"Christmas P.J.'s -- Dec. 25 1951." Grace and Sally clash in the latest episode of Minnesota Kodachromes! 35mm color slide by Hubert Tuttle. View full size.

        Grace and Sally hope you had a very merry Christmas!

From circa 1946 comes this 35mm Kodachrome of Jim and Jack Hardman and their Christmas train set in Upper Montclair, New Jersey. View full size.

From the "Linda" Kodachromes circa 1952 comes this Dutch door festively dressed with spruce wreath and merry-maker. Nobody leaves till the eggnog's all gone. View full size.

        It's the week before Christmas, time for a hallowed holiday tradition here at Shorpy: The Office Xmas Party! Which has been going on for 97 years now. Will Clarence in Sales ever get up the nerve to ask out Hermione from Accounting? Is there gin in that oilcan? Ask the bear.

December 1925. "Washington, D.C. -- Western Electric Co. group." There are enough little dramas playing out here to keep the forensic partyologists busy until Groundhog Day. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

"Dickey Christmas tree, 1919." 8x6 inch glass negative, National Photo Co. View full size.

        The family of Washington, D.C., lawyer Raymond Dickey, whose off-kilter portraits (and non-triangular trees) are a beloved yuletide tradition here at Shorpy.

December 1938. "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Christmas tree over the door of a bar on Market Street." Medium format nitrate negative by Paul Vanderbilt. View full size.

November 11, 1950. New York. "Gimbel Brothers department store. Interior. Raymond Loewy Associates, architect." 4x5 inch acetate negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size.

        Ah for the infinite loveliness of Gimbels. We're the most enticing, most alluring street floor that ever walked the ways of beauty. So captivating are we, you just can't resist us. Our walls are delicately tinted. Our counters are sleek. If we were a bell, we would tinkle. We're all this, and more, because Raymond Loewy, genius at transforming an ugly duckling into a raving beauty, has given us his magic touch. And the best part is, this beauty of ours will be a joy forever. Our loveliness will never pass into nothingness. Why? Because those sweet, sweet bargains and those low, low price tags keep coming and coming and coming ... (NYT ad, Feb. 1951)

December 1955. Columbus, Georgia. "Christmas decorations on Broadway." 4x5 inch acetate negative from the Shorpy News Photo Archive. View full size.

"Xmas 1951." Christmas Past, and Christmas presents. Our 12th slide from this batch of 35mm Kodachromes found on eBay. Most of them seem to have been taken in or near Pinconning, Michigan. View full size.

"Dickey Christmas tree, 1923." The family of Washington lawyer Raymond Dickey, whose somewhat off-kilter portraits (and non-triangular trees) are a Shorpy Yuletide tradition. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.

November 1940. "Boys in the schoolhouse in Ledyard, Connecticut, working on the school newspaper." Title of their typescript: "A Happy Christmas for Tom." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

December 1940. "Christmas shopping crowds. Gadsden, Alabama." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

"Sierras, 1950, Nevada." The Christmas Tree Lodge on the Mount Rose Highway south of Reno is the backdrop for this latest Kodachrome of Don Cox's 1939 Mercury. The restaurant, which touted its "mahogany-broiled steaks and chops," is no more, replaced by the Tannenbaum Event Center. Now, who's gonna squeegee that tyke off the bumper? View full size.

        The colorized Christmas tree is back, 107 years after its debut in Madison Square. Happy holidays from Shorpy!

New York, December 1913. "Christmas tree, Madison Square." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Bain News Service. View full size.

On this Christmas Eve eve, we travel back 76 years for a visit with the First Lady of Shorpy, Iola Swinnerton. Some two decades after her bathing-pageant days, she is still radiating beauty and cheer. Scroll down to the comments for more of Iola's life story. View full size.

        CHICAGO (Dec. 23, 1944) -- Mrs. Iola Swinnerton Warren, who suffered the illness known as myositis ossificans after inoculation for typhoid following a Florida hurricane, watches her husband Theron V. Warren and little nephew Herbert Taylor trim Christmas tree. (Acme Newspictures photo.)