Christmas Past

In today's story, our hero finds himself stranded on Christmas Eve, alone in an abandoned ship. But is he really alone? It's "Christmas Eve on a Haunted Hulk," published by Biblioasis, and illustrated by the acclaimed cartoonist, Seth.  Mentioned in This Episode http://biblioasis.com/product-category/fiction/seths-christmas-ghost-stories/ Music in This Episode " This Chris...

Time for another ghost story! This one is more sentimental than spooky. It's The Corner Shop, in which a man buys a trinket in a curio shop that turns out to be worth a lot more than he bargained for. It's part of this year's series of ghost stories for Christmas from my friends at Biblioasis.  Mentioned in This Episode http://biblioasis.com/product-category/fiction/seths-christmas-...

It's story time once again. Snuggle up, but beware of things that go bump in the night! Today, we're taking a trip of the imagination to a cemetery in France. The dead there are resting peacefully, until a new railway wakes them up! An old priest tries to help them return to rest while he helps the soul of a recently dead countess to find peace. It's Gertrude Atherton's "T...

Christmas Past is back with the first episode of 2022. We're kicking off the preseason with some good old fashioned story time! This one's for the whole family, so gather round and cozy up...we're heading to the Hollow Tree in for some old fashioned Christmas fun! Buy the Christmas Past Book! The Christmas Past book is available for pre-order today, and releases on November 1. Get i...

Merry Christmas, everyone! The big day has arrived. And it's time for our sixth annual Christmas year in review. We'll recall all the sights, sounds, news, and trends that made this Christmas unique. Plus, I'll review my own Christmas season, and talk about what's to come in 2022.  Thank you to everyone who took part in the season, by listening, sharing memories, leaving review...

It's Christmas Eve! No matter how you celebrate, or where you celebrate, or who you call family, I hope you’re feeling the Christmas spirit right about now. And I, as well as several members of the Christmas Past family, are here to deliver just a little bit more of it.  Be sure to follow the Tree Twins on Instagram!  Music in this episode "Stille Nacht" — Don Maue, shared directly...

It's Christmas Eve Eve Eve! The big day is almost here. Friends and loved ones are starting to gather and prepare, ready to add a new chapter to their Christmas story, and to reminisce about Christmasses past. And today, so are we…as the Christmas Past family. It’s another episode all about you. About sharing your stories and memories, your traditions and love of our favorite holiday!  Marv f...

Christmas is often abbreviate as Xmas, but why? Why does X make a suitable abbreviation, and why does Christmas need abbreviating at all? To find the answers, we'll have to go back to the earliest days of Christianity, and and explore the world of symbology and word origins.  Thank you to Mignon Fogarty, from Grammar Girl for joining me in this episode!  Music in this episode " Golden Ho...

Welcome back for the second consecutive day of Christmas trivia! It's the conclusion of our special double header. Join us today when Rachel plays quizmaster to Brian in a game of "Sheperdy." We're in the final countdown to Christmas of 2021, but rest assured: there's much more Christmas cheer on tap between now and the big day!   Music in this episode " Turning &quot...

In a first here on Christmas Past, we're doing a double header of Christmas trivia. Join me today and tomorrow for back-to-back episodes where you put your Christmas spirit to the test. Today, the name of the game is "Two Truths and a Lie," where your deception detection skills are just as important as your knowledge of Christmas history. All questions in today's game are relat...

Victorian carolers wouldn't go until they got some. But many Americans wouldn't know one if they saw one. The figgy pudding (or plum pudding or Christmas pudding) has been with us for many centuries, and in many forms. How did a Medieval savory soup become a fruity, boozy and exclusively Christmassy dessert? Glen Warren from the Seasons Eatings podcast joins Brian in this episode.  Menti...

When this episode arrives, there will be only 10 days remaining until Christmas of 2021. It's a good point in the season to take a breather and snuggle up with a story from the world of classic Christmas fiction. Today, I'm reading The Christmas Fairy, an 1878  story by John Strange Winter. It’s a story for the whole family, about a schoolboy whose plans for Christmas take an unexpected...

