It’s said that Christmas traditions as we know them started with the Victorians but one of the things about being a Regency author is that you know which traditions are pre-Regency and which come later.

Book #1 - October 2010

Christmas decorations in the house comprised branches of greenery, with rosemary and bay, laurel and mistletoe entwined. People would also dress themselves in garlands of greenery for the Christmas festival, so as well as looking festive they would also smell rather nice!

It was Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III, who first introduced the Christmas tree to England. The tree must have been something of a fire hazard as it was lit by candles and decorated with small gifts of toys and sweetmeats. Queen Charlotte also introduced the idea of giving Christmas cards to friends and relatives although this was not widely done before the Victorian period.

Book #2 - November 2010

Christmas presents were exchanged on 6th December, St Nicholas’s Day, or a New Year gift on Twelfth Night, with a verse of poetry attached. If you belonged to the gentry you were expected to give charitable gifts to the poor on Christmas Eve and also put on a feast that night for your servants and employees, with a lot of ale and carol singing late into the night!

The Christmas Day festivities would start early (or probably simply carry on from the night before). William Holland, a vicar in Somerset, writes in his diary of 1801 that he and his family were woken at five in the morning by the church musicians serenading them outside, accompanied by carol singers:

Book #3 - December 1

“The singers at the window tuned forth a most dismal ditty, half drunk and with the most wretched voices.” It doesn’t sound a very nice way to be woken on Christmas Day!

On Christmas Day the rich would probably dine on lamb and they would eat their turkey on Twelfth Night. Turkeys were transported to London on the stagecoach from Norfolk. William Holland dined on sprats (fish) and a woodcock on Christmas Day and considered that quite a feast. Mince pies and Christmas cake were also a feature of the menu although the Christmas Cake was known as the Twelfth Cake and was also eaten on Twelfth Night. I like the idea of having a party on Twelfth Night!

The Christmas holidays lasted for several weeks because of the time it took to travel to visit family and friends. Entertainments during the Twelve Nights of Christmas would include parties, balls and ice skating, with games of charades and lots of singing Christmas songs around the open fire. It all sounds wonderfully cosy and it must have been lovely to have the whole family together. Many of the early years of the nineteenth century were very snowy at Christmas too, which would make it feel very festive!

Happy Christmas!
Nicola Cornick

Available Today!


One aspect of Irish culture I loved researching for Duchess of Sin was Christmas!  No one loves a good holiday party more than the Irish.  Christmas has always been a time filled with visiting, dancing, and music, and good food.  I learned a lot about Irish Christmas traditions as a child in my grandparents’ house, which was always a wonderful time.  My grandmother would make plum puddings and ginger cakes, put up holly wreaths and mistletoe kissing boughs, and play Irish Christmas music all the time (I listen to The Chieftain’s Christmas CD every year!).

She also kept a candle in the window (albeit an electric one that wouldn’t start a fire!), and when I asked her why she told me what her mother told her.  The candle was a symbol of welcome to Mary and Joseph as they traveled looking for shelter (and in time of the Penal Laws could also be a sign of a safe place to say Catholic Mass).  One tradition said the candle should be lit by the youngest member of a household and only extinguished by a girl named Mary.

Nollaig Shona Duit (Merry Christmas) everyone!  I hope you enjoy Anna and Conlan’s story as much as I did.  For more information, excerpts, recipes, etc, please visit my website at http://laurelmckee.net.  And if you’d like to create a bit of a traditional Christmas for yourself, here is my grandmother’s old recipe for plum pudding (she used to say it was best to make this a year in advance and let it “mellow,” but she would mostly start it at the beginning of Advent…)

Ingredients

Fruit Mixture (to be made 4 days ahead)
1 pound seedless raisings1 pound sultana raisins½ pound currants
1 cup thinly sliced citron
1 cup chopped candied peel
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp mace
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp allspice
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 pound finely chopped suet (powdery fine)
1 ¼ cups cognac

Pudding

1 ¼ pounds fresh bread crumbs
1 cup scalded milk
1 cup sherry or port
12 eggs, well beaten
1 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
Cognac

Preparation

Blend the fruits, citron, peel, spices and suet and place in a bowl or jar.  Add ¼ cup cognac, cover tightly, and refrigerate for 4 days, adding ¼ cup cognac each day.
Soak the bread crumbs in milk and sherry or port.  Combine the well-beaten eggs and sugar.  Blend with the fruit mixture.  Add salt and mix thoroughly.  Put the pudding in buttered bowls or tins, filling them about 2/3 full.  Cover with foil and tie it firmly.  Steam for 6—7 hours.  Uncover and place in a 250 degree oven for 30 minutes.  Add a dash of cognac to each pudding, cover and keep in a cool place.

To use, steam again for 2-3 hours and unmold.  Sprinkle with sugar; add heated cognac.  Ignite and bring to table.  Serve with cognac sauce.

