The first commercially-produced Christmas card, sold in London in 1849. Note the multi-generational family in the center, and the acts of mercy depicted on either side. (Wikimedia Commons) When I picture an English Christmas, I think of Christmas trees, plum puddings and Jolly Old St. Nick. But all these Christmas traditions developed after the Regency period. So, how did people celebrate Christmas during the Regency? By having a lot of fun, apparently. For the gentry, Christmas was the highlight of the year. Their homes were filled with family and friends, who expected good food and amusements for many days. Gifts were exchanged during the season (such as the needle bag Jane Austen made for a friend) and festive meals with roasted turkey and other special Christmas treats were enjoyed. One of those treats was a plum cake, a likely precursor of the plum pudding. In his 1808 book Letters from England , Robert Southey informs us that at Christmas shops were filled with
. . . where the past is mirrored in the present