Country Christmas (Country Living) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688097383 ISBN 13: 9780688097387

Publisher: Hearst Books, 1899

Synopsis

The editors of Country Living, America's favorite decorating magazine, bring you back to the real Country Christmas to give you their most original and charming ideas for your own home and family.

With over 150 color photographs this book provides:

The history of American Christmas from its tentative beginnings to the changing traditions that have become the unique national celebration we cherish today.

Wonderful ideas for decorating every room, from gingerbread men in the kitchen to a fragrant bouquet of eucalyptus tied with tartan ribbon in the living room, to a personal tree in the bedroom.

Inspiration on decorating with ornaments, including handblown glass ornaments from Germany and antique angels and cherubs to put on the tree with pretty ornaments you and the children can make from old fabric and quilt.

Classic country gift ideas, from turn-of-the century collectibles such as Santas, porcelain-faced dolls, miniature farm tractors, and handmade wooden blocks, to instructions for personalized giftwrap from wallpaper, potato stencils and seam binding.

Dozens of recipes for cookies, a Colonial Apple Pie that will surprise and delight, and elegant, festive drinks like Cappuccino Nog and Spicy Wine Punch.

A special Christmas resource directory for many of the decorations, gifts, and foods featured in this book.

About this title

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

It seems hard to believe that Christmas as we know it today in America has not persisted since the first colonists set foot upon our own shores. But, in fact, Christmas was banned by our stern Puritan ancestors, who, reacting strongly to anything that reminded them of "relics of Popery," expressed a transplanted antagonism based upon a centuries-old conflict between the Catholic and Protestant faiths, and later the high-Anglican and low-Protestant sects. Over eighty percent of the earliest settlers to this New World were indeed Protestants, most hailing from England or Germany, and so, for a time, the Puritan ethic prevailed. But many settlers, especially those who came somewhat later to live in the southern colonies, condoned a convivial celebration, one of merriment and cheer and good food and companionship, as an antidote to the almost unendurable winters they experienced in this rugged new nation. As the settlers pressed westward, establishing homesteads along the! frontier, they carried their traaa aditions -- both European-born and American-bred -- with them, creating, slowly but surely, a new and truly all-American holiday. At first the celebrations comprised little more than a better meal, a single, simple homemade gift for each member of the family, a remembered song or carol. But as America grew and prospered, so did this holiday -- into the Christmas we know and cherish today.

Excerpted from Country Living Country Christmas. Copyright 1990 by The Hearst Corporation.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hearst Books
• Publication date: 1899
• ISBN 10: 0688097383
• ISBN 13: 9780688097387
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Editor: Bo Niles, Jo Northrop