Life — December 21, 1911 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of "Keeping Up Old Customs" This page from *Life* magazine describes Christmas celebrations featuring imitation decorations and period costumes. The text by Walter G. Doty humorously chronicles how guests received "imitation" gifts—fake silk gowns, mock meerschaum pipes, and imitation leather items—presented as if they were genuine luxuries. The accompanying illustrations depict Christmas games and festivities. The lower cartoon, titled "The Spirit of Christmas in New York," shows what appears to be a street performer or caroler with children, satirizing urban holiday traditions. The German-language caption suggests mockery of European Christmas customs. The satire targets the American middle-class practice of maintaining "old customs" through cheap imitations rather than genuine articles, poking fun at pretension and the gap between aspiration and economic reality during the holiday season.