The Western Development Museum will bring in the ghosts of Christmases past this holiday season.
Its Christmas public program will put visitors in a holiday scene “at Grandma’s house” in 1910.
It will show how families celebrated Christmas with wood burning fireplace and wood cook stove.
The museum will also demonstrate how families prepared for the holidays by cleaning rugs and washing clothes by hand.
Participants will see how houses were decorated in 1910 and have the chance to open gifts from that era, many of which would be handmade.
The program initiated in at the Saskatoon Western Development Museum for Kindergarten students. The Moose Jaw location adapted the program for elementary school students and grew to include the general public program as well.
While the program was first made for school children, the public program welcomes all ages.
“We’ve even had a few seniors come on their own with no young people because they think it’s a nice idea to come and maybe reminisce a little about how things were when they were young, maybe things they remember from their grandparents homes many years ago,” public programs coordinator Karla Rasmussen said.
The public program is sold out for Dec. 14. There are still spots available at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Dec. 21 and 10 a.m. on Dec. 24.
To register contact the Western Development Museum at 306-693-5989. The cost is the museum’s general admission.
Along with the Christmas program, the Western Development Museum will also be showing nine films for the National Film Board from Dec. 21 to Jan. 5.
The films will be shown for no additional charge.
“A lot of people have family visiting over the Christmas holidays, kids are off school, so why not spend a few more moments in the museum and check out some of our great Canadian Films,” Rasmussen said.
Some of the films being shown include Lord of the Sky, The Great Toy Robbery, Meltdown and Snowcat.
Over the holidays, the museum will be open until 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve and closed Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
They will reopen Dec. 27 until 3 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. The WDM will be closed New Year’s Day.
The museum will then move into their winter hours from January to March. They will be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.
