Revisit your childhood Christmas... or that of your grandparents.
Hoxton's Museum of the Home is a charm at any time of year, but it really comes alive at Christmas. The museum specialises in showing 'how we used to live', via a parade of rooms in period furnishings — from the 17th century through to the home of the future.
Come December and they get the tinsel out... or the holly wreath... or whatever was used to decorate the home in days of yore.
A particular highlight is the 1970s living room, a real nostalgia-fest for those of a certain age. Browns, oranges and creams intermingle in a queasy assault on the eyes, while glass fish and JH Lynch prints look on. The Christmas spread on the table is 90% accurate, just missing the cheese and pineapple hedgehog.
Flash forward just a quarter of a century, and Christmas in a Noughties flatshare looks very different...
Some of our more sensitive readers might prefer to step back in time to the Victorian era, whose living room is much more soberly decorated:
This year, the festive fun includes a sculptural installation by Honey Birch called Christmas Banister. This most unusual take on a Christmas tree is "inspired by the sometimes-overlooked transitional spaces that hold our homes together".
The Museum of the Home — formerly the Geffrye Museum until slavery links caused a rethink — is open all year round (closed on Mondays) and entrance is free. It's right next to Hoxton station on the Windrush line.
