December Pages: A Victorian Christmas
December 24, 1878
Tomorrow is Christmas, and the house smells faintly of boiled suet and orange peel. Mother has been nursing our pudding in its cloth bag for three weeks, hanging it from a high rafter near the kitchen chimney so mice would not discover it. Today, Arthur and I were sent to the edge of the common to gather greenery. We clipped sprigs of sharp holly with scarlet berries and long trails of dark ivy to tuck behind the picture frames in the parlor.
Uncle Julian, who works as a clerk for a merchant on Fleet Street, brought home an illustrated magazine showing Queen Victoria and her family gathered around an entire pine tree indoors, hung with glittering tin ornaments, ribboned pouches of sweets, and glowing wax candles. Arthur wondered aloud why we did not drag a whole fir tree into our modest front room. Father laughed and patted Arthur's shoulder, explaining that such German trees are a grand fashion for the royal palace and wealthy townhouses, not a rule for everyone. In our neighborhood, most families stick to holly boughs and paper chains.
- rafter:
- One of the heavy wooden beams supporting a roof.
- common:
- A piece of open, public land shared by a community.
- hearth:
- The brick or stone floor of a fireplace, often extending into a room.
- whittled:
- Cut and shaped pieces of wood with a small knife.
- flank:
- A cut of meat taken from the side of an animal.
- tapestry:
- A heavy woven fabric with patterns or pictures; used here to describe something made of many diverse parts.
Educational example text · Diary Entry
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- 1Why did Mother hang the Christmas pudding from a high kitchen rafter for three weeks?
- 2How did the narrator's family decorate their parlor compared to the royal family shown in the magazine?
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About this diary entry passage for 5th Grade
“December Pages: A Victorian Christmas” is a diary entry reading passage about Victorian Christmas traditions, written for 5th Grade. It takes about 3 minutes to read (507 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.