No, it’s not Christmas yet—it’s just Geffrye Museum getting ahead of itself

No sooner the school summer holidays are over when east London’s Geffrye Museum announces its end-of-term Christmas activities.

How we saw Christmas more than 70 years ago, an exhibition at Geffrye Museum is to reveal. Picture: Geffrye Museum - Credit: Geffrye Museum

Authentic festive decorations and music from ‘Christmas Past’ transforms the education museum’s period living rooms in December, giving an evocative glimpse of how Yultide has been celebrated in the home over the past 400 years.

These include displays of Christmas cards from past years, kissing under the mistletoe, parlour games, pulling crackers, hanging stockings, giving gifts and especially decorating the tree.

‘Christmas Past’ has taken place at the Geffrye for the last 25 years.

Events planned this year include a Christmas fayre, carol concerts and workshops in decoration.

Pixies and robbins... traditional view of Christmas in times past. Picture: Geffrye Museum - Credit: Geffrye Museum

A special weekend ‘closing party’ is on the cards on January 6 and 7 to “bid farewell to Christmas”.

It is also goodbye to the museum, housed in former 19th century almshouses in Kingsland Road, Shoreditch, that is closing for two years for an £18m modernisation project. The ‘homes’ museum showing the past 400 years is now looking to the future and its new lease of life.