How Christmas During Wartime Brought a Return to Simple Joys
How Christmas During Wartime Brought a Return to Simple Joys
2 minute read
Caption from LIFE. Round object was Raymond's problem. Though harder to wrap than rectangle, Raymond mastered it. The bulkier and harder the package, the better children like it.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
The holiday season during World War II brought sadness hand-in-hand with joy, as husbands and fathers were oceans away instead of warming seats at the dinner table. Those years also brought a return to simplicity, forcing resourcefulness in response to rationing and a focus on intangibles where the usual luxuries were lacking. Some found that the shift in celebration, though brought on for unfortunate reasons, turned out to be a happy change.
As LIFE explained in 1942:
This is the year when sane people will revert to the once-upon-a-time kind of simple Christmas. Stern realities such as priorities, conservation of resources and manpower will put an end to much of the bad taste and commercialism which has made a mockery of the true spirit of Christmas.
Since “children are masters of sincerity and simplicity,” the magazine declared, photographer Nina Leen was dispatched to photograph them making their own Christmas cards, fashioning substitute trees from the cardboard in men’s t-shirt packages and crafting angels from acorns and pipe cleaners. There may not have been enough presents to cover the ground beneath a tree, but there were enough to fill a stocking, and—at least for the time being—that would suffice.
Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.
Caption from LIFE. At a Lenox Hill neighborhood house Delmar Vincent teaches John and Pauline Lingleum block printing.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Poster for wall decoration is made of white paper cut-outs of train, chair, girl, etc., pasted on dark paper. Poster hangs from wall light with small cardboard tree shadesNina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Wrapping presents is great fun. Finished product sometimes looks messy but has advantage of looking personal. Raymond, 3, at Bethany Day Nursery shows how.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Round object was Raymond's problem. Though harder to wrap than rectangle, Raymond mastered it. The bulkier and harder the package, the better children like it.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Job completed, Raymond shows it with understandable pride. Licking stickers is most fun. Raymond kept licking wrong side, soon caught on, smeared gift with stickers.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Christmas tree is cut out of cardboard which laundry stuffs into men's shirts. Angels have skirts of heavy paper, heads of crepe paper stuffed with cotton, painted features.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Candy holder is made of scraps of colored paper. The figure has a stiff paper cone skirt, wire arms (wire also goes through book), stuffed paper head, buckram wings.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Clay angel is modeled by Kenneth Colgan, 8, at Hudson Guild Neighborhood House. Christ Child, Madonna, shepherds, animals for manger are also made by children.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Lollypop angel has a lollypop for a head and a small cord for a halo. The dress and the wings are cut out of white paper on which red and blue stars have been pasted.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Into a huge sock, instead of under a tree, can go all the family presents. Sock is made of red flannel, toe is stuffed with cardboard. Trim sock with shelf paper and ribbon.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Wheelbarrow can be converted into gift carrier by painting with an easily removed water paint, then dressing up with evergreen sprays and Christmas tree ornaments.Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
