Victorian Cottage Christmas Tour
Back Parlor
Illustrated London News engraving of Christmas tree at Windsor Castle, 1848
The Christmas Tree
engraving from illujstrated london news 1882
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert made the Christmas tree popular when a sketch of them standing with their family around the tree, a tradition reminiscent of Prince Albert's childhood in Germany, was first published in the Illustrated London News in 1848.
News soon spread to the United States where the tradition was quickly adopted.
Ornaments & Gifts
Trees were typically adorned with candles, sweets, fruit, homemade decorations and small gifts. Paper cones were hung with expectations of being filled with nuts or fruit.
the night before christmas; photo uncredited
Gifts were simple, an unwrapped hand made item or a toy. Small gifts were hung from the branches and larger gifts were arranged around the base of the tree.
Drums, toy soldiers, skates and sleds were common for little boys and fans, books, note paper, and dolls and dollhouses were given to little girls.
victorian christmas shopping; photo uncredited
Before electric Christmas lights, families would use candles to light up their Christmas trees. This practice was often dangerous and led to many home fires. uncredited photo
Edward H. Johnson, Edison’s friend and partner in the Edison’s Illumination Company, put the very first string of electric Christmas tree lights together in 1882.
Johnson hand-wired 80 red, white and blue light bulbs and wound them around his Christmas tree. Not only was the tree illuminated with electricity, it also revolved.
However, there was a great mistrust of electricity and it would take many more years for people to accept them for home use. General Electric began to offer pre-assembled kits of Christmas lights in 1903.
Stringed lights were reserved for the wealthy and electrically savvy. Lighting an average Christmas tree with electric lights before 1903 would have cost $2000.00 in today’s dollars.
The Sadacca family owned a novelty lighting company, and in 1917, Albert, a teenager at the time, suggested that their store offer brightly colored strands of Christmas lights to the public.
By the 1920’s Albert and his brothers organized the National Outfit Manufacturers Association (NOMA), a trade association. NOMA soon became NOMA Electric Co., with its members cornering the Christmas light market until the 1960’s.
A Christmas Carol at the Bolton Octagon. Photograph: Richard Davenport/The Other Richard
Christmas Dinner
For the Christmas holiday, the table would have been set with the family’s finest linens and china and the meal would have been served around 1:00 pm. Once a year delicacies might have featured a variety of heavy dishes such as roast goose or beef, stuffed ham, boned turkey, mince pies (with meat - not sweets), white potatoes and sweet potatoes, nuts, squash, cakes and pies…yum.
