A Victorian Christmas

I love an old-fashioned Christmas! I'm not talking old-looking here. I'm talking about doing the actual things that people used to do for Christmas.

I started making decorations a few months before Christmas. (I'm not crazy. I was quite pregnant, very bored, and had nothing better to do.) I got lots of my ideas from here: http://www.victoriana.com/christmas/  And, we can't forget to thank that bane of college professors everywhere, Wikipedia.

One of my favorite decorations was popcorn garland. I decided to pop the corn the old-fashioned (and cheaper) way: on the stove. Note: make very sure not to overfill the pan...once it starts popping you will have crap all over your kitchen. This makes a big mess that's hard to clean up when you are fighting a 130 pound dog over the food on the floor.

I also made some ornaments by drying/baking apple and orange slices. They turned out nice, but not quite as cute as I had hoped. They shrunk pretty small, so next year I think I might use the biggest fruit I can find.

Additionally, I made super cute felt flower ornaments that I saw in Better Homes and Gardens.

Moving on. The big deal for Christmas was...dinner! I made an enormous dinner that I literally spent months researching and planning (again, I was bored). The menu: cream crackers, fresh goat cheese, chicken liver pate, deviled eggs, mirepoix bouillon, herb roasted chicken, herb roasted red potatoes, maple-glazed yams, steamed bacon covered brussel sprouts, apple spice upside down cake, egg nog, and fruit punch. Oh, by the way, EVERYTHING was homemade! How long was I cooking? Six hours! But, it was definitely worth it! I got most of the recipes out of How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman and the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Pictures:

The milk separating into curds and whey:

The eggs for the deviled eggs cooking:

The pate ready to be put into the fridge in order to set up:

The mirepoix bouillon:

And, the finished crackers:

I would have taken more pictures of the other food, but by the time I was done I was too exhausted. Sorry.

Pictures of the tree:

The bird's nest we found:





Finished! (A few things are kind of hanging off of the tree. Great Danes happen.)



And, a close-up of the ornament of our Victorian home that a neighbor made for us. You can also see the felt flower:

And, one last blurry picture of Argus and his antlers:

Merry Christmas!