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On the cover of our Christmas 2026 issue is the home of Bill and Beverly Mitchell of New Braintree, Massachusetts. Their remarkable home began as the Ditch Meadow School in 1823 and remained a schoolhouse until the early 1900s, when a second floor was added. Today, the historic building is filled with quality early American country and primitive antiques collected by Bill and Beverly over the past twenty years.
Inside this issue, you will also tour four additional homes: a 1910 Pennsylvania farmhouse transformed by Holly and Rick Weirick, an exceptional Southern collection in Alabama, a Texas home devoted to the Pilgrim style, and the Minnesota home of folk artist Michelle Christopherson.
5 Home Tours
Rick and Holly Weirick of Middleburg, Pennsylvania
Bill and Beverly Mitchell of New Braintree, Massachusetts
Greg and Sonja Rich of Decatur, Alabama
Pat Evans of Magnolia, Texas
Randy and Michelle Christopherson of Brainerd, Minnesota
This Christmas issue is packed with antique education, Christmas history, decorating ideas, and collecting stories, including:
Fire, Froth, and Fellowship in Early Taverns
Kim Waln introduces the flip dog, also called a toddy rod, loggerhead, or mulling rod.
Not Your Ordinary Tree Skirt
Discover twelve unexpected antiques to use beneath or around the Christmas tree.
From Old World Glass to American Shine
Follow the Christmas ornament from the glassblowing workshops of Lauscha, Germany, to the American production of Shiny Brite ornaments. Learn how early ornaments were made, why collectors call them “mercury glass,” and how wartime shortages changed their appearance.
From Sleigh to Santa: The Bells of Christmas
Al Grella traces the sleigh bell from a necessary warning device on early snow-covered roads to one of the most recognizable sounds of the Christmas season.
A Beginner’s Guide to Speaking Antiques
Learn the meaning of fundamental collecting terms everyone should know
Holiday Trade Cards That Captured a Nation’s Imagination
T.C. Waln explores how colorful trade cards became a revolutionary form of late-19th-century advertising and helped spread the images of Santa Claus, Christmas trees, and other holiday traditions across the country.
The addition of a Pilgrim-style home also allows us to explore antiques we have not previously discussed in the magazine, including an Elizabethan court cupboard dating to approximately 1530–1540, a Hadley chest, and a William-and-Mary high chest.
You will also find "What Did It Sell For?", The APP Journal, an Artisan Spotlight on Carriage House Lighting, a soldier’s remarkable account of a Christmas night that helped change the course of the American Revolution, Prim Projects, the Christmas Pantry, quick and easy recipes, and so much more!
