Drunken New Year. 1928.

Western Argus 10 Jan 1928 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article34423847

These people in 1928 were celebrating New Years during the prohibition era in New York, so the ‘boose’ was probably something home-made, the ingredients of which were probably something you would not want to drink!

Of course it doesn’t take poisonous alcohol to cause drunken brawls, I am sure there will be quite a few of them at New Year’s festivities around the world over the weekend.

Enjoy your New Year’s whatever form your celebration may take!

Not really showing her christmas spirit. 1947.

The Argus 26 Dec 1947 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22528626

Unreasonable family arguments are no doubt something that happened all around the world over christmas, but in 1947 Mr and Mrs Kirtley took a petty fight over their differing levels of christmas spirit to a whole new level.

I am impressed with her story of how her husband managed to get shot though. To say she was shooting her gun out of the window to emphasize her christmas spirit and that he stepped in the way of the bullet shows quite an imagination. I am glad they are not my neighbours!

I expect that the likelihood of being shot by a stressed out family member rises quite considerably during the festive season.

After Christmas poem. 1907.

The Age (Queanbeyan) 31 Dec 1907 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31185513

In 1907, just as today, we are all complaining about the same thing after Christmas. We saved up all year and now it is all gone. We just have to start again!

Rich, Selfish and Stupid. 1910.

The Mercury 19 May 1910 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10062671

At this time of year many of us have stomachs full of food and under the xmas tree were things that we don’t really need. We might feel guilty about indulging ourselves but we just tell ourselves that it is the tradition for this time of year in order to justify it. That doesn’t make it right of course, but we do it anyway.

No matter how much we have overdone the xmas cheer this time we could never outdo the Duchess of Najera and the unbelievable act of waste in her burning of her late husbands yacht in 1910. She was ‘unwilling that anyone shall enjoy his possessions’ after his passing. I expect the crowd was more than just astonished to witness this ridiculous event. I hope some sort of karmic event rebounded on her and she soon wished that she had shared the wealth a little instead of being so monumentally selfish.

Boxing Day meaning. 1928.

Cairns Post 26 Dec 1928 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40652160

The kids asked me why it was called Boxing Day and I was ashamed to say I didn’t know. I knew enough to say that, contrary to what they were seeing, it didn’t mean the day I spend throwing all the boxes from yesterdays gifts into the recycling bin, but I didn’t have a real answer.

I am not the only one who didn’t, so here is an article answering the same question.

I am shallow enough to have had a laugh at the ‘promiscuous charities’ that received the boxes for donation. I know that it meant indiscriminate charities, but the way we use that word today has changed the way we think of it. Now it sounds like the description the sort of charitable organisations that would support unemployed sex workers or suchlike….

Hope you all got plenty of toys for Christmas, regardless of your age!

Scary Christmas Head. 1947.

Morning Bulletin 22 Nov 1947 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article56802149

Often kids are afraid of the jolly Santa seated in the christmas display in the local shopping centre. He might be trying to represent christmas day and presents, but to many of them he is just a scary guy in a red outfit.

If Saint Nick doing his best to grant wishes and spread some Christmas cheer can make a child cry, imagine what coming across this big-headed laughing lady would do to them!

It is two sleeps until christmas and we made the mistake today of going to a shopping centre for some last-minute gifts. There was no sign of the austerity christmas the people in this picture from 1947 were expecting. If only that laughing lady was strolling around spreading a little christmas terror through the children there might have been fewer people for us to have to deal with.

Merry Christmas and hopefully Santa brings you all the toys you can handle!