Another Mile Another Destination Blog: Christmas In Augusta, Georgia

“Christmas isn’t a season. It’s a feeling.”

Edna Ferber

Woodrow Wilson's Boyhood home

First Baptist Church Augusta

Do you remember looking at the Christmas decorations and lights with your parents? Was that a tradition your family enjoyed? That was a Christmas tradition that I did so enjoy as a child and remember it fondly. I remember walking around our small town as a child with mom and dad looking at all the neighbors decorations and lights. I remember one time in particular that it was snowing and seeing all the lights dancing in the snow on the newly fallen snow. It was magical.

Our home

Our home at night

Years later, when I was a teenager and had met my future husband, Joe, his mother and father wanted to look at the lights and I went with them. Joe was still at college and I remember so well the excitement of seeing the lights with his parents. Not just from me, mind you; also from them. His mom’s eyes just lit up with the Christmas spirit and his dad’s eyes lit up because it brought so much joy to his wife.

This year I decided to take another approach and drive around and take pictures of homes in the Augusta area both day and night time. I wanted to show how beautiful homes look even in the daytime in this grand town. I found them beautiful to look at in the bright sunshine. There were beautiful lights at night as well and they all brought me great joy.

How beautiful the homes looked all decorated with wreaths, greenery, red ribbons, and Christmas trees with twinkling lights. All these added touches that people lovingly made to their homes look so festive and beautiful during the holidays. Here in Augusta, Georgia there are so many gorgeous homes to see. Seeing them adorned with red and green accents throughout their homes added just that special Christmas feeling and stirred the emotions of my childhood that had been hidden away since last year. Many of the homes I saw were decorated up beautifully. Then there were some homes with only a wreath or two, but all the decorated homes looked gorgeous and festive.

I never gave much thought of the symbolism of hanging a wreath at Christmas time. The Germanic people put evergreen wreaths on their homes to give them hopes that warmer weather would soon return and with hopes the plants would flourish that spring. In some countries, in the early days, some people believed the evergreens hung over doors and windows would keep the evil spirits and illness away from their family homes.

Bonaire Apartments - used to be Bonaire Resort

Bonaire Apartments

Much later, the wreaths became circular shape and to symbolize the everlasting life of Christ. Holly is sometimes added to a wreath and that was to represent the crown of thorns worn by Christ. Much later many folks added lights which was a symbol that Christ is the light of the world.

Widows Home

Old Government House, Augusta

Marion Hatcher Center

The Christmas colors of red and green, became popular because of the evergreens in the winter stayed green all season and the red color came from holly berries since they were plentiful at that time of year. The red color of the berry would represent the blood of Christ.

Partridge Inn

The tradition of Christmas trees has been known since the 16th century when people would put a tree in a home and if there were not any trees, they would stack wood pilings in their home and decorated it. Believe it or not, in the early 19th century in America most people found a Christmas tree as an oddity.

Cotton Exchange

Downtown Augusta

Augusta Commons

Augusta Commons at night

Broad Street

Augusta's Christmas tree during the day

Augusta Christmas tree in the Commons - downtown Augusta

James Brown Statue

Most Holy Trinity

It wasn’t until the 1830’s when German settlers came to America settling in Pennsylvania and brought with them their traditions that the first Christmas trees were brought here. Christmas trees still were not that popular until 1846 when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were in the London Newspaper standing around their Christmas tree with their children.

Joseph Rucker Lamar Boyhood home

Christmas is a season that makes everyone nicer, more charitable, and brings out the child in all of us. It is a time to reflect on Christmases of the past with our loved ones and to cherish the time we have now with friends and family and to realize what is important to us. Start your own traditions and seek that Christmas feeling. Bring back out the child in you.