St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1900-12-26
How Queen Victoria Spends Christ

mas.
Queen Victoria's Christmas this year
was to be spent at Osborne, unless some
thing unforeseen prevented. When her
majesty goes to Osborne she probably
feels much as President Mckinley does
when he goes to his home in Canton, tor
the palace on the Isle of Wight is her
own personal property, and doubtless
would be the place she would go to live
if England were to conclude suddenly
that it could worry along without a
royal family and were to cut off her
maiesty's million-dollars a-year salary.
The Christmas shopping at Osborne IS
usually the earliest feature of the festl-
val. The queen does not exactly go
shopping; the shops come to her. The
lucky dealers who by royal warrant are
entitled to describe themselves as "pur'
voyors to her majesty" send samples OF
their choicest wares to the palace and
for week after the middle of December
the queen and Princess Beatrice, and any
other princesses that happen to be
handy, are busy selecting presents.
These are not bought in job lots by any
means, for it is pet theory of the queen
that thought contributes as much as
money to the value of a present. So she
takes pains that each gift shall be suited
especially to the recipient. First come
the queens 81 children, grandchildren
and great-grandchidren, every indi-
vidual one OF whom is remembered.
Then come the queens personal servants
and pensioners and a small army of
those dependents, in whom, for some
reason or another, the queen takes a
special interest. The week before Christ.
mas is usually busy time for the prin-
cesses, to whom, under the presiding
genius of Princess Beatrice, is con6ded
the task of decorating the house with
holly and mistletoe brought down from
Windsor. The queen raises her own
| Christmas trees at Windsor, and they
are trained and trimmed with particular
care. The biggest OF these trees is set up
in the Osborne banqueting hall and
loaded with presents for the school chill
dren of Whippingham church, thanks to
some old custom which has managed to
get itself preserved. The queen herself
used to distribute the presents, but has
surrendered this task to the princesses,
although she usually comes in to see the
fun.
On Christmas morning the entire
family goes to the palace chapel. After
| luncheon comes the inevitable drive. The
Christmas dinner comes Christmas
night, and the baron of beet from the
queens own oxen on the sideboard is
| AZ, 1yo1 OF md n
royal boar's head, which is the invari-
able Christmas present of Emperor Will
liam of Germany to his august grand
mother. The queens plum pudding
comes down from Windsor, and is so
mighty an affair that there is enough for
every one of the descendants, all of
whom are expected to get a piece wher-
ever they may be. The first section to
be sent off by mail is usually that d.
rected to the queens grandson in-law,
the car of Russia. The queen herself
gets scarcely bite Of all this rich fare,
so careful is she of her health and of the
advice OF her physicians. She is becom,
ing more and more Of a vegetarian. No
doubt champagne figures at the queen S
Christmas dinner, but the chances are
that her majesty will not touch a drop
OF it. She has confined herself OF late to
a single glass of Scotch whisky mixed
with filtered water, and sometimes, il
the meal were heavy, thimbleiul of an
cient liquor to follow as cordial.
Christmas used to be a good thing for
some monarchs not far back in the his
tory OF England. The courtiers used to
vie with one another to see which could
buy the richest gifts and thus win the
royal favor. Queen Victoria did not ap
prove of that sort of thing, however
and let it be understood distinctly that
the only presents she cared tor were the
kind whose value did not depend at all
on prices. So the children and grand
children usually try to make something
for her themselves, and the result in al
these years of Christmases must be one
of the most wonderful collections of stu
dious paintings, homemade statuary
tides, hammered brass, wood-carving:
and amateur photographs that morta
eye ever was permitted to rest upon