Home for the Holidays
Home for the Holidays
Tuesday, Nov 25, 2025 | 3 - 4pm Tuesday, Nov 25, 2025 | 4 - 5pm Saturday, Dec 20, 2025 | 11am - 12pm Saturday, Dec 20, 2025 | 1 - 2pm Saturday, Dec 20, 2025 | 2 - 3pm CT
The National Willa Cather Center
425 N Webster St
Red Cloud, NE 68970
United States
"It is not a very great while till Christmas now. One begins to feel the restlessness and secrecy in the air, and to smell the cedar and see the holly gleaming in the windows. Almost every one I meet has a bundle and is hurrying home to hide it."
–Willa Cather, Nebraska State Journal, December 17, 1893
Join us this holiday season for a new guided tour focusing on the Victorian Christmas traditions Willa Cather and her Red Cloud community observed during this festive time of year. This year’s tour will specifically focus on Cather's love of Christmas, from the decorations popular during her childhood to the unique holiday cards she sent to loved ones each year. We know Cather often traveled to Red Cloud to spend Christmas with her family, and holiday depictions turn up in novels and short stories such as My Ántonia and "The Burglar's Christmas." She likely carried with her fond memories of annual Red Cloud Christmas traditions that included an annual supper and even a masquerade ball!
Registration for this tour includes:
- A tour of the Willa Cather Childhood Home, adorned for the holidays
- A copy of "The Burglar's Christmas," Cather's 1896 short story
- Materials and instructions to craft a Victorian-inspired ornament
- Festive seasonal refreshments
