Remembering Christmas


Christmas at the Farmer House has been a growing tradition at the Farmer House Museum. For Mary Ellen and Ed Farmer, founders of the museum, Christmas was a time of warm memories and good friends. This year, at Christmas time, the Farmer House sets sail towards a sea of memories, Holiday-inspired memories, on a fleet of six Christmas trees, in three different rooms, inspired by four different eras, along with other displays, including a study area where one can peruse the development of Christmas Cards over the 20th century.

One tree, set up in the dining room, is inspired by the Victorian era, by times when Ed and Mary Ellen Farmers' parents and grandparents were young. It also reflects the twenties/thirties, when Ed and Mary Ellen Farmer themselves were young. In the parlor, a forest of (three) aluminum trees helps recall the fifties, sixties and seventies, Mary Ellen and Ed Farmer's mature years. Two more trees, in the sun room, remind us of a more recent era, the eighties and nineties, the Farmers' later years. A seventh tree is dedicated to pets, including some fondly remembered in the Farmer family.

During the holiday season, it's heartening to walk down the street, seeing the ways that Bloomingtonians have decorated for each other, helping to warm up the cold season, evoking traditions that have passed from generation to generation, changing too as they go. The Farmer House museum's Christmas display is inspired by this balance between continuity and change.

The Farmer House continues to show Maiolica Not Majolica and other local/regional pottery (including featured holiday figurines specially created for us by Rita Jackson), Ed Farmer's WW2 memorabilia, hats from the forties and fifties, along with other displays.

The Farmer House Museum, built in 1869, founded as a museum in 1999, and revitalized in 2010, is located at 529 North College, across the street from Waffle House. For information call 336-5597. Hours are 10am - 1pm, Wednesday - Sunday, with additional hours to 2pm on Friday, 4pm on Saturday, and 2pm on Sunday. The museum is also open at other times, depending on volunteer availability. During the holiday season, we will be open on Fridays until seven pm (Dec. 7, 14, 21). There will be a reception on Dec. 21, 5-8pm.

• TIME: 10 a.m.

• WHERE: Farmer House Museum, 529 North College Av, Bloomington. 336-5597

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