A VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS by Trygg & Poshek

A VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS

By Koren Trygg & Lucy Poshek

A VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS , an Antioch Gourmet Gift Book, is a petite book of cherished Christmas traditions. It's the perfect size to slip into someone's stocking, and though out of print, it can be found here on Amazon.

This delightful book credits the Victorians for the "classic, festive holiday we cherish today". It was during the 19th century and Queen Victoria's reign that many of the age old customs were revived, "emphasizing their romantic and religious significance". The Christmas tree, a German tradition, dates to the 16th century. When Queen Victoria married Prince Albert, a German, she wanted him to feel at home and had a Christmas tree brought into the palace. Thus the practice of decorated Christmas trees became fashionable in British homes.

Gingerbread cookies decorated with red sugar were often hung on the trees for decoration.

Most of the ornaments were handmade.

Glass ornaments later became the fashion.

The Victorians took the pagan idea of hanging greens in the house as a welcomed opportunity to use wreaths and garlands of fresh greens to "dress up their homes in the spirit of the holidays".

The custom of Christmas cards dates fromVictorian times. The typical greeting of the time is the same as today, "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You."

Traditions of Christmas stockings, according to British legend, date from "when Saint Nicholas dropped some gold coins along with his gifts down a chimney. The coins would have fallen through the grate but were caught by a stocking that had been hung to dry on the hearth. Ever since then, children have been leaving their shoes or stockings to be filled on Christmas Eve."

Victorians loved their sweets and began preparing marmalades, jams, jellies, puddings, and cakes months ahead.

By December they began baking cookies and breads.

The last two chapters are devoted to special recipes that can be used as gifts from your kitchen or to host your own Victorian Christmas Feast. I selected the recipe for Old-Fashioned Gingerbread to share for Food For Thought because gingerbread is my favorite.

It's cold outside, so come on in by our cozy fire . . .

Where you can enjoy a cup of hot tea and a piece of gingerbread fresh from the oven.

"Had I but a penny in the world, thou shouldst have it for gingerbread."

William Shakespeare

Click the link below to see more FFT Edible Reviews

Joining Jain @ Food For Thought

Jain has invited everyone to visually share favorite holiday books during the month of December. I hope you'll join in with some of your favorite books, illustrating them with treasured collectables, holiday decorations, or food from the kitchen.

Also linking to:

A Few of My Favorite Things

Bargain Hunting & Chatting With Laurie

Seasonal Sundays @ The Tablescaper

Silver Sunday @ Gypsy Fish Journal

Tea Time Tuesday @ Rose Chintz Cottage

Tuesday Tea for Two @ The Plumed Pen

Tea Time Tuesday @ Lady Katherine's

A Return to Loveliness @ A Delightsome Life

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas

It was the Victorians who began a resurgence of an interest in Christmas, and many of the traditions of that period are reflected in the way we celebrate the season today. With a mix of old customs and new ones, this holiday has became a festival of good cheer and goodwill to others.

With a chill in the air and a cozy fire to keep me warm, I'll be busy this week putting up our little forest of trees around our home and adding other seasonal decor to honor this holiday. I don't have the house decorated yet, but I wanted to join in the seasonal blog parties happening today. I'm linking my Victorian inspired vignette to Deck The Halls with Susan @ BNOTP, Christmas with Victoria with Kathy @ Delightsome Life, and Tabletop Tuesday with Marty @ ASTL. I hope you'll stop by these blogs to see all the holiday inspiration everyone has to share today.

The Magic of Christmas ~ A Box Made with Heart

~ For Christmas Give Your Heart~

Mary Engelbreit Christmas Plate

by Applause Inc.

Debby @ The Cozy Blanket put together a Christmas box exchange, and I was paired with my sweet friend, The Cherry Chick. Vicki and I exchanged emails and decided to mail our boxes off to each other last week. She should have her box by Tuesday, but my box from Vicki arrived in Saturday's mail. It is a "gift made with heart!"

Look at this sweet little box that Vicki created just for me. "The Magic of Christmas" with its black and white checked ribbon, jolly old St. Nick, red gingham, and hearts.

Packed inside were some sweet surprises ~ Mary Engelbreit goodies!

And

These darling cherry earrings ~ made by the very talented Cherry Chick! Oh, I'm going to love wearing these!

I do believe that this sweet gift made with heart will find a special spot under our Christmas tree for years to come.

Thank you, Cherry Chick,

and thank you, Debby, for organizing this fun exchange.

Click here to see what others are sharing for M. E. Monday this week.

CHRISTMAS NUTSHELL LIBRARY by Hilary Knight

CHRISTMAS NUTSHELL LIBRARY

by Hilary Knight

Food for Thought ~ I'm serving up a platter of sweet miniature books. Sadly, now out of print, this little box of books, was first printed in 1963. The Nutshell Library is a set of four miniature volumes, each with it's own special little story for the Christmas season. They've been part of my Christmas joy for many years.

A FIREFLY IN A FIR TREE is well, A CHRISTMAS CAROL FOR MICE. Yes, each little page offers up a "mouse" version of THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS. From a "firefly in a fir tree to silver pins, thistle dusters, holly berries, bluebells, wrens nesting, spiders spinning, crickets singing, nuts for nibbling, tree toads leaping, feathers fanning, and bees abuzzing" this Carol for Mice is sure to make you smile.

ANGELS & BERRIES & CANDY CANES is an alphabet of yule-time pleasures. No text, just fanciful illustrations for each letter, so young ones can tell the story in their own words with clues from the bold Alphabet Letter of each page.

A CHRISTMAS STOCKING STORY is the whimsical story of how the animals fix Santa's merry Christmas mix-up. You know, even Santa can make a mistake!

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS is of course the classic poem by Clement C. Moore beautifully interpreted through the black and white illustrations of Mr. Knight.

~Now Serving a Platter of Chocolates ~

I couldn't resist these little blocks of sweet milk chocolates all wrapped up in foil jackets delightfully illustrated with the images of Molly Brett. Just look at this parade of woodland critters getting into the Christmas spirit. These little guys could have come straight out of the pages of a Nutshell Library.

Hope you'll join Jain @ Food for Thought , Laurie's A Few of My Favorite Things, and The Tablescaper @ Seasonal Sundays for more holiday fun.

Oh, and feel free to take a chocolate.

Scroll on down to read another Food for Thought review.

~ THE GIFT OF THE MAGI~

THE GIFT OF THE MAGI by O. Henry

THE GIFT OF THE MAGI

~Written by O. Henry ~

~ Illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger~

THE GIFT OF THE MAGI is not a new publication, and no doubt many of you reading this post have read this story of a young couple's sacrifice and love for each other. William Sidney Porter's short story was first published in a New York City newspaper in 1905. Since that time it has become known as a classic Christmas story of poverty, selfless love, and generosity.

Tis the day before Christmas and Della is distraught because she has but $1.87 with which to purchase a gift for her beloved husband, James. The young couple, struggling to make ends meet on $20 a week, lives in a bleak apartment in New York City.

The couple has but two treasured possessions among them ~ "Della's beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters" and "Jim's gold watch that had been his father's and his grandfather's." After a heartfelt cry, Della sets out onto the streets of the cold city to Mme Sofronie's Hair Goods of All Kinds. Then with another $20 in hand, Della spends the next two hours in search "of something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim."

With gift in hand, Della returns home to "repair the ravages made by generosity added to love." With heated curling irons her short hair becomes a mass of tiny curls, and she feels intoxicated with joy knowing that she has purchased the perfect Christmas gift for her beloved Jim ~ a fob chain for his treasured gold watch.

"At 7 o'clock the coffee was made and the frying pan was on the back of the stove hot and ready to cook the chops." When Jim walks into the apartment and see's Della's short bob, Della cannot read the expression on his face. He draws Della to him and then pulls a package from his pocket. For Jim had purchased a set of tortoise hair combs that Della had long admired in a shop window along Broadway.

Holding out the precious metal watch fob in her hand, Della hears Jim say that there is no longer a gold watch to be chained. For Jim has sacrificed his treasured gold watch to buy the tortoise combs for Della's vanished hair.

Wise beyond their years and full of selfless love for one another, Jim says, "Dell, let's put our Christmas presents away and keep 'em a while. They're too nice to use just at the present. . . . And now suppose you put the chops on."

William Sidney Porter, who wrote under the pen name of O. Henry, is known for witty and playful stories that end with a twist. He was born in Greensboro, NC in 1862. Porter moved to Austin in 1884 where he later married Athol Estes. He and Athol had a daughter, Margaret Worth Porter. The young family lived in this house which now serves as the O. Henry Museum.

It is both a National Registry Property and a National Literary Landmark. Specifics about the museum can be found at http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/ohenry/.

I recommend you pick up a copy of Lisbeth Zwerger's beautifully illustrated version of this famous story available here on Amazon. It's a perfect story to share the true meaning of gift giving ~ gifts given from one's heart with self-sacrifice and the generosity of love.

And now, let's eat that chop.

Joining Jain's Food for Thought featuring

Christmas & Holiday Themed Books in December

&

The Tablescaper's Seasonal Sundays

Don't Waste It

Andrews and McMeel of Kansas City published a series of Mary Engelbreit mini books. As they say, "it's an irresistible combination ~ our Little Books and Mary Engelbreit's enchanting illustrations." Only 3" x 4", they are the perfect little gift to pop into a special someone's stocking.

DON'T WASTE THE MIRACLE, is one that celebrates "the wonder, joy and miracle of Christmas" through a collection of Mary's illustrations.

My copy was a Christmas gift to me from Kate, a first grader in my class in 1994. Sixteen years later, I still enjoy the message of this little jewel. The simple, heartfelt words that accompany each illustration remind me to slow down and appreciate the simple things around me during the holiday season. "There's a miracle in Christmas, and the miracle is love."

M. E. Monday @ The Cherry Chick