BRADY TWP — Christmas during the lean Civil War years was far different from the often over-the-top affair Americans enjoy today.

“If they could, (soldiers) tried to travel home. But, many times, it was the women, children and maybe some older relatives who celebrated Christmas together,” said Hope Rouda of Connoquenessing Township.

“But because supplies were tough to come by, Christmas was a lean time for them.”

Rouda and other Civil War-era reenactors, along with members of the 10th Pennsylvania Reserves Volunteer Corps Mercer Rifles, a group representing the reserves' Company G, partnered with the Old Stone House on Saturday and Sunday to present “A Civil War Christmas,” an event offering insight into the holidays during the war, which lasted from 1861 to 1865.

“They used what they found in their own gardens to decorate — holly, pine, fruits, nuts and cranberries — as well as balls of fabric and lace,” Rouda said.

Homemade gifts were not unusual at the time, but handcrafted gifts and decorations gained even more prevalence during the war years.

Wooden toys were among the most popular with children, from crude tops to three-piece, carved wooden trains.

“Kids would be especially thrilled with any treat. A peppermint stick or an orange was a luxury,” Rouda said.

“I'm sure the average woman would have loved a hair ribbon or perhaps some gloves. But, mostly, she would have wanted a letter from her husband, letting her know he was safe.”

Rouda said there was no money for fancy gifts such as jewelry. Many of those luxuries, received as wedding gifts or passed down as heirlooms, were traded for necessities, like food and clothing, during the war when women had to run a household or manage a property or farm, usually with limited resources and a few strong backs.

Mercer Rifles volunteers this past weekend stayed true to the men they portray, foregoing holiday lounging for formation drills and musket fire exercises in the crisp December air.

“They were prolific letter-writers and the missives were dear to them, but the mail could be delayed by weeks or even months,” said Rouda, who added that soldiers' favorite gifts would have included socks, shoes, letters from home or a good, hot meal, the kind they did not often have the time or the means to prepare in camp, where standard fare was salt pork and hard tack bread.

“In their letters home, they missed that kindness and those comforts of being home,” she said.

Capt. David Robinson of Jonestown said, “hopefully, someone would send (the enlisted men) cookies or another treat.”

The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought in December 1862 and Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's famous “March to the Sea,” a catalyst for the end of the war, was occurring in 1864, dampening holiday celebrations among the ranks in those years.

But during encampments in 1861 and 1863, some lucky troops would get a sort of Christmas vacation.

“Some of the troops would have been sent home to recruit and fill up the ranks” since consignment into the Army was unpopular and led to as many desertions as dedicated soldiers, Robinson said.

Officers sometimes had their families brought to camp.

“If we were in camp, my wife might have been able to join me,” Robinson said.

“It would depend on how wealthy I was or wasn't.”

The distinction in income is due to the actions of then President Abraham Lincoln.

At the beginning of the war in 1861, most officers were men of means, well-off individuals who bought their own equipment and could resign their commissions whenever they saw fit. That was unlike enlisted men, who had to finish their required time in service.

However, with Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in Confederacy-controlled areas in 1863, many junior officers did resign because they were not abolitionists, opening the door for promotions of many higher-ranking enlisted men into the officers' ranks.