Ideas for an old-fashioned Irish Christmas

[AVeryIrishChristmas]

We are hosting MIL for Christmas this year.
She has dementia and is very confused/forgetful, but she loves talking about and remembering her childhood.

Unfortunately she can’t remember enough to tell me herself, but I’d love to include some little touches at Christmas that might remind her of her childhood celebrations.

She grew up in rural north-west Ireland in the 1940s.

Does anyone have any ideas of things like food, drink, music, decorations, games etc that might spark a recollection?

I have no idea but watching with interest

As an fyi, there's a section on here entitled 'craicnet': you may get more relevant information posting there

We always had gammon and turkey for Christmas lunch (my DM is Irish).

Would your DM be up for Christmas mass?

Christmas mass could maybe be a good idea! MIL is a lapsed catholic, but perhaps she would remember some of the prayers. Or did it used to be in Latin back then? So maybe she wouldn’t.

I could cook a chicken and gammon for Christmas lunch, that ought to be simple enough. Would you have sausages/ pigs in blankets as well, if there was gammon, or miss them out?

@AVeryIrishChristmas I read a newspaper article a few years ago that described Christmas back then in rural Ireland. My mother (born in 1941) said it was fairly accurate. I’ll see if I can find it for you.

I have my dad with dementia living with me (he's 2nd generation Irish immigrant) and this is his first Christmas since his partner died, so we're trying to do something similar OP. So far we have gammon, mash and cabbage for one of our big dinners, Irish coffee in traditional glasses, a harmonica in his stocking (his mother always put one in when he was a child, because he was "the musical one"), Joseph Locke records, and I've bought him an Irish wool beanie hat with a little shamrock on it!

I'm Irish. We would always have turkey and ham, roast potatoes, stuffing and brussel sprouts on Christmas Day. I think goose was more common back in the day - my granny always mentioned it. Pigs in blanket are not an Irish thing, we would have sausage meat stuffing instead. Dessert would be Christmas pudding or sherry trifle. My town granny would also have a glass of sherry on Christmas Day and country granny would have a glass of whiskey 😂
And midnight mass was always the highlight for many to show off their finery!

Any chance you can get your hands on some turf? Or a turf scented candle?

No pigs in blankets or Yorkshire puddings.

Turkey, ham, sage and breadcrumb stuffing, maybe cranberry sauce, gravy (not Bisto), plumb pudding with whiskey burnt on top. Remember it was during/after WWll so there were food shortages.

She might like sherry trifle (sponge cake, jelly, whipped cream).

You can buy little pieces of turf for burning! I was eyeing those this afternoon, but DH's asthma might be an issue.

Irish songs and Christmas carols on in the background could work, your DM will probably remember the words.

My DM has Alzheimer’s, she doesn’t know who I am but knows quite a lot of the words of Christmas carols and nearly all of Rock Around the clock.

Your DM may find some hymns and Christmas carols comforting.

www.amazon.co.uk/Irish-Turf-Peat-Incense-Burner/dp/B002ZI1IJ2

Carrots and parsnips mashed together and a robin, not an angel, on the Christmas tree.

Agreed. We always have bread sauce with our Christmas dinner too which seems to be less popular in England.

We always have a crib in the house - a little nativity scene with figures - which she might like.

And you can get lovely scented candles which smell like a turf fire - the smell of my childhood (and I’m only 37!).

Forgot the veg. Mash, roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts, carrots, parsnips (boiled or roasted), celery.

In my Irish parents memory, the ham would be boiled, not roasted. Then the cabbage cooked in the ham water. Served with parsley sauce. Irish trifle doesn't have the custard in. Luckily we always had English trifle, as custard is the best bit.

In the 1940s it would have been wartime in the North of Ireland (sorry not clear if she was in Donegal or the north west which I would take as Derry/Fermanagh etc) I think food if living on a farm would have been different from the town although I am not sure turkey featured in my family more likely chicken due to money etc. My mother the decade before would have talked about an orange and a penny in the stocking. Embroidered Hankies were a frequent gift for them right up to the 50’s in cardboard boxes .
Homemade paper decorations.

It was actually RTE. Let’s see if this works.
www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2021/1219/1017597-what-was-christmas-like-in-rural-ireland-back-in-the-day/?

Mine were too poor. Tipperary and Westmeath

So they went to mass….
and if they were lucky got an orange for Christmas
after the same meal that they ate every day. If they were lucky that would be ham, cabbage and potatoes, otherwise just the cabbage and potatoes

Desert for a treat was Goody so they had this at Christmas.
Nothing else

I think mass would be lovely, bread sauce, putting Jesus in the crib on Christmas Eve, lighting a candle to let Mary and Joseph know they're welcome. (I'm sorry if this is all English stuff too) Make the pudding or cake now and are you supposed to bless it? Or everyone make a wish? Isn't that a thing?

