"On Christmas Day in the Evening", a Christmas gift book

There is no publishing date in this book, it does have writing in the front however that is mostly illegible but with the date 1910.

There are four colour plates in the book that show the use of holly, red silk ribbons, evergreen garlands, and wreaths to decorate the home and church at Christmas.

From my reference library - "Kraft Cheese - and ways to serve it"

Christmas isn't just about decorations and gifts, it's also about food, family and friends. So in the spirit of Christmas entertaining here is "Cheese - and ways to serve it" published by Kraft Cheese in1928. Inside the front cover is printed -

Copyrighted

Kraft-Phenix Cheese Company Limited

1928

Printed in Canada

The cookbook has seen better days, the front and back covers have come loose and are in two pieces, but the design for this little household recipe booklet is beautiful.

I have scanned pages with full colour images on them

I love the colours used in the centrefold, there is something about the illustration from this time period that I like very much. All of the work was done by hand, no quick computer graphics programs were used back then.

This image and the following four other images are full page scans complete with the recipes for your dining pleasure!

Have a great pre-Christmas time leading up to the big day that is not very far away at all. Relax, take a breath, and enjoy yourself.

"The Daily Mail Annual for Boys and Girls"

I picked this book up about 15 years ago for $1.50. There is no publishing date in the book but I did find this picture...

It reads "First family picture of T.H.R. Princess Elizabeth, the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles." Prince Charles was born November 14, 1948.

This book was published in 1948, a little sleuthing pays off.

In Britain it is Father Christmas not Santa Claus who delivers the gifts on Christmas Eve.

The artist who illustrated this story has also illustrated other stories in the annual, it is difficult to read his signature but I think that it is Kurt Roberts.

I like how he portrays Father Christmas, Mother Christmas, and some of the toys, they have character, very interesting faces. Father Christmas is not a bland benevolent good guy.

There is an eight page colour section with instructions for making Christmas decorations. I wonder how many people could obtain the necessary materials to produce these items. This is right after the war and Britain was in the midst of rationing, I believe the rationing lasted until the mid 1950s; but where there is a will there is a way.

Go to my Etsy shop to purchase this Santa slipper, it is based on a handmade ornament in my collection. There are lots of other Christmas decorations for your home as well.

Jack Horner Pies

This blog post covers all holidays and celebrations as the Jack Horner Pie was used as a table centrepiece and party diversion for all of the holidays as well as bridal showers, baby showers, birthdays, or any other event that you can think of.

This is an interesting blog post because the idea for it started once I saw the photograph and comments about this giant candy container witch that was posted in the Facebook group Early Hallowe'en. I had mentioned that I thought that it was used as a Jack Horner Pie, most people it seems had not heard of Jack Horner Pies.

Linda Eakin is the owner of this amazing candy container. She mentions that it is the size of a small child; 56 inches from the base to top of her hat.

Here is the background to the nursery rhyme Little Jack Horner, I scanned the page from "Popular Nursery Rhymes - Mother Goose rhymes with explanations and illustrations." I wonder who was first inspired to use this nursery rhyme as a party diversion. Diversion is what they were referred to and that best describes it as it is not a game really.

My mum started the tradition of a Jack Horner Pie after the Christmas dinner when I was in my early twenties. I am not certain why she did, probably it was something from her childhood that she wanted to recreate. We would have Christmas crackers before dinner and then after dinner was the Jack Horner Pie. Look at it as another reason to give and get a one more gift and maybe some more candy!

The first pie that we had was a very basic affair, an old cardboard ice cream tub with Christmas paper around the outside, tissue paper covering the top to hide the gifts, and ribbons coming out of the centre to each place at the table. At a given command everyone pulled their ribbon to retrieve the gift from the container. It started to look its age after several years of use so I decided to surprise my family with a brand new one.

This Jack Horner Pie is very elaborate to say the least. It is a 5 sided pyramid that stands 13 1/2" high and is about 15" across. The outside is covered in hand cut red tissue paper loops with vintage Dennison gold stars spotted on the outside. The bottom part of the pie is a 2' deep pentagonal box with a 2" ledge decorated with vintage gold paper edging and more tissue paper loops.

Once the gifts are pulled out the sides of the pyramid flop open to reveal a giant gold star that is 30" across. Like I said previously this is elaborate to say the least!

I bought this book in the late 1980's or early 1990's I'm not certain. Most likely it is out of print. It is a reproduction of a 1924/1925 catalogue.

On this page you can see listed 6 Jack Horner Pies for Hallowe'en. All of these were made in the United States. They were all very large.

ELSCO had 5  Jack Horner Pies for the Thanksgiving market that year.

Christmas had the most pies available, 9 Jack Horner Pies, they sound delightful.

I would loved to have seen all of these Jack Horner Pies, the descriptions sound intriguing.

On the back of this book is this information. I doubt that it will be of any use but if someone wants to try track it down go for it.

This large "Santa on a Yule Log" that I created in the early 1990's was bought by a friend. Unfortunately this is the only picture I have of it. It was about 18" high and about 18" long. The back end of the log has a plug that pulls out to reveal the gifts inside for the guests at the party.

The following images are scans from various Dennison party books that I own, the bogie books are reproductions.

As you can see Jack Horner Pies were used at various holidays and celebrations. When I first saw the giant candy containers I immediately assumed that they were used as Jack Horner Pies. If anyone has any information to add to this please leave comments on my blog post.

"The View From the Rim of the Twentieth Century Modern Snowball was Spectacular" is available in my Etsy shop. In the description I give instructions for using it as a Jack Horner Pie. Follow this link to my Etsy shop to purchase the Snowbowl.