Macmillan Reader presents a very 1950s in suburbia Christmas

This staplebound booklet, The Christmas Tree, is part of The Macmillan Reader set published in 1951. (I came across another one from the set that, appropriate for this season, is titled Snow.)

Macmillan Readers are still being published. Their extensive early-reader offerings these days focus on everything from Mark Twain and the Brontë sisters to Sherlock Holmes and James Bond.¹

This 1951 book focuses on a modern family's Christmas, including the procurement of a live tree for the living room. It was illustrated by a group that included Helen Hansen, Sylvia Holland, Janet Page, Basil Davidovich and Ernest Terrazas.

This sampling of illustrations from the 32-page reader gives a nostalgic glimpse of a idealized 1950s Christmas that could be right out of Father Knows Best or Leave it to Beaver.

Footnote
1. There's even a Bridget Jones/Renée Zellweger reader!