When They Used to call it Christmas

Carson's Main Isle (Notions Dept.) 1958
Marshall Field's Main Isle 1941
Marshall Field's Toy Department 1949 Candy Cane Lane

Remember when the Christmas season used to be called the CHRISTMAS SEASON? Not the "holidays", semester break, winter break, blah, blah, blah. Come see the Macy's holiday tree!!! Oh wow, a holiday tree! What other holiday has a tree anyway? Where did we go wrong? When did it become offensive to say Christmas? Last time I checked, all the "holiday" festivities and traditions that we still do today came from the celebration of Christmas.
The Christmas season these days really is the holiday season. In retail land, it's generic, impersonal and without excitement. We have lost so much of the fantasy, opulence, grandeur, and reverence for Christmas. Do families still go downtown to view the decorated windows of the stores? Now that Carsons is gone from State Street, that leaves Marsh...gag...Macy's. Are we standing in line for hours to sit beneath the Martha Stewart Tree in the Walnut Room? Dressing up the kids to wander through the elaborate Christmas village erected to keep the kids happy while waiting to sit on Santa's knee in the Cozy Cloud Cottage? Afterwards, prouldly displaying the red button on their coats which told the world "I SAW FIELD's SANTA",then off to the Crystal Palace to reward the patient little ones with a scoop of ice cream? My kids remember visiting the Crystal Palace and if we were lucky, we would get a table by the window to view the skaters in the rink below. I'm sure that rink was a temporary fix (which lasted a few years)for the hole created by a demolished vintage building. But it sure beats the new glass and metal monolith that has since replaced the rink. You could ride the shiny brass door elevators run by uniformed elevator operators to the 5th, 6th, or 7th floors to view the main isle from above. The Main Isle of Marshall Field's and Carson Pirie Scott were decked out in displays magical and elaborate enough to rival the efforts of Disneyland. The gleaming mahogany display cases held everything you could imagine. And the toy departments were a sight to behold. Try getting that kind of thrill from the isles of Target or Toys R Us.
I recently found a wonderful book that revisits the wonder of Christmases past. It is an offering from Arcadia Publishing from their Images of America series. These books are an absolute treasure to those of us who remember and appreciate days gone by that truly were special. I selected just a few of the hundreds of wonderful photos included in Christmas on State Street 1940s and Beyond . Author, Robert P. Ledermann.


Photos reprinted with permission from Images of America Christmas On State Street 1940's And Beyond, by Robert P. Ledermann. Available from the publisher online at www.arcadiapublishing.com or by calling 888-313-2665.

P.S. I correct myself. The holiday tree that I referred to at Macy's, formerly Marshall Field's on State Street, is actually called, and I kid you not, The Centennial Great Tree, by Martha Stewart. PU-LEEEEZE!