Keeping Christmas: An Edwardian-Age Memoir

by William F. Stricker

Hardback; Fine; Dust Jacket - Like New; A clean, brightly colored, unmarked lovely copy . How Christmas used to be celebrated among family, friends, and neighbors in America after the turn of the century is the theme of this warmly nostalgic and authentic memoir. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall

Genres: Christmas, History, Nonfiction

127 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1981

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. A collection of Christmas memories from an Edwardian childhood. Some stories were more interesting than others. I was amazed that several Christmas presents weren't for everyday. The dolls would be taken away and brought out again the following Christmas, same for the train set, this seemed a bit of a waste. Also it was mentioned that he would receive some checkers each year, adding these would inevitably get put in the fire (presumably by his parents) before the new year. There seemed to be a lot of waste which surprised me for this era, toys broken by the end of the day etc.

The cover illustration is nice but I didn't enjoy the illustrations inside, they had a 70s seaside postcard feel. Some parts were nice others not great. Sylvester has included a great quote about chimney cleaning on the comments of her review, she also mentions this is available on open library.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kathryn and I read this one together (2nd time for me). Some stories are just plain funny! :) others are a tad boring, and there is much mention of imbibing throughout. I imagine Christmas was quite fun "in the old days" when you celebrated as a community/neighborhood, not just with your own family and friends.

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5*
A nice collection of Christmas memories. The author's parents were friendly, hospitable people, so there are a lot of interesting characters. The Open Library version of this book had several pages missing, unfortunately.

[Tisha (IG: Bluestocking629) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! The total rating shocks me. I'd think I'm easy to please but I just rated a slew of books as 3 stars. I am simply in love with this book and I so wish the other reviews were similar.

I loved the time period. I loved the story. I loved the illustrations. While each "chapter" forms a whole they are in a sense short stories. I loved them all. I love the "characters" - and boy some of them were indeed characters :)

Just so beautiful!!