How to Entertain at Christmas c1880 - The Ladies Treasury of Costume and Fashion

Christmas

hristmas gatherings, if not entirely confined to the family, as a rule mainly composed of relatives, possibly of all ages. I know one happy home where four generations have assembled for the last three Christmas Days.

Unfortunately, family parties do not inevitably mean concord, though they ought to do so. There are always some lonely people whom it is a charity to include in the invitations; and while conferring a kindness, a hostess may possibly by their presence be tending to preserve the general harmony.

The one ingredient to be universally infused is gladness. Everybody can, at all events, endeavour to bring goodwill and a smiling countenance to the festive board, banishing for a time the recollection of everyday worries. There is all the rest of the year to think of them. This is peculiarly the children's time, and we would have them as happy as we were in the old Christmas Days of long ago.

The party may assemble only on Christmas Day, or the house may be full from Christmas Eve until over Twelfth Night; in both cases much depends upon the hostess.

The Home

I think it was Lord Beaconsfield who said that happiness was atmosphere. To bring about a general feeling of enjoyment, much depends on the surroundings. The house must be cheerful, the ruling power animated. It is worth while to bestow some little trouble on the decoration of the rooms. Have plenty of shining holly and laurel too and don't omit the mistletoe, for we have long ago forgotten all about the paganism, magic and superstition which surrounded it, and have relegated it to scenes of social merriment.

I like to see a motto of welcome wrought in holly hanging in the hall. Flowers brighten up a room wonderfully, and should you have enough to spare, I would advocate the American plan of making bells and balls of flowers to hand beneath chandeliers and over doors. They look best entirely of one kind of bloom. The balls are easily made by tying the ends with string, the bells require a foundation of the bell shape. Last year we made this of crinoline wire covered with coarse muslin about twelve inches long and hid it entirely with mistletoe; the waxen berries looked extremely pretty among the greenery as it hung over the doorway.

See that there is an abundance of Christmas literature about. Servants and children as well as the grown up guests delight in looking at pictures. A pretty, well-written story of Christmas happiness is wont to diffuse a sense of enjoyment among its readers. The glowing freshly-written pictures of Christmas shops and the holiday people in the Christmas numbers of our magazines inspire us with a renewed power of happiness as each season comes round.

Be sure that your hearth burns brightly. Though the Yule log of Scandinavian origin is no longer drawn in by household retainers, bestridden by old Father Christmas, to be kept alight if possible to Candlemas, you will have no bad substitute in a fair-sized piece of ship's timber crackling in the grate.

It does not come within my province to enter upon the question of Christmas cheer. The board should be as liberally spread as means will allow. Children delight in a substantial tea, over which their elders can preside before their own Christmas dinner is served. An abundance of crackers and bon-bons add to the general fun - which, by-the-by, I have known enhanced by drawing lots for partners at the dinner-table.

Giving Presents

Everybody likes presents, and presents are inseparably connected with the season. There are two points to be considered: first, what to give, and then how best to make the giving a source of pleasure. The poor should not be forgotten. A good plan is the Christmas basket, carried pedlar fashion into the hall and its contents distributed by all the members of the family to the poor neighbours invited to be present and to the servants. Such charity is doubly welcome accompanied by kindly words and wishes, and it greatly delights the young to see their handiwork appreciated.

A snowball about a yard in circumference, made in two halves, with calico covered with wadding, on a wire foundation, filled with presents, may be rolled into the room and allowed to burst open, when a general scramble ensues. A gipsy-tent rigged up in a back drawing room, with a presiding gipsy up to her work, who distributes the gifts with an appropriate word or two to each recipient, or a post office or parcels delivery office, with some bustling officials, may be made to produce a great deal of fun. We had a very successful distribution once from a hen's nest, concocted out of a clothes basket, the gifts wrapped up to represent eggs, and the whole surmounted by a stuffed hen; but it went off so well because we had a clever hen wife, who, dressed in flowered skirts and a high pointed cap like Mother Hubbard, delighted everybody.

The Mummers, the Lord of Misrule, St Nicholas or Knecht Rupert may be made to put in an appearance and give away the presents. Knecht Rupert, in Germany, makes the distribution according to the deserts of the children, dressed in a white robe, a mask, flaxen wig and high buskins. The Lord of Misrule wears the high top-boots of Charles II's time, ruff at throat and a flowing robe. He has been resuscitated of late for the special purpose of present-giving on more than one occasion.

A Christmas ship has the advantage of being very pretty and of exercising some ingenuity. A boy clever at carpentry could even make a good-sized one. The presents are concealed in the hold; two feet long is a good size, and the rigging crystallised with alum to look like snow is a great improvement.

Games and Pastimes

These distributions may take place at night or during the day, but at this season there is plenty to amuse during the day-time - long walks, when the weather is favourable, or maybe skating and a good game of battledore and shuttlecock, or the improvement upon it, Badminton, indoors, if it rains; in which case, too, let me recommend bean bags. For this make four bags six inches square, of strong Holland, and half fill them with dry peas. The two players stand before each other, a bag in each hand, and throw simultaneously with both hands. The bag hurled from the right hand must pass to the left hand of the vis-a-vis, while the bag in the left hand is passed to the right, and the left hand receives the opponent's bag from his right. The double movement is difficult and requires knack, but is good exercise.

If the skating-ground be near the house, some hot drinks are acceptable, especially to those standing on the banks. I give the recipe for one which is always approved, viz. egg wine;- Beat up two eggs and a little cold water; boil one pint of elder wine with spice, then beat all well together, pouring from one vessel to the other, replace it on the fire till it boils and drink when quite hot.

When the Vicar of Wakefield's altered fortunes obliged him to repair with his family to a distant neighbourhood, we read how his new parishioners "kept up Christmas Carol, sent true love knots on Valentine's morning, ate pancakes on Shrovetide, showed their wit on the first of April and religiously cracked nuts on Michaelmas Eve"; and these observances of old customs would seem to savour of a taste for simple pleasures. If carol-singing be one of the, it is certainly being revived amongst us, and this delightful form of musical amusement by young people is a Christmas pleasure worth cultivation.

If you bring your entertainments from without, there is a choice of conjuring, a Punch and Judy show, bell-ringing, fettuccini and the magic lantern. In the letter each year there are marked improvements, and you may follow the fortunes of Tam o'Shanter, Don Quixote, the Forty Thieves and Johnny Gilpin, or visit the scene of the Afghan or the Zulu War, or discover the wonders of the microscope, or enjoy the pranks of a Christmas pantomime as displayed from the lens on the white sheet.

Besides bagatelle, lotto, spelicans, dominoes and the rest, there are some newer games such as Chinese Gong, Patchesi, "How Stanley Attained Congo" and "Doggett's coat and badge boat-race" and each week something new is brought out.

Recitations are just now very fashionable, and it is quite worth while to prepare some beforehand. Do not let them be too pathetic. Shakespearian readings always please, I mean those in which each part is read by a different person, but read carefully and studied beforehand. A diversity of such amusement each evening would make a fortnight or three weeks pass all too quickly, and render the remembrance of Christmas time memorably pleasant. Recitations from good and entertaining authors never come amiss.

I cannot do better than conclude with one of the best of Christmas good wishes: "Many merry Christmases, many happy New Years, unbroken friendships, great accumulation of cheerful recollections, affection on earth and heaven at last."

The Ladies Bazaar