An Edwardian Christmas -

We have been learning all about the Edwardians in our home school. After much discussion, we decided that we would attempt to have an Edwardian Christmas.

As a family, we have already had a Victorian Christmas, a Mr Men Christmas party and a medieval banquet. They were big parties along side some presentations to finish off their unit study. We hadn’t quite finished the Edwardian period because at the last minute I decided I would extend the period to 1914 the beginning of the First World War. So, I am giving the girls six more weeks to finish up this extension, after which they will do their presentations. This meant that our Edwardian Christmas was not such a massive event as our past feasts.

Edwardian Christmas Decorations

Home-made paper chains:

We just made these out of coloured card and sticky tape. Back at the beginning of last century, children would have used coloured paper and a glue made from flour and water. I used to use that as a child, and I know how temperamental it can be, so I opted for the less authentic double-sided sticky tape:

Edwardian Christmas Baubles:

I love these baubles. They are very fragile and are made from glass. They belonged to my great auntie Peg, who handed them down to my mum who then gifted them to me. Unfortunately, two are already broken, but the others are perfect:

Edwardian Christmas Tin Tree Ornaments:

These I bought from Amazon, and were literally called Edwardian Tin Ornaments. To be honest, I’m not sure how authentic they really are. That said, they are pretty and are definitely a lovely addition to our regular Christmas ornaments:

Home-made Crochet and Wooden Ornaments:

I think probably anything home-made could pass for an Edwardian ornament! The crochet ornaments were crocheted by somebody in our village and left around the village for anyone to pick up and take home as a gift. The wooden ones are primarily made from cinnamon sticks and dried oranges:

Edwardian Christmas Cards

I loved these home-made Edwardian Christmas cards using the art from Beatrix Potter and the same card we used for the paper chains. The girls wrote one each for the other members of the family and we hung them up over our fire place. I love them so much, I am keeping them to hang up next year as well!

Edwardian Christmas Stockings

Christmas stockings first appeared during the Victorian era, and would have been the very best home-made version the family could afford. During the Edwardian times the stockings were filled with simple wooden toys, dollies and tea sets along with newly available shop bought boiled sweets such as aniseed rock and peppermint rock:

Edwardian Christmas Crackers

I made these out of a brown card template. The inside cracking bit and the riddles came out of some left over crackers from last year. However, as Edwardian crackers did not contain a toy yet, I left that out. Gary and I went Christmas shopping in a lovely old town. Whilst there I bought some old fashioned wrapping paper. I cut squares of this to decorate each of the crackers:

I popped them on the table:

Edwardian Christmas Fare

I could kick myself because I forgot to take photos of the food and took a couple half way through of the half eaten meal. I had cooked a chicken inside a goose inside a turkey, or at least that is what I asked the butchers for. For some reason, they added a pheasant as well. I also made before hand some braised red cabbage and apple, homemade cranberry sauce and Parmesan parsnips. We decorated the table simply: