THE VICTORIAN AGE 1837 - 1901

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Sunday 2 January 2011

The Laurels - Update





Happy New Year to all my new followers when i started a couple of months ago I didnt think i would have nearly 30 new friends on my little blogs.

Xmas was quiet but a lovely rest from work and plenty of time to catch up on jobs, visit friends and get to grips with the Wii Fit lol

The Laurels is almost finished on the outside just the chimmey to pop on. The inside has a few bits and pieces in place but now is the time to enjoy the doll house shows to pick up some little items to make the house a home

Love
Gail

Sunday 19 December 2010

Snow is falling all around



Here in the UK we dont very often get a tonne of snow before xmas but this year we had it as early as Nov. I like the look of snow very pretty but hate driving in it our country just doesnt know how to handle so much of it we are not equiped the local council run out of grit etc. I think they should visit Norway or Austria where they have snow every winter.

Here in the Midlands (Warwickshire) we have got off lightly as some areas of the UK have had really bad weather for weeks my heart goes out to those in the north who seem to hit the worst of it each time

some are saying white xmas which would be nice but only a little bit so i can get to Dad's easy

Merry xmas all and whatever the weather stay warm and safe
love
Gail, Cleo and the tribe

Thursday 16 December 2010

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL MY FOLLOWERS


May your Xmas be full of cheer and the New Year full of love, hope and good furtune

Christmas Cards - Children in Victorian England had the task of writing greetings to their parents in their very best handwriting. Sometimes adults wrote Christmas letters to each other, but this could take up a great deal of time. The printed Christmas card solved the problem. The custom of sending printed cards was started in England by Henry Cole, who did not have time to write letters to each of his relatives. He asked an artist, John Calcott Horsley, to design a card for him. About 1,000 of these cards were printed, and those not used by Sir Henry were sold by the printer for one shilling. This was not cheap, which may be why they did not sell very well. With the introduction of the "penny post" in 1840, it became cheaper to send mail, and as a result of color printing and the invention of printing machines, cards could be printed faster and cheaper. The first company to print and sell Christmas cards on a large scale was Charles Goodall & Sons of London in 1862. The first charity card was produced in 1949 by UNICEF. Richard H. Pease, a printer from Albany, New York, is credited with sending the first specially printed Christmas card in America, in 1851. It managed to make the first mistake in Christmas card history. The card showed a building on which was hung a banner proclaiming "Pease's Great Variety Store."

Cleo my birman helping Santa's Elf
Santa's Helpers

Friday 3 December 2010

Christmas is coming the geese are getting fat

As christmas approches I feel that with each passing year some people forget the true meaning of the season, so thought it would be nice to hear about how the festive Christmas really got going with the Victorians




A Victorian Christmas

For thousands of years people around the world have enjoyed midwinter festivals. With the arrival of Christianity, pagan festivals became mixed with Christmas celebrations. One of the leftovers from these pagan days is the custom of bedecking houses and churches with evergreen plants like mistletoe, holly and ivy. Apparently, as well as their magical connection in protecting us from evil spirits, they also encourage the return of spring.

No era in history however, has influenced the way in which we celebrate Christmas, quite as much as the Victorians.

Before Victoria's reign started in 1837 nobody in Britain had heard of Santa Claus or Christmas Crackers. No Christmas cards were sent and most people did not have holidays from work. The wealth and technologies generated by the industrial revolution of the Victorian era changed the face of Christmas forever. Sentimental do-gooders like Charles Dickens wrote books like "Christmas Carol", published in 1843, which actually encouraged rich Victorians to redistribute their wealth by giving money and gifts to the poor - Humbug! These radical middle class ideals eventually spread to the not-quite-so-poor as well.

The holidays - The wealth generated by the new factories and industries of the Victorian age allowed middle class families in England and Wales to take time off work and celebrate over two days, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Boxing Day, December 26th, earned its name as the day servants and working people opened the boxes in which they had collected gifts of money from the "rich folk". Those new fangled inventions, the railways allowed the country folk who had moved into the towns and cities in search of work to return home for a family Christmas.

The Scots have always preferred to postpone the celebrations for a few days to welcome in the New Year, in the style that is Hogmanay. Christmas Day itself did not become a holiday in Scotland until many years after Victoria's reign and it has only been within the last 20-30 years that this has been extended to include Boxing Day.

Father Christmas - Santa ClausThe Gifts - At the start of Victoria's reign, children's toys tended to be handmade and hence expensive, generally restricting availability to those "rich folk" again. With factories however came mass production, which brought with it games, dolls, books and clockwork toys all at a more affordable price. Affordable that is to "middle class" children. In a "poor child's" Christmas stocking, which first became popular from around 1870, only an apple, orange and a few nuts could be found.

Father Christmas / Santa Claus - Normally associated with the bringer of the above gifts, is Father Christmas or Santa Claus. The two are in fact two entirely separate stories. Father Christmas was originally part of an old English midwinter festival, normally dressed in green, a sign of the returning spring. The stories of St. Nicholas (Sinter Klaas in Holland) came via Dutch settlers to America in the 17th Century. From the 1870's Sinter Klass became known in Britain as Santa Claus and with him came his unique gift and toy distribution system - reindeer and sleigh.

Turkey Time - Turkeys had been brought to Britain from America hundreds of years before Victorian times. When Victoria first came to the throne however, both chicken and turkey were too expensive for most people to enjoy. In northern England roast beef was the traditional fayre for Christmas dinner while in London and the south, goose was favourite. Many poor people made do with rabbit. On the other hand, the Christmas Day menu for Queen Victoria and family in 1840 included both beef and of course a royal roast swan or two. By the end of the century most people feasted on turkey for their Christmas dinner. The great journey to London started for the turkey sometime in October. Feet clad in fashionable but hardwearing leather the unsuspecting birds would have set out on the 80-mile hike from the Norfolk farms. Arriving obviously a little tired and on the scrawny side they must have thought London hospitality unbeatable as they feasted and fattened on the last few weeks before Christmas!

Christmas Cards - The "Penny Post" was first introduced in Britain in 1840 by Rowland Hill. The idea was simple, a penny stamp paid for the postage of a letter or card to anywhere in Britain. This simple idea paved the way for the sending of the first Christmas cards. Sir Henry Cole tested the water in 1843 by printing a thousand cards for sale in his art shop in London at one shilling each. The popularity of sending cards was helped along when in 1870 a halfpenny postage rate was introduced as a result of the efficiencies brought about by those new fangled railways.



Victoria & Albert Decorate the Christmas Tree Illustration from "Godey's Lady's Book," December 1860The Tree - Queen Victoria's German husband Prince Albert helped to make the Christmas tree as popular in Britain as they where in his native Germany, when he brought one to Windsor Castle in the 1840's.

The Crackers - Invented by Tom Smith, a London sweet maker in 1846. The original idea was to wrap his sweets in a twist of fancy coloured paper, but this developed and sold much better when he added love notes (motto's), paper hats, small toys and made them go off BANG!

Carol Singers - Carol Singers and Musicians "The Waits" visited houses singing and playing the new popular carols;

1843 - O Come all ye Faithful

1848 - Once in Royal David's City

1851 - See Amid the Winters Snow

1868 - O Little Town of Bethlehem

1883 - Away in a Manger

with thanks to
http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/England-History/VictorianChristmas.htm

Full of interesting Christmas information

Sunday 21 November 2010

New Additions to Barvil Nursery




Welcome aboard Sheltie the sheltie dog and Ruby the Charlie bear who i brought home with me from the New Forest

Also welcome home to Cameron my reborn boy who I started doing a bit of reborning on to see how the process was achieved and my good friend and brilliant reborn artist Nikki Thorpe finished him off for me.

I am rather proud of him although i only did the painting not the rooting as with my arthritis it made it difficult to do with working full time but once retired i may have another go