Don't know a lot about the food but some from my grandmother who would have been similar age/location. (No pigs in blankets- money was scare too so very simple)

A toast. Traditionally with "go mbeirimid beo ar an am seo aris" (translation - may we be alive at this time again (next year). It was with sherry or whiskey in later years.

Putting up a crib (baby Jesus's is only placed it in when born not in advance - hugely important to a lot of the elder generation). (There would have been one in 99% of houses until the mid 90s)

A white or red candle light in memory of deceased family or family abroad.

In terms of mass if she's from the North West maybe stream mass from Knock. https://www.knockshrine.ie/watch-live/

You could also back a traditional soda bread.

I think it's lovely what you are doing. I'll check with my parents tomorrow to see if they have any suggestions.

I'm Irish back in the 40s, 50s and 60s the food was quite different compared to other years.

The one thing that hasn't changed is that we have a turkey and ham, stuffing can add sausage meat if preferred, Brussel sprouts, roast and mash potatoes, carrots. Obviously with different preferences you can leave out or add in what you like for vegetables.

Cabbage isn't always served, in early years it was, also some people had kale instead of cabbage and the leftovers were made into colcannon.

Now a days we have a variety of vegetables and some roasted instead of boiling.

Starters were served, usually soup, prawn cocktail or melon, this was I think from late 60s early 70s (my own memories) don't think there were starters before that

Dessert was Christmas pudding (the fruit one) trifle (it does have custard) later years minced pies, people made all these themselves.

Even with changing foods and different likes and dislikes and people eat all different things now, the one thing an Irish person will tell you is that we love our turkey and ham, stuffing, mash and roast potatoes and gravy.

Decorations, everyone went over the top, mixed coloured lights on the tree, shiny decorations, tinsel everywhere, walls, ceiling, around picture frames, it wasn't Christmas unless you were sitting down and a decoration fell down on your head ..

Music, from what I remember and I'm old as fuck was Christmas songs from pop singers, I don't ever recall sitting listening to hymns, I'm sure there were some that did. Abba was always playing in our house and maybe a bit of Cliff and bay city rollers.

It's tradition in most houses to have a drink Christmas morning, whiskey, port, sherry, now a days whatever you fancy whether it's alcohol or soft drink.

Thank you so much everyone!

@Countmeout, yes, Donegal.

She did live on a farm, DH thinks it was a fair sized one, but we don’t know if it was mainly animals or crops or what. DH thinks there were horses.
Maybe they would have had goose then from reading that RTE article, but I think that might be pushing my culinary skills too far!

But I can certainly manage bread sauce, mashed carrot and parsnip and a sherry trifle - DH remembers his auntie (now deceased) always making a sherry trifle at Christmas actually. He thinks it did have custard which is a relief. 😱 at trifle with no custard.

And we have a crib from when the DC were little, I’ll dig it out, and we’ll light a candle for the window, and put some carols on the playlist.

I'd say no sausages, no pigs in blankets.

My mother grew up in the 40s in Ireland. They had a goose many years, though sometimes a turkey. She is still alive and kicking

Hors d'oeuvre or breakfast - smoked salmon or chicken liver pate, Irish brown bread.

For Christmas dinner she appreciates ham (studded with whole cloves, fat slashed, slathered with brown sugar and mustard mixed together), roast turkey, bread sauce, cranberry sauce, roast spuds, roast parsnips, Brussels sprouts (boiled, no 'fancy' prep), carrots, home made gravy. The turkey is stuffed with sage and onion stuffing. I think she uses a Paxo mix for that.

Pudding, brandy butter, sherry trifle, meringues and whipped cream for dessert, with Christmas cake later in the evening.

The Irish Countrywomens Association have a book of Christmas if you can find one. It has recipes and traditions.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/221398308

It was wartime south of the border too - there was rationing until the early 50s as in the UK thanks to the difficulties of merchant shipping, and a complete lack of many food items that normally would be imported.

My mum lived on a farm in the south east (OP'S MIL is from the north west, which I would interpret as Sligo, Mayo, Roscommon, Leitrim, Donegal?) and they basically lived off the land during the war years. If they couldn't grow it or raise it on the farm, they didn't eat it.

Presents were very simple - granny knitted and sewed little dolls using scraps. Mum got her own knitting needles for Christmas when she was ten. The girls also got gifts like aprons or hair ribbons, and talcum powder or a tin of Nivea when they were teens in the 50s. Very 'Little House on the Prairie' actually. The boys got suspenders, new handkerchiefs, hurleys for hurling, a razor, and the like.