The All-Electric House is the Johnson County Museum’s largest artifact – and during the holiday season, perhaps its most nostalgic! Seeing the 1950s home decked out with retro Christmas decorations donated by real Johnson Countians makes for a special Museum visit for visitors of all ages. Past seasonal displays have focused on the commercialized, technological elements of a mid-century Christmas holiday – innovations like aluminum Christmas trees, glittering light strands, and spinning color wheels. Yet in the same era, many Americans found comfort in keeping family traditions alive.
A “homemade Christmas” was a popular holiday theme, blending creativity and self-expression with the era’s strong values of family, home, and patriotism. Crafting was both a pastime and a point of pride – an opportunity to create decorations and experiences that reflected one’s own style of the season.
Homemade Holiday Cheer, Front and Center
Projects proposed in popular magazines and how-to books were typically in line with traditional gender roles of the era. For men, that meant stringing lights, putting up the tree, and using their array of tools to craft homemade decorations.
In 1954, Popular Mechanics magazine published detailed plans for do-it-yourself wooden cutout lawn decorations. The magazine promised readers that anyone with basic tools and little elbow grease could build professional-looking displays right at home.
Handmade Décor for Hearth and Home
In postwar America, there seemed to be a guidebook for everything – including how to create a “perfect” Christmas. Magazines and manuals offered step-by-step instructions for making a personalized holiday, including gift wrapping, table centerpieces, wreaths, and children’s crafts.
Holiday how-to articles had suggestions for making one’s home interior sparkle with homemade holiday touches. In the postwar era, the living room was considered part of the woman’s realm – her stage for creativity and care. Magazines encouraged homemakers to craft their own stockings, tree ornaments, and festive décor to make Christmas feel meaningful.
Homemade Holiday Cooking and Baking
The heart of every postwar holiday home was the kitchen. From fruitcakes to pies and endless trays of Christmas cookies, holiday baking was a labor of love – and a measure of mid-century wives’ homemaking skills.
Women – seen as the keepers of holiday traditions – could rely on trusted names like Betty Crocker and Better Homes & Gardens for new recipes each season. Cookbooks brimmed with ideas to brighten any holiday table, while special Christmas editions celebrated the joy of baking from scratch for friends and family.
Visit the Museum this Holiday Season!
Whether you decorate with the newest and brightest or the traditional and homemade, the holidays bring us together. Sharing stories and family memories over a meal or while reclining in the living room brings us closer together. If you are feeling nostalgic for Christmases past, visit the All-Electric House to see everything mentioned in this blog – and more!
The “Home for the Holidays: A Homemade Christmas” exhibit will be on view through January 3 and included in regular Museum admission. To plan your visit, go to JCPRD.com/museum.
