Christmas traditions unwrapped at the Geffrye Museum. Photo: Jayne Lloyd

The exhibition ‘Christmas Past’ is spread over eleven rooms and captures the evolution of the festive period by reconstructing the interior of merchant class homes across the centuries.

The journey begins in 1630, Elizabethan times. A huge log sits in the fireplace waiting to be lit, oak panels cover the walls and a rush mat lies across the floor. Tapered candles cast a soft glow over the Christmas table, which has been laid with sweet and savoury food.

Evergreens are draped over the hanging portraits and a kissing bough – a precursor of mistletoe – hangs from the ceiling. The effect is cheerful and inviting but far from contemporary expectations of Christmas decor.

A century later and the festivities have moved up a gear. The 1790’s features a table set with roast beef (turkey didn’t become popular until the 1900’s) and plum pudding (now called Christmas pudding).

The Christmas tree doesn’t appear until the Victorian age while the Edwardian room charts the introduction of wrapped gifts, stockings and ropes of holly strung like tinsel. The time tour culminates with a familiar Christmas format in a noughties warehouse conversion.

The Geffrye Museum does a remarkable job of accurately recreating distinct historical periods. The exhibition is a fun and unique approach to an entrenched celebration and is accessible and comprehensible to all ages and cultures. It runs until 3 January 2010.