I’m also giving away an autographed copy of DUCHESS OF SIN. Comment to enter to win!

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By Giveaways, Grand Central, Harlequin63 Comments on Christmas Traditions

63 Replies to “Christmas Traditions”

  1. Sounds like some place I would of wanted to be for Christmas. I could sense the smells of season just reading your post and imagine being there. Your book covers are beautiful. Thanks for the recipe. Sounds yummy.

  2. Wonderful post! Thanks for the look into these historical Christmas celebrations. And the books would make perfect presents–for me. 🙂

  3. I love reading about Christmas traditions! I have a picture in my mind what a Christmas tree would look like lit with candles. It must have been beautiful, but really, how many houses burned down because of it?? Even with the candles in the window, I hope they kept the curtains pulled back. Scary! I’d really like to try that recipe, too! Thanks for sharing it. I hope everyone enjoys the holidays this year!

  5. Christmas traditions always have the same ending, family and friends all come together. I also enjoyed reading Nicola and Laurel’s posts about Christmas. I definitely want to read about Anna and Conlan. Thanks for sharing.
    Carol L.
    Lucky4750@aol.com

  6. Sounds wonderful, I would love living in the past… well for a little while. I like it when a author can bring to life the words from their books, it was like I was there.

  8. Would love an old fashion holiday were the entire family was able to spend an extended time together enjoying it. Pretty hard to get everyone together for a little bit now due to work, distance and obligations. Hope everyone here has a chance to enjoy the holidays.

  9. And yet another reason why I love The Season!! I can always count on finding a new author and/or book to read. I truly love reading holiday romances….Thanks!

  10. Thank you for the posts! I like to read about these things.
    Being Danish (Grandpa immigrated from Denmark), we still have many Danish traditions at Christmas from food to decorations. (Pebbernodder cookies, klejner cookies, heart-shaped woven baskets for the tree. We used to dance around the Christmas tree when I was little.)
    Merry CHRISTmas!

  11. I loved finding out more about English and Irish Christmas traditions and some of them really brought me back to my childhood.

    Christmas took on a new meaning when our first son was born on St. Nicholas’s Day (and 38 years later he still thinks he should get a birthday and “early” Christmas gift that day). He was a big surprise, not only because he was born 4 weeks early but also because he weighed 9 lbs, 9 oz. (and I weighted 103 after having him). I obvously disagree that good things come in “small packages” at Christmastime – unless it’s a book.

  12. Great post today Nicola. I love reading about Christmas traditions from times past. That Plum Pudding recipe sounds delicious too!

  15. I have always been interested in the why? behind our traditions so I enjoyed reading this post…and that recipe sounds delicious to a lover of fruitcake!

  16. Great Plum Pudding recipe. I always make mince pies for Christmas, I try to give my kids a bit of an English christmas. Ours is a mix of English and German traditions…hehe!!!!

    Valerie
    in Germany

  18. What a lovely post. Reall y interesting facts that I did not know. Puts me in the Christmas spirit! Thanks for sharing!

  22. Christmas Holiday stories are a favorite. I have a whole shelf of Christmas stories and a double stacked shelf of just Christmas anthologies. It is the time of the year that almost anything can happen which certainly gives an author a lot of plot ideas to work with.

    Nicola, thank you for the interesting information on Christmas traditions. We celebrate on Christmas day and again on Epiphany. I always have one gift for everyone for that day. With everyone so busy, going in so many different directions, it is hard enough getting together for a day or two let alone for 12 days of celebration.

    Laurel, Our family traditions were a blend of French and Irish. The french traditions centered around the extended family attending midnight mass together then going to my grandparents for brunch afterwards. We would get home late (early) and Santa had come, so we would open our gifts then go to bed. Smart on my parents’ part. Everyone would sleep in on Christmas morning. The ‘irish’ side of the family had everyone to my grandparents’ house for a big Christmas dinner in the afternoon then open presents. There was always a long afternoon of visiting and playing. Miss those times. The grandparents and aunts and uncles are all gone and we live almost 1,000 away . Luckily our children and their families live close by and we get together for Christmas dinner. Have printed out your grandmother’s recipe and will give it a try.

    Hope you both have a wonderful Christmas Holiday.

  23. Really enjoyed hearing about Christmas traditions from both of these authors. Nicola mentions the fire hazards of tree lit with candles. My husbands family is from Scandinavia and it is the way they decorate the tree. There are special candle holders used (which have a weighted end to ensure the candle stays upright) and they hook onto the branch. The candles themselves burn cleanly so that there is no residue when it has completely burned down. The chosen tree has plenty of space between the layers of branches so that it is easy to place the item so that flame is not directed at anything flammable. It really is a beautiful sight. Still the tree is well hydrated and generally fresh cut near Christmas day and there is a bucket of water kept nearby.

