Wishing you and your’s a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

As I reflect on these images that depict life at Fort Nisqually in 1855, it makes me wish for a simpler time when celebrating the holidays meant putting up simple festive decorations, baking from scratch, and creating homemade gifts instead of the craziness of today’s Christmas season.

Fort Nisqually was an important fur trading and farming post of the Hudson’s Bay Company in the Puget Sound area of what is now DuPont, Washington and was part of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Columbia Department. Today it is a living history museum operated by Metro Parks Tacoma at Point Defiance Park and is a U.S. National Historic Landmark.  Each year volunteers dressed in period costumes host a Christmas celebration on the first Saturday of December.  I hope some of you will find the time to visit – it’s a fun experience for the whole family.

Here is a sampling of what I shot that day. For the complete gallery, click here.