The651.com

I make no bones about the fact that I envy my kids the era that they are growing up in. Tech – and culture in general – is just way cooler than it was when I was a kid. Of course the flip side is they really don’t appreciate how lucky they are, because they’ve never experienced a world that wasn’t totally customizable and on-demand.

So it never hurts to remind them how things used to be. I really wish there was a place where you could live in the 80s for a day so the kids could experience things like the Nintendo NES, 5lb. cell phones, cassette-tape answering machines and the spectacular “hi-res” color graphics of the Apple IIe.

Unfortunately there is no such place that I know of, but there are certainly ways of experiencing life as it used to be. Two of the best happen over the next few weeks in St. Paul. Both are holiday-themed and focused on life in the late 1800s.

The first is “Hill House Holidays” at the James J. Hill House on Summit Avenue. Actors dressed in period servants’ costumes take visitors on an hour-long walkthrough of Christmas preparations at the house during its heydey. The details of the story come largely from actual letters written by servants at the house  at the turn of the last century. The program starts in the nice parts of the house, then goes “behind the scenes” into the kitchen and servants areas. Nothing like an early-1900s kitchen to make you realize how much more convenient our lives are now.

A second, similar event happens at the Ramsey House. “Homecoming: A Victorian Christmas” is set a few decades earlier, and is a guided tour that includes a Christmas tree decked out in blown-glass ornaments, a dining room table all set up for 1875 Christmas dinner, and music being played on a period Steinway piano.

This coming Wednesday evening, Dec. 16th, Ramsey House also hosts a one-time event called “The Dolls Victorian Christmas”, which is a special children’s tour featuring the dollhouse and extensive doll collection of Alexander Ramsey’s youngest granddaughter. Kids are encouraged to dress up and bring a doll to the event.

I think all these are a pretty good way to take a break from the Pokemon/Super Mario world for an hour, and give the kids a sense of how it used to be.

Many more details on all these events at the MN Historical Society website. They recommend advance reservations in most cases.