluminum trees. I have a vintage one here in my office. The one pictured above, however, is not working for me. The copper colored pom-poms are atrocious. Actually, reading the copy in the ad, it appears those are supposed to be red. I supposed that would be better. This photo doesn’t do it justice though. Ugh.

1962 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

1962 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

Two very distinct styles. The one on the left, with it’s more random and fluffy shape, is clearly meant to be naturalistic. The one on the right is much more stylized with all its branches reaching out in symmetrical predictability. Very space-age. As much as I love a real tree, or a fake tree that looks real, I’m a big fan of this space-age tree.

1964 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Trees

1964 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Trees

 

1964 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree Vincent Price

1964 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree with… Vincent Price??

Okay, hold everything. This page from the 1964 Sears catalog requires us to stop and consider. Vincent Price, star of some of the creepiest gothic horror, science fiction and mystery films of the 1950s and 1960s, had a line of home decorating accessories for Sears and Roebuck. Let that sink in.
I love to think of little kids thumbing through the pages of this catalog and landing on this page after having just seen a matinee of “House on the Haunted Hill” or “The Tingler”. I have to say though, Vincent Price, the man himself, does strike me as a likely to have had good taste. I imagine his basement laboratory and torture chamber was stylishly outfitted by Gerrit Rietveld.

1968 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

1968 Sears Catalog ‘Away from home’ Christmas Tree

The ‘Away-from-home’ tree. Perfect for homesick traveling salesmen. This little tree makes me a little sad, sentimental dope that I am. I hope it brought even a little bit of warmth to those lonely Fuller Brush men, Pan Am flight attendants and rock and roll roadies who it was intended for.

1968 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

1968 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

Small child in a parka, picking a tree from the artificial pine forests of the northeast. Heartwarming!

1972 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

1972 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

Fake Canadian Pine trees, made in Hong Kong and sold to US citizens. Our ancestors couldn’t even fathom the wonders of the future.

1972 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

1972 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

Hey, hey buddy! Did you think you needed your cold weather gloves to assemble your fake Christmas tree? You don’t. Also, did anyone ever tell you that you look kind of like Bill Bixby?

1972 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Trees

1972 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Trees

 

1977 JC Penney Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

1977 JC Penney Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

 

1980 JC Penney Catalog Artificial Christmas Trees

1980 JC Penney Catalog Artificial Christmas Trees

 

1983 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Trees

1983 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Trees

Fake trees with built in pine-cones. The realism just keeps getting more extreme.

1983 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

1983 Sears Catalog Artificial Christmas Tree

The pre-flocked artificial tree! Hooray, we’ve entered a golden age that continues to this day!

Also Check Out….

If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out my other Department Store Christmas catalog tributes. More to come in over the next few weeks.
That colorful and tasty Christmas Hard Candy!
Those wonderfully tacky Sausage and Cheese gift packs!
The gift that everyone dreads, the Christmas Fruitcake!
And don’t forget to visit Wishbookweb.com! It’s the best place to make the fantasy Christmas list that the 11 year old you would approve!

Christmas Hard Candy

1937 Sears Catalog – Christmas Hard Candy

Hard candy. Boiled sweets. Teeth Crackers. Call them whatever you like, these colorful, iron hard confections remind us of Christmas at Granny’s house. Whether they be fruit or mint flavored, drops or ribbons, tinned or jarred, we kept going back for more! And if mom or dad told us we’d had enough, granddad had a private stash by his recliner that he’d share on the sly.
This is a tribute to that time honored holiday goodie. Taken from the pages of vintage Sears catalogs from 1937 through 1979, these colorful pages are almost good enough to lick. I again extend my apprciation to the folks at Wishbookweb.com for making these scans available. If you’re into 20th century advertising design, department store history or just enjoy looking at the Christmas catalogs from your childhood, this is an amazing website! Go there!
As always, click any image for the full page scan.

1940 Sears Catalog – Christmas Hard Candy

1940 Sears Catalog – Christmas Hard Candy

Ten pounds of candy for a buck and change. I feel like that was a bargain, even for 1940. I could be wrong though. It’s possible you could have bought a car for a dollar fifty in 1940. I don’t really understand inflation.
I like that the pail depicted above is divided into multiple sections. This is the precursor to the modern flavored popcorn cans that are so popular around this time of year.

