According to the Rice Collection annotation, this is a Philip Mayer photograph of the main street of Perry. This photograph was taken during the Christmas season during nightfall; holiday lights are strung over Main Street.
Idealized illustration of family at the holiday appears in William Makepeace Thayer's "Merry Christmas: A Christmas Present for Children and Youth." A popular children's writer, Thayer attempted to weed out the pagan traditions from Christian piety,…