"Christmas in Williamsburg" by K. M. Kostyal and Lori Epstein

I picked this book up earlier this month when I was in Colonial Williamsburg with my kids to see all the Christmas decorations.  I spent all day looking in various shops there for some kind of cool Christmasy book and not finding one.  The last place we went was the big bookstore over in Merchants Square, and I spotted this book right when we walked in.  Exactly what I was looking for!

This book explains what Christmas celebrations were like in the colonial era, that they were really much more subdued than our own.  It talks about where our own various decorating and celebrating customs come from too, and then about how old and new are combined in Colonial Williamsburg now.

The book is chock-full of great photos.  It also has a bunch of recipes for things like hot chocolate and Twelfth Night Cake and a non-alcoholic version of syllabub.  And it has some ideas for Christmastime crafts too, like decorating wreaths and making cool gingerbread houses.

On a whole, the book is a little bit aimed at school children, but I learned a lot from it too.  I'll definitely be trying some of the recipes out.  And I'll probably use this book to teach my kids some history at some point.

This is my second book read and reviewed for the Literary Christmas link-up hosted In the Bookshelf.  I signed up to read at least two books, so I've hit that mark now, but I'm hoping to get another Christmas-oriented book or two in before the end of the month.  Here's hoping!

Meanwhile, Merry Christmas!