I almost missed this article out of London from the Kilgore News Herald. It talks about the Christmas traditions that we owe to the Victorian era, especially the meal. And it discusses the influence of Charles Dickens’ description of Christmas at the Cratchit’s, the family of Tiny Tim, in A Christmas Carol.
A Christmas Carol was published on December 19, 1843. Within a week 6,000 copies were sold!
Dickens, the article says, was the first to paint this “portrait of celebration,” complete with a stuffed goose, mashed potatoes, gravy, applesauce, and plum pudding. Apparently, in the early 19th century, Christmas was not a cause for great celebration; but Dickens’ picture of “everyone sitting around the table with a great big goose” helped to change all that.
It’s not just the feast, either, that we get from the Victorians. The Christmas tree itself, although already a long established tradition in Germany, became widely popular in England only after a print was published showing Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and the children all gathered around one.
There’s so much more to antique Victorian furniture than cabriole legs. Perhaps that Victorian table you’re thinking of buying offered up numerous Christmas meals for a happy Victorian family, who feasted under the intoxicating influence of Dickens. You may not know it, but those ghosts of past Christmases are still sitting there.