Advent Calendar December 12
Holly – Seamus Heaney It rained when it should have snowed.When we went to gather holly the ditches were swimming, we were wetto the knees, our hands were all jags … Continue reading
Advent Calendar December 10
Handmade Presents The future Queen Victoria wrote in her diary on Christmas Eve, 1832: Mamma gave me a lovely pink bag which she had worked with a little sachet likewise … Continue reading
Advent Calendar December 9
The Christmas Panto and The Workhouse If you go to the Theatre Royal in Brighton look out for a gilt-framed illustrated letter displayed on the stairs leading to the Royal … Continue reading
Advent Calendar December 8
When fire was a Christmas essential Bringing home the Yule Log You may do without beef and plum-pudding; even the absence of mince-pie may be tolerated…but a huge, heaped-up, over … Continue reading
Advent Calendar December 7th
Christmas tree up this weekend? The Christmas tree we are familiar with is a German custom. A number of historical sources say that Queen Charlotte, the mother of the Prince … Continue reading
Advent Calendar December 6th
It was Christmas Day in the workhouse Eventide. A Scene at the Westminster Union (workhouse) 1879. IT IS CHRISTMAS Day in the workhouse, and the cold, bare walls are brightWith … Continue reading
Advent Calendar December 5th
New Clothes for Christmas After the simple lines of the the Regency empire dress, big sleeves became the height of fashion. Above are the 1829 cartoons by William Heath that … Continue reading
Advent Calendar December 4th
A Very Proper Snow Lady Two women make a highly detailed Snow Lady in West Berkshire. The photograph was published in The Strand Magazine in 1892. It was a fairly … Continue reading
Advent Calendar December 3rd
The 1914 Christmas Truce This short film made by The Imperial War Museum in London explores what really happened in the trenches in the first Christmas of World War I … Continue reading
Advent Calendar December 1st
The First Christmas Card The first printed Christmas card was produced in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole, a civil servant who had helped Rowland Hill set up the Penny Post in … Continue reading
BRIDGET WHELAN writer 