Christmas in the 1900s

YEAR: 2023DIFFICULTY: ElaborateAUDIENCE: Family w/ TeensSTYLE: Activities at HomeTHEME: Decades

Dec 8

Written By Ben Sommerfeld

Another new theme that is being introduced this year is “Christmas Through the Decades”. Each year, we’ll cover one decade at a time and celebrate the top toys, the décor trends, the nostalgic foods, and the historical events of that era.

We start at the turn of the 20th Century with 1900-1909. We learned that in this era, the holiday decorations consisted largely of paper ornaments and gilded nuts, which made for fun craft projects with the kids. That fit perfectly as well with the introduction of Crayola and their crayons in 1903. The holiday tradition of Advent calendars also became popular in the 1900s along with a prevalence of sugar plums, likely connected to the 1892 premier of “The Nutcracker”. We also celebrated the introduction of the Nickelodeon in 1905 by watching three short Christmastime films from the decade. What might have been the highlight of the evening, though, was playing some Victorian parlor games that were common at holiday get togethers. Our favorite was Snapdragon, which involves grabbing raisins from a pan of flaming brandy.

There were a lot of historical events that tied in nicely to our festivities as well. The ongoing construction of the Trans-Siberian Railroad during the decade ensured a playing of Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Christmas albums. The 1900 Boxer Rebellion in China allowed for Ben to get a pair of Christmas print boxers. Marconi’s sending of the first wireless transmission in 1901 prompted a lunchtime of holiday-shaped “Marconi & cheese”. And in 1909, Robert Peary and Matthew Hanson (controversially) reached the North Pole for the 1st time. Obviously Christmas related on its own, it also tied in nicely to our trying one of the iconic cocktails of the era… the Metropole. The Wright Brother’s 1903 flight also connected nicely to another cocktail… the Aviation.

For the formal holiday dinner feast, it was interesting to learn that turkey had not come to dominate holiday tables yet. Instead, goose and pork were the most common proteins. Oysters were also incredibly common, both on their own and in many dishes, as they were very incredibly prolific and inexpensive at the time. Our dinner received a great help from Fannie Farmer and her “Fannie Farmer Cookbook” that was published in 1896, which came complete with a recommended holiday menu. We tried to stay true to it, but we couldn’t complete the dozens of dishes she recommends. However, we did get to duchess potatoes, creamed onions, Nesselrode frozen pudding, and several more.

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