Christmas 1930s style

[LauraChant]

I am in possession of a falling-apart book published in 1932, called The Perfect Christmas (by the author of The Perfect Hostess, apparently.)

It has handy sections on what gifts are appropriate for the domestic staff, how to cope when your "nice but inpecunious country cousin comes to stay (give herbthe money for a permanent wave among other things) and what gifts to send to a "come down in the world" in the workhouse.

Here are the suggested gifts for the lady of the house, in case anyone is looking for inspiration:

Linen table mats
Silk stockings
Large glass flower bowls
A brass toasting fork
A blue Morocco suitcase, costing about a pound
A set of address books marked Friends- Tradesmen- Hotels etc
A set of scissors
Fantasie bath salts - be careful of the brand
A year's subscription to "Vogue" or "The Times' Literary Supplement" - or both
A box of large assorted envelopes, together with a sealing set
A cover for her Telephone Book

Seen anything you fancy? If anyone wants 1930s inspiration for "the head of the house", the domestic staff, schoolgirls, schoolboys, or stockings, or advice onvwhat to do in advance, how to cope if you are short of cash, or what to do when all the servants ate out on Boxing Day, let me know.

Love the impecunious cousins treatment, generous and tactful

The book gives an "easy" lunch to prepare for "the one left behind". I thought this meant the lady of the house but actually I think one poor servant draws the short straw and has to stay home on Boxing Day and cook for the entire house party.

Lunch on Boxing Day will therefore be poached eggs on sweet corn, large dish with slices of Galantine, Tongue, Ham and Cold Turkey, a Good Salad, Thinnest Water Biscuits served with Cream Cheese, Bar-le-duc White Currant Jam and freshly rolled Butter,White wine and Orangeade, coffee and cigarettes. Simples.

Supper (no dinner today) is - gasp - Clear Soup (out of a bottle), Tongue or Ham, Lancashire Chicken and Fruit Salad.

I heartily approve of fags being included on the menu!

Had to google what impecunious means, and i for one shall be dropping it into conversations as often as humanly possible.

What are gay crackers?! I want some regardless.

Gay Cracker sounds like a flapper's name, doesn't it? Or someone who might have been friends with Holly Golightly.

I LOVE This book. Fabulous. What about decorating the house for Christmas?

Fantastic, many thanks. I am rushing out to buy a hockey stick and a brightly coloured scarf for dd1 as we speak.

Wtf is an extra long legged doll? How long are we talking? I have visions of a mutant doll monstrosity being unveiled on Christmas Day.

Any present or stocking ideas for teenage schoolboys?

I simply MUST know how to decorate the house 1930s style.

And I want gay crackers

Am I the only one who had to Google impecunious?

Well now, you need to concentrate on certain rooms and do them lavishly. These rooms are: the Hall, the Dining Room, the Nursery, the Schoolroom and the Servants' Hall.

Each room requires a set piece and these are:

The Hall: A Christmas Tree made to look as snowy as possible by non-inflammable cotton wool and decorated with coloured balls and tinsel.Mistletoe over the door and holly on all the pictures. The table where letters and small parcels are placed might be covered with a scarlet cloth gfor this week only.

The Dining-room: Red candles in silver candlesticks and red poinsettias for a formal dinner - small Christmas figures of Santa Claus, reindeer, sledges for other occasions.

The Schoolroom: A bunch of different coloured balloons suspended from the ceiling give a festive air even if they have a habit of "popping" occasionally. A jar of honesty in the window and a pot of red tulips growing nearby.

The Nursery must have its own minature Christmas tree and the children should be allowed to decorate and redecorate it as often as they like. In the corner of the Nursery there should be a little Manger with the Holy Figures and this will be treated with great reverence.

The Servants' Hall: May I suggest that the Domestic Staff be given the money and allowed to buy their own decorations? An afternoon should be set aside for the purpose.

With the mutant long legged doll I envisage a kind of proto Barbie but may be wrong.

I don't know if teenagers existed in the 1930s but Schoolboys would like: a pair of Handcuffs (most popular), a Silver Watch, a Knife (!), Book on their special subject, Pistol with caps (!), Small Rifle (!!), Tram Conductor Outfit, Roller Skates and Red Indian Tent.

Wonderful, I really loved the stockings. I love book like this.

The teenage boys presents are so funny, these days those presents would get the boy an asbo and the parents would have to attend parenting classes.

A pair of handcuffs?!?!

I like the idea that they are dressed as a Tram Conductor but armed with a Knife, a Pistol and a (Small) Rifle. Psycho Tram Conductor from Hell.

These are brilliant. I for one would love a blue morocco suitcase. And I love the 'easy' lunch. I really want some white currant jam, now, too. And a hall full of servants.

Bar le duc jam is apparently "made of miniature currants hand-seeded with goose quills, it's the caviar of fruit preserves."

Love this thread! I'm an economic historian but have colleagues who do history of foodstuffs and it's so much more fun, wish I had thought to specialise in it!

"Dessert" is fruit and nuts, eaten with a knife and fork, is very distinct from "pudding", and comes at the end of the meal after pudding and savoury. Some places still have this today to trip up the unwary, eg Oxbridge college dinners and grand country houses!

Wow, I had no idea re dessert, and I went to Cambridge! I have experienced savoury though, in a "what are these garlic mushrooms doing arriving after the creme brulee" way.

I also had no idea re jam made from currants hand-seeded with goose quills. The faff!

Does anyone have any idea what the Peat for the head of household is all about? Why would it make him happy and revive memories?

No idea, but i'm loving this thread!

Laura - I think dessert only really appears at combination for the fellows or at feasts. I was the first time I got "gently" warned beforehand that I would be expected to eat a fig, a tangerine and some grapes with a knife and fork, followed by a stint serving the coffee. My college had a ridiculous ritual of toasting the Queen and some silly stiff about things you had to say while passing the port as well. It was like being whisked back to a country house party between the wars! Insane stuff beloved of elderly men with not much other social life!

No idea about peat! Whisky?

*stuff not stiff!

Are you allowed to peel the tangerine first or is it already peeled?!

Haha! No it comes unpeeled. I think technically you are probably supposed to cut it open with knife and fork (as with bananas if there are any out!) but in practice all the old professors have terrible table manners and just peel them by hand! I think they like to think women fellows should be held to higher standards! I never had the tangerines, just to avoid the social horror of not knowing if people would expect me to eat it with the cutlery....

I have been served an unpeeled orange with a knife and fork. I picked it up and peeled it. Nobody complained.