Christmas in America from the 1940s through the 1960s meant aluminum trees, department store Santas, and cartoon specials on TV. Every kid in the suburbs had to have an Easy-Bake Oven, a G.I. Joe, or a Slinky. The coolest houses had rotating color wheels for their trees.

Historian Leslie Goddard explores this optimistic era in a new illustrated, virtual lecture, using photographs, advertisements, greeting cards, and catalogs to explore why this era was a turning point for how we celebrate the holidays.