For this Christmas Day 2025, I offer a reminder of what Christmas was like — or rather, NOT like — in the 1840s, courtesy of the Webster Museum. I pulled this piece directly from the Museum’s most recent Penny Farthing newsletter, just one of many fascinating historical nuggets included in this month’s edition. (More info at the end of the blog about how you can sign up for this informative publication.)
The article made a very interesting comparison between what the Christmas season was like back in the mild-19th century and what it’s like now. Specifically, here’s a list of things that are completely normal today, but would have been utterly impossible, unimaginable, or simply didn’t exist in an 1840s Christmas:
Decorations and the tree itself
- Electric Christmas lights / fairy lights (first strung in 1882, not common in homes until 1900s–1920s)
- Artificial Christmas trees (widespread only after 1930s plastic, 1960s aluminum, 1990s+ PVC)
- Tinsel (invented 1870s in Germany, not common until 20th century)
- Tree ornaments made of blown glass (mass-produced only from 1860s–1870s onward)
- LED projector lights, inflatable lawn Santas, laser light shows
- Putting up outdoor Christmas lights in November and leaving them until February
Gifts and wrapping
- Wrapping paper with Santa/print designs (mass-produced only from ~1910s)
- Stick-on gift tags, Scotch tape (1930), gift bags
- Any toy with batteries, screens, or plastic, or electronics
- LEGO, Barbie, video games, drones, smartphones, AirPods, etc.
- Gift cards, Amazon vouchers
Santa Claus as we know him
- Red suit with white fur trim (solidified by Coca-Cola ads 1931; before that he wore green, brown, blue, or bishop’s robes)
- “Santa lives at the North Pole” (only fixed in the 1860s–1880s)
- Flying reindeer named Dasher, Dancer, Prancer… (named in 1823 poem, but not universal until much later)
- Leaving cookies and milk for Santa (an American 1930s tradition)
Food and drink
- Candy canes (peppermint striped hook shape only from ~1880s–1900s)
- Chocolate in Christmas stockings (milk chocolate bars only after 1875)
- Cranberry sauce in a can with ridges
- “Advent calendar” with chocolate (invented 1958)
Cards and greetings
- Commercial Christmas cards (first one printed 1843 in London, By 1849 still a novelty.)
- “Merry Christmas” was only just starting to replace “Happy Christmas” in the 1840s.
Media, music and entertainment
- Jingle Bells (1857)
- Silent Night in English (widespread only after 1860s)
- White Christmas, All I Want for Christmas is You, Last Christmas, etc.
- Any Christmas song played on radio, Spotify, or shop speakers 24/7
- Watching It’s a Wonderful Life, Elf, Home Alone, Die Hard, or The Grinch on TV
- Hallmark Christmas movies
A typical Christmas Day in the 1840s consisted of:
- Church in the morning
- A slightly-better-than-usual dinner (goose or beef instead of salt pork, maybe a small plum pudding if you could afford suet and raisins)
- Parlor games, a new pair of socks or a handkerchief as the big present
- Perhaps a single candle in the window
If you’d like to read more interesting historical tidbits like this, sign up to get the Penny Farthing delivered to your mailbox every few months. Each issue is packed with historical photos and stories, event notices, and information about the museum. If you’d like to be added to the distribution list, email WebsterMuseum@gmail.com.
Happy Christmas everyone. I hope you’re surrounded by friends and loved ones this holiday season and enjoy your own old-fashioned or newfangled traditions.
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(posted 12/24/2025)
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