Christmas Hard Candy

1940 Sears Catalog – Christmas Hard Candy

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a tub of candy. Jack munched down and broke a crown and Jill just swilled some brandy.

Little girl christmas candy

1942 Sears Catalog – Christmas Hard Candy

Okay, let us be clear. This little girl is greedy. The photographer didn’t need to say, “Okay Clarissa, we need you to hold the candy bucket like it’s your prize dolly.” She was way ahead of Fred the Photographer on that one.

Sears Catalog – Christmas Hard Candy

1942 Sears Catalog – Christmas Hard Candy

I like the chopped stick candy with pictures running through the center. Reminds me of British ‘Rock’ stick candy that they sell by the seashore. I assume it’s made exactly the same way. Take that Brits! Sears stole your rock candy! Or did you give it to us during Lend-Lease?
Also, regarding the stick candy chunks in the image above, does that one near the middle just say, “OK”? That’s a bit of a bore, isn’t it?

Christmas Hard Candy

1947 Sears Catalog – Christmas Hard Candy

Starlight mints? Get those out of there! We have candy canes on the tree! Who, in their right mind, would reach for a starlight/pinwheel when there’s a lovely curved stick that you can suck to a point? They taste exactly the same, and the candy cane has the added benefit of being able to torture little brothers and sisters. The candy cane is a multitasker!

Christmas Hard Candy ribbon candy

1952 Sears Catalog – Christmas Hard Candy

More broken sticks of rock, these with flower images inside. And an overabundance of  starlights! Space fillers, all of them!

High contrast christmas candy

1956 Sears Catalog – Christmas Hard Candy

You know, for as much holiday candy as I’ve eaten, I don’t think I’ve ever been presented with a piece of ribbon candy. They’re all the rage in these ads. Also, the above ad may be my favorite from all of these. I love the high contrast. It’s like they painted black into all the nooks and crannies between the candy. I just love it.

Sears Catalog – Christmas Hard Candy

1958 Sears Catalog – Christmas Hard Candy

Candy that comes in a collared tin, like the ‘Diana Stuft’ tin above, seems slightly impractical. I’m from Florida, and the humidity here makes just about any sugary substance extra sticky, extra quick. I imagine that any confection left in there by January 1st is going to have to be chiseled out with an ice pick.

Sears Catalog – Christmas Hard Candy

1962 Sears Catalog – Christmas Hard Candy

 

Sears Catalog – Christmas Hard Candy french creams

1964 Sears Catalog – Christmas Hard Candy

Woof, this is a motley combination of hards and softs. There are hard candies mixed in there, but they’re being overtaken by jellies and, ick, french creams. What’s wrong with you, 1964? French Creams just look like the 1960s, folded into a confection. French Cream: The mod dress of the candy world. Except I actually like mod dresses.

Sears Catalog – Christmas Hard Candy country inn confections

1972 Sears Catalog – Christmas Hard Candy

Color! May your eyes be be ever seared by Christmas red! Also, Country Inn makes a big bold appearance! See my Christmas fruitcake article for lots of Country Inn. I still don’t know if it was a Sears and Roebuck brand, but I’m hoping one of you will fill me in! Comments below!

Sears Catalog – Christmas Hard Candy tin

1979 Sears Catalog – Christmas Hard Candy

And as we depart the 1970s, the blandness of 1980s catalog coloration and design begins to bleed backwards. Still, those Country Inn tins remind me of my youth. My family had tins just like this around the holidays and it fills me with warmth.

Also Check Out….

