With only a few days left until Christmas, I thought it might be fun to take a look at celebrations and preparations from years past. Gathered here is a collection of images of all things Christmas: decorated trees, shoppers, Santas, gifts, family gatherings, carolers, parades—even a bear and a flying saucer, from the early 1900s through the 1990s.
Pictures of Christmas Past
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Two young women display their holiday hairdos, each with 42-inch hair decorated with tinsel and ornaments, circa 1960. Claudette Ackrich's hair is decorated with tinsel, and Giselle Roc's hairstyle consists of Christmas-tree ornaments. #
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Construction workers line up for pay beside the first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in New York City in 1931. The tree went on to become an annual tradition and a New York landmark. St. Patrick's Cathedral is visible in the background on Fifth Avenue. #
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Original caption: "November 26, 1939. Hollywood, film capital of America, cast aside the serious side of life and went into a gala holiday mood with its recent Christmas Parade. Here is a picture of Hollywood Boulevard, the film capital's main thoroughfare that has been rechristened Santa Claus Lane for the holiday season, brilliantly illuminated as thousands of Southlanders turned out to see Santa Claus and movie celebrities take part in the gala parade." #
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Original caption: "November 19, 1949. Chicago, Illinois. One of the largest crowds ever seen here filled State Street from sidewalk to sidewalk when Santa Claus arrived today. An estimated half-million children and parents welcomed St. Nick." #
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Original caption: "Little Craig Smith looks around for enemy planes as he daydreams in a toy fighter plane in 1941. This model fighter plane reflects the spirit of wartime America, a country which may experience shortages in toys at Christmastime due to the need to support the war effort." #
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Original caption: "December 13, 1947. New York, New York. The Christmas shopping rush. With only 10 shopping days left before Christmas, buyers throng the main floor of a Macy's department store December 13th." #
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Original caption: "December 9, 1952. New York, New York. Nearly 500 orphans from the metropolitan area found 'daddies for a day' in members of the Young Men's Board of Trade who conducted them on a tour of Gimbels toy department and provided each with a $5 bill to use to buy anything they wanted." #
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Original caption: "December 5, 1949. Christmas may be three weeks away for us, but it is here for the children who tour Toyland in Bamberger's Department Store in Newark, laughing, lingering, and longing. The Moppets make an interesting and sometimes touching study. Here, a little girl has fallen in love with the dolls. Can you imagine anything as wistful as the eyes of the little girl as she peers into the case? Let's hope they all get what they want from Santa." #
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Original caption: "November 29, 1946. Hollywood, California. Santa Claus is surrounded by a bevy of scantily clad movie starlets as his $25,000 'sleigh' moves down 'Santa Claus Lane' in Hollywood." #
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A brown bear, named Susie, gives Wynne Shearme (left) and Marjorie Kennedy the fright of their lives, on the bumper-car ride at the fun fair attached to the Bertram Mills Christmas Circus in 1954. #
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Original caption: "Santa's Satellite, where the sleigh and reindeer are old hat for Santa Claus this year, as the jolly old gent makes his first appearance via earth satellite at Hess Brothers department store. Santa zoomed in to the Allentown Fairgrounds in a shower of 'jet' smoke at the annual Santa Claus arrival party." #
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First lady of the United States Jacqueline Kennedy sits with her children on Christmas morning in 1962. She holds John on her lap, and Caroline stands nearby in her nightgown. Several stockings hang from the mantle. #
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A pair of lovers are entranced by the beauty of the scene after the traditional Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was lit in 1962. The couple is framed by wire snowmen in the Channel Gardens. The 50-year-old, 67-foot white spruce is the 30th tree to be raised in the center for Christmas. #
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Original caption: "Christmas at Windsor Castle is shown here with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip shown putting finishing touches to [the] Christmas tree, in a photo made recently during the filming of a joint ITV-BBC film documentary, The Royal Family." #
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Soldiers take rest close to a small Christmas tree on their position at Hill 875 near Dakto, a few days after the North Vietnamese Army made a massive assault, on December 25, 1967. #
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Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts, Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders held a live broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and moon as seen from their spacecraft. Said Lovell, "The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring, and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth." They ended the broadcast with the crew taking turns reading from the book of Genesis from the Bible. #
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Singer John Denver, with children and the Muppets at a taping session for his upcoming holiday television special, John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together, on November 15, 1979. Denver told the yuletide story of "Silent Night" to his small guests, and they were joined by Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, and all of the famed Jim Henson Muppets in singing the the traditional carol. #
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Original caption: "December 12, 1983. Washington, District of Columbia. Mr. T, of the television show The A-Team, poses as Santa Claus to help first lady Nancy Reagan unveil the White House Christmas decorations. #
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Television actor Emmanuel Lewis rehearses with the Radio City Rockettes at New York's Radio City Music Hall for a one-hour holiday television variety special entitled Mr. T and Emmanuel Lewis in a Christmas Dream, on November 21, 1984. #
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Original caption: "The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, loaded onto a barge, makes its way down the Hudson River toward New York City on November 12, 1997. The trip over the George Washington Bridge was getting tougher and tougher. The Lincoln Tunnel was too much of a squeeze. So the tree skipped its annual highway commute and traveled by boat this year to Rockefeller Center." #
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Original caption: "December 16, 1960. Chicago, Illinois. Too embarrassed for words, four-year-old Eddie Waymel tries to cover his giggles while attempting to tell Santa what he wants for Christmas. The youngster just couldn't seem to get the words out during his meeting with Santa at a Chicago department store. Maybe the latter's beard tickled Eddie's fancy." #
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