The Christmas holidays were unpretentious affairs for the Rockefeller family. As John D. Rockefeller, Jr. described them in a school essay, festivities included exchanging simple gifts, sleighing, and entertaining friends with dinners and games.
Sleighing was a favorite winter pastime for JDR Jr., as illustrated by his 1892-1893 sleigh log. JDR Jr., his father, and his sisters Alta and Edith are among the party of sleighers pictured at Saranac Lake, New York in 1895.
No Holiday from Concern for Others
The family took no holiday from their concern for others. From the senior officers to the day laborers, members of the office and household staff were remembered with gifts, as illustrated by the 1904 house list.
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller's 1920 letter to her sister, Lucy Aldrich, demonstrates that their thoughts at Christmastime extended worldwide.
A few days prior to Abby's letter, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. presented "A Christmas Message to Young Men" at the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church in New York.
Christmas at the Casements
In the 1920s and 1930s, John D. Rockefeller spent the winters at The Casements, his home in Ormond Beach, Florida. The annual private Christmas parties that "Neighbor John" hosted, which included a visit from Santa Claus and gifts for the guests, were the highlight of the social season in Ormond Beach.
The Rockefeller Center Christmas Celebration
The first Christmas celebration at Rockefeller Center was staged in 1933. Spearheaded by Nelson A. Rockefeller, the first celebration included a 50-ft. Christmas tree and a week-long series of events, complete with choral presentations, trumpeters, and a national NBC radio broadcast of mass public Christmas caroling from the tree site.The event soon became a national tradition, as shown by the "The Most Beautiful Tree in the World" from the December 1954 issue of Family Circle, and a page from the script for the NBC telecast of the lighting of the tree in 1961.