If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out my other Department Store Christmas catalog tributes. More to come in over the next few weeks.
Those wonderfully tacky Sausage and Cheese gift packs!
The gift that everyone dreads, the Christmas Fruitcake!
And don’t forget to visit Wishbookweb.com! It’s the best place to make the fantasy Christmas list that the 11 year old you would approve!

vintage catalog fruitcake

1942 Sears Catalog – Christmas Fruitcake

Tis the season for a new batch of classic department store Christmas catalog time travel! And today, I bring you that classic Christmas cliche, in all of it’s kitschy glory: The Christmas Fruitcake. These images are culled primarily from Sears Catalogs, from 1937 to 1988. The catalog fruitcake is a perennial favorite, though I don’t recall if I’ve ever once tried a slice. Given that it’s reputation precedes it due to negative reinforcement from movies, tv shows, comics and general vibes from other humans, I’ve always shurgged it off. Yet, there’s nothing about the ingredients of the standard fruitcake that really offends me. I like cake. I like candied fruit. I like nuts (within reason). I like Christmas. What is there for me to dislike? Maybe this year, I’ll give fruitcake a try. Until then, enjoy these colorful representations of that classic seasonal doorstop. Click any image to enlarge to the full page catalog ad.
Oh, and don’t forget to head over to Wishbookweb.com where I found these fantastic images. If you’re into 20th century advertising design, department store history or just enjoy looking at the Christmas catalogs from your childhood, this is an amazing website!
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It’s been a while since I’ve added any Christmas paper art. And with the lovely feedback I’ve been receiving these past few weeks, I thought I’d add some more. This most recent batch is based on some mid-century Christmas snow boxes. Specifically, Ivory Snow and Boxed MICA flakes. Enjoy!

robot, toy
Here is another Christmas catalog mashup, aided by, Wishbookweb.com. This time, I’m exploring the wonders of my own childhood. The Sears Wishbook arrived in September every year, and I can distinctly recall spending hours flipping through the toy section, craving. These images are some of the things I wanted most in the mid 1980s. Speaking of… see that robot on the top of the page? That’s the Omnibot 2000. I don’t think you have any comprehension of how much I wanted him. Instead, what I got was an inflatable plastic robot that had a motorized remote control base. Lame.

See more photos after the break. And click the photos for the full catalog pages.

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Oh friends! Here is a photo mashup I made just for you! Okay, that’s a lie. I did this entirely for me. It’s about one of my favorite subjects. Sausage and Cheese. As I was perusing one of my favorite sites, Wishbookweb.com, wondering if it’s too late to order that Millennium Falcon in the 1981 Montgomery Ward catalog for only $30.87, I made a discovery. It turns out that as far back as 1947, they were selling those lovely sausage and cheese variety boxes in Christmas catalogs. How intriguing! I needed to know more. So without further preamble, let’s hop in the Tardis and go on a gastronomic voyage of discovery!

Oh, and click the photos for a larger view, in most cases the full catalog page.
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christmas, mr. baxterI found “Merry Christmas, Mr. Baxter” in a used bookstore and bought it primarily because of the cover art. I like to read one Christmas themed book each year during the season. I’m a sap, I can’t help it. I try not to get too engorged on Christmas before Thanksgiving, but I felt I’d review it now since we’re only days away from the start of the season.

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papercraft, paper cutout, christmas, lights, woolworth, kresge's, mccrory's, five and ten centClick on the image above for a larger version to download.
This is another papercraft set from Mistletoegreetings.com which is going bye bye. These are miniature Christmas Tree Light boxes from old five and dime stores like Woolworth’s, McCrory’s and Kresge’s. I like vintage packaging, especially stuff from the holidays. I copied the packaging pretty closely from the original designs, so these are authentic, albeit in miniature. Add them to Christmas dioramas and dollhouses, print and fold a bunch of them and fill a bowl as a table centerpiece, string them up like popcorn for a garland, tie them to a bow, etc. I just design them. You get to choose the usage.

papercraft, paper cutout, christmas, wraping paper
More for the now defunct Mistletoegreetings site. These are tiny boxes with vintage style Christmas wrapping paper. Cut them out, put them together following the instructions, and let your creativity run wild. Use them as decorative accents on packages. Decorate a Christmas Doll house scene. Put candy in them and use them as stocking stuffers. Lot’s of possibilities. Each of the selections below will print out on 8.5 by 11 paper. Click on the image to make larger.


More Christmas papercraft from the late Mistletoegreetings.com. I created these ornaments for the 2008 Orlando Festival of Trees. These paper ornaments are the real thing. Be sure to print them on heavy paper so they’ve got some heft to them.
Click on the images below to download larger versions of the template.
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