Calgary Christmas 1885
Weekly Albertan – Wednesday, December 30, 1885
A Splendid Day — It is safe to say that in no part of the Dominion was Christmas celebrated amid such glorious weather as prevailed in Calgary last Friday. The sun blazed out from a cloudless sky, and with the thermometer at about 50 deg. fah. in the shade, pedestrians who took to strolling about the dry and snowless prairie were fain to throw open their waistcoasts to subdue the heat which the exercise provoked. It looks strange to see ladies carrying parasols on Christmas day, and although we did not notice any cases of that kind here, still we have seen them used on Ontario summer days when the sun and heat made much less demand for them. And last Christmas day was not an isolated instance either. During almost the whole of the season up to the present time the weather has been perfectly delightful, resembling very much the Indian summer of the east. Last Friday some planting of trees was endulged in, a game of baseball by the Polo Club formed one the amusements and croquet parties were to be seen engaged in that time-beguiling game on more than one of our private lawns. Verily we can commiserate the chilly easterners.
Weekly Albertan – Wednesday, December 16, 1885
School Entertainment — We would remind the public of the School Entertaiment in Boynton Hall on Friday night. The little folks are anxious to see all the parents and other friends out to hear them sing their songs and recite their pieces. A great number of tickets have been sold and a full house is expected.
Calgary Weekly Herald – Wednesday, December 23, 1885
The Oddfellows ball on Tuesday was a great success. Nearly two hundred of the members and their friends assembled to partake of the festivities of the evening. The supper was provided by Messrs Fletcher & McIntyre, which is a quite sufficient guarantee, of a handsome and well prepared spread.[Everyone] seemed to enjoy themselves thoroughly and went home in the early morning well satisfied with the capabilities of the Calgary Oddfellows in the ball giving department.
On the jump. That immense stock of Holiday Goods at Thomson Bros' Bookstore is rapidly diminishing. Do not put off your purchases until too late.
As will be seen from our advertising columns the Fish Creek Amateurs intent to give an entertainment in the Boynton Hall next Thursday. The programme, finally decided on, consists of the farce of Which is Which, followed by a short concert, in which several well know Calgary musical amateurs have consented to take part. The performance will conclude with a very amusing little piece entitled the Highwayman's Holiday.
Calgary Weekly Herald – Wednesday, December 30, 1885
Xmas was observed in Calgary in an orderly but very hearty manner. Outside a Ranchers' dinner on Xmas eve, a game of hockey at the rink, a children's entertainment and a house-warming at the Royal, there was very little to entertain the casual stranger. Little dinner parties all over the town and throughout the district — where tog-ts to "the folks at home" met with special favor — accounted for the whereabouts of the great majority of the citizens during the day.