    Love old recipes. Thanks to Laurel for sharing the recipe. It would be hard to be disciplined enough to age a treat for a year, though.

  26. A lot of the old traditions sound better than some of today’s commercialized versions. All the books sound wonderful!!

  27. ooh Thank you for the recipe. I think I have to try it this holiday season! Have a wonderful week everyone!

  28. Great post to start getting me in the holiday mood! I’ve been a bit Scroogey lately, but this post put a smile on my face. Traditions are a great part of the holiday and it’s some of the smallest things we’ve done that I remember the most.

  31. I never made a plumpudding before but after reading this recipe I definitely wanna give it a go. It does have to steam for a long time but I guess that’s what makes it taste good.

  32. I enjoyed this post. It’s always fun to learn more about how Christmas was celebrated historically.
    Wow, that plum pudding sounds pretty potent. I never knew they used sherry and cognac in it.

  34. I have never had plum pudding, so I just might give that recipe a try.

    It’s very interesting to learn more about Christmas traditions and see how they have changed and developed over time. Thanks for sharing these posts. Hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

  35. Thanks so much for visiting this post and telling us about your own Christmas traditions, everyone! I love hearing how other people spend their holidays, and how they incorporate their own family traditions. (Librarypat, I always went to midnight Mass with my grandparents too, and I loved the nativity pageant they would have beforehand and the wonderful music! Though my grandfather would usually fall asleep and start snoring before it was over…)

    I’m not much of a cook and haven’t attempted the plum pudding myself, so if anyone else does let me know! 🙂

  36. I love hearing about others Christmas traditions. Christmas is my favorite time of the year and I can’t wait. Hope everyone has a happy holiday season!

  40. Sounds like a wonderful Christmas! We always just spend time with friends and family. The recipe sounds awesome, will have to try it sometime.

  43. what a wonderful post! i love hearing about how christmas traditions are celebrated in other countries and other time periods! i have a question, though…..is there a good substitute for suet? it’s not very easy to come by…at least around here…

    k_sunshine1977 at yahoo dot com

  44. Thanks for sharing the recipe and the information on Christmas traditions. It sounds like that would be fun to spend the time and do all those activities with family and friends.

  47. I enjoy hearing about holiday traditions in other countries, and I’ve always wanted to go to Ireland. I manage to do that in books.

  48. Nicola and Laurel, thank you so much for the great post. I love hearing about other Christmas traditions. I’ll have to tell my bestfriend she needs to come and blow out the candle at Christmas. LOL. Congratulations and Happy Release Day to you both. I hope your books go into 5 printings. Joyeux Noel!

  49. I wish I lived in Regency times reading this, it sounded so cozy and fun!
    And an Irish Christmas sounds wonderful! What a happy and festive post this was to read!!!

  50. I was thinking too about how much of a fire hazard those old Christmas trees were too. I wonder how they were able to hang so many candles on the boughs without things catching on fire. It looks lovely though.

  51. Thanks so much for the warm welcome and for sharing all your Christmas customs with us. It’s been lovely and put me in a very festive mood, especially as there is snow on the ground here in the UK and everything looks very Christmassy! I’m definitely trying that recipe this year, Laurel. Happy holidays, everyone!

  52. Thank you Nicola and Laurel for the interesting post about Christmas in the past and congratulations on your new releases!

  55. Celebrating Christmas for twelve days (instead of Christmas Eve to New Years Day) sound great!

  56. Celebrating for twelve days does sound wonderful.
    My Italian family always kept the Christmas decorations up until The Epiphany – January 6th. We didn’t party until then because we had to go back to work January 2nd.
    Your books sound great. The art department came up with an especially gorgeous cover for “Duchess of Sin”, Laurel.
    Nicola, it’s always a pleasure to read your books.

  57. Thanks for giving us insight on how you spent your Christmas as a child! Love the recipe too!

  58. Christmas is always a big deal where I’m from. I’m from the Philippines and we celebrate it to the fullest! One of the things that I miss are the Christmas Lanterns or “Parol” They used to be in star shapes but I have seen unique one’s now. It’s made of bamboo and Japanese paper and/or colored cellophane with lights inside it. We even made them in school. Now, they’re more elaborate and they really remind me of home.. 😀

    I’ve been reading the blurb of your new book and I can’t wait to read it!

  59. I enjoyed this post immensely! Very informative and interesting. Happy Holidays, Nicola and Laurel!!

    One of my favorite traditions is eating a Cadbury choccy bar for Christmas morning’s brekkie. 🙂

  60. Thanks so much for the informative post and the delicious sounding recipe. I really enjoyed reading it.

    Twelve days of Christmas sounds wonderful, but very tiring.

    Congrats on your releases!

  61. Oh my gosh! I just came back from the bookstore and saw The Duchess of Sin and almost got it. Now I can’t wait to read it. Happy Holidays to everyone!!

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