You know the scene…snow falls softly, blanketing the fields and lanes, and merry crowds gather around a huge fireplace, eating and drinking and celebrating the Holiday Season. You can see it on traditional greetings cards, and read about it in many of your favorite historical romances.

But is this an accurate picture of what Christmas was really like around the year 1800 or so? We sent our Features Editor off on a “time traveling” assignment to find out.

Christmas was certainly a time for families to gather together - then, as now. Of course, there were quite a few differences. The difficulties of traveling in the winter were major factors in the decision of who would be going where. Roads, until they were paved, were often impassable after a fall of snow. Trips to country homes, therefore, would be planned meticulously, but until the actual day of departure arrived, no one knew if they would really be leaving. Coaches were warmed with hot bricks and fur blankets, but insulation was little or none, and a trip through cold weather for anything more than an hour or two was most often interrupted with stops to warm up at whatever hostelry was on the way.

Once arriving at one’s destination, families would settle in for the duration. This was no “Let’s drop over to Aunt Martha’s for the afternoon” type of visit. This was a “Hello, I’m here, and if the weather’s bad I’ll be staying for a month or so” type of visit. Which brought problems of its own, since a house full of guests, eating their heads off, bickering, squabbling, and stuck in each other’s company for weeks on end could have dire and disastrous results. In many cases, one can imagine that such a house party was indeed like a dead fish. After three days, it began to stink!

Which brings us to the “eating” bit of our charming greeting card. Yes, our Regency friends certainly knew how to eat. (Of course, they didn’t collapse onto the couch and watch Jane Austen movies on tv afterwards, but walked and danced…so they burned off the calories more efficiently.) Although the goose has become associated with many historical Christmases, it was venison that was most prized at the holidays. On Christmas Eve, families displayed their wealth and good fortune by serving a holiday roast of venison. Turkeys were well known; in fact, Ms. Austen’s family bred the birds, and they were served on Christmas Day and given as gifts. Puddings were very popular, and a relatively inexpensive way of filling visiting stomachs. The traditional Christmas pudding is rumored to have been perfected by George III's chef around this time to fulfill his passion for English puddings. It may seem difficult to imagine storing all this food without benefit of a refrigerator, but the houses were only heated by simple (and often quite ineffective) fires, and the kitchens possessed a room called a larder or pantry, most often made of stone, and vented to the shaded side of the house. It was certainly cool enough to keep butter and milk fresh without spoiling. It’s probably safe to assume that the kitchen cat spent plenty of time prowling the larder, and keeping the unwary mice away from the munchies.

Drinking and celebrating? Certainly. The drinking bit goes on today…simply replace your Uncle Ted and his six pack with Lord Ted and his port. Some things never change. The celebrating, however, was less about ripping off wrapping paper and assembling toys, and more about partying.

All kinds of activities were planned, with one of the favorites being “Theatricals” – little shows put on by members of the party. They could range from a children’s performance of some fairy tale, to an elaborate staging of an impromptu play, or a wickedly funny farce for the adults only. Costumes were created at the drop of a bolt of silk, and half the fun was in dressing up (or down) for the occasion.

One interesting entertainment I ran across was “Snapdragons”…a game involving raisins, a bowl of flaming brandy, and very fast hands. The object seems to have been to whisk the raisins from the bowl of burning brandy and into one’s mouth. I’m sure this was fun. I’m equally sure I’m not going to try it.

So the house party eats, drinks, laughs and probably squabbles its way through the holidays, and many of our traditions today hail from that time. We eat, drink, laugh and squabble too. Two hundred years ago, Christmas probably wasn’t as perfect as that card on your mantelpiece, but it might have been close.

One final note…Boxing Day. A tradition which is still observed as a holiday in England and other parts of the world, Boxing Day (the day AFTER Christmas) was the day when the staff of a large home received their recognition for services rendered. Since the actual gift of cash was considered somewhat degrading, boxes were offered with the money inside, or - for a favored servant - a small gift. With time, this particular tradition became a day to reward one’s fellows…those who have offered services throughout the year…the milkman, the postman, the trash man, for example, and today it’s set aside for horse races. And picking at the leftover turkey. If this is as much a part of your holiday festivities as it is mine, then take a word of advice...make sure you don't get any stuffing on the pages of that new romance novel that awaits you under the tree!