Christmas and charity are as natural a pairing as you might imagine. But the long history of charity at Christmas time has a few things worth exploring. For example, who has historically done the charitable giving, and why. And how the Victorians generally, and Charles Dickens specifically, laid the foundation for the modern form of Christmas charity that we know today. Thank you to Martin Johns,...

In 1945, when songwriter Bob Wells first penned the line "chestnuts roasting on an open fire..." chestnuts were as much a part of the Christmas season as eggnog and gingerbread. And then, just a few years after Nat King Cole recorded his iconic version of that song...they weren't. What happened? It's one of the few examples from recent history of a Christmas tradition dying out...

It's our first family gathering of the season...the kind dedicated to members of the Christmas Past family and their Christmas memories. Pour the hot chocolate and snuggle up by the tree! It's time for a trip down memory lane.  Music in this episode "Just Stay" — Aakash Gandhi, via Youtube Audio Library "Frozen in Love" — Aakash Gandhi, via Youtube Audio Library &quot...

In 1937, radio audiences were introduced to The Cinnamon Bear, a magical twenty-six-part Christmas miniseries. Twins Judy and Jimmy search through the enchanted world of Maybeland for their lost Christmas ornament with the help of a talking bear.  The series delighted audiences for many seasons before falling out of the mainstream. But a new audience is discovering the program in the Internet age....

Today is an episode for the whole family! A Christmas story about two elves who decide to bring their special month-long celebration to humans. I'll narrate Festive of the Elves, a 2020 book, as told by Holly Figgyworth. After the reading, I speak with Angeli Elliott about the origins of the story, and how families can bring a little elfin magic to their own Christmas!  Visit www.festivalofth...

Christmas and sweaters naturally go together. But how did the idea of a festive holiday sweater become the multimillion dollar industry of recent decades? Is the gawdy, ironic, edgy humored Christmas sweater a passing fad, or are we at the start of something enduring? Today on Christmas Past: The "ugly" Christmas sweater! Thank you to Evan Mendelsohn from Tipsy Elves for joining me. And...

 All the different landscapes and climates and cultures in America make for a seemingly endless number of settings for celebrating our favorite holiday. And one kind of setting in particular has earned a special place in American Christmas culture and lore: the small town. That homey, local Christmas spirit is the topic of Small Town Christmas , the new series on UPtv. Series creator and host Mega...

A Charlie Brown Christmas became one of the most successful Christmas television specials ever. But the odds were stacked against it in 1965. Written and produced under a crazy deadline, the network executives were sure it would flop like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. But of course, things turned out differently.  This episode includes an interview with Benjamin Clark, curator of the Charles M....

What happens when a Christmas tree from a secret admirer comes between a young woman and her fiance in New York in 1902? That's the subject of the new Christmas audio drama from Sagacity Productions: "Christmas on Henry Street." This one-hour program, based on real events, will air on several NPR affiliate stations in December. Christmas Past is pleased to share it with you in this...

The song now known as "Jingle Bells" is synonymous with Christmas, even though it never mentions Christmas by name. There's much more to the story of this beloved song than you ever could have imagined. Tracing its history will take us through Boston minstrel halls, "sleigh ride culture," and a feud between two American towns that each claim to be the song's birthplac...

There's nothing like curling up with an old fashioned ghost story on a chilly evening during the Christmas season. This one's more ghostly than Christmassy, but it first appeared in a Christmas supplement to the Illustrated London Times. It's The Doll's Ghost, by F. Marion Crawford. And today, I'm reading it to you from the 2021 collection of Seth's Christmas Ghost St...

Get ready for small town Christmases and hometown hunks! Today, we're looking at made-for-TV Christmas romances, and exploring how and why they've become the dominant form of Christmas entertainment in recent decades. Brandon Gray and Alonso Duralde, co-authors of I'll Be Home for Christmas Movies, help us make sense of it all. Mentioned in this episode I'll be Home for Christm...

Now that Halloween is behind us, it's officially Christmastime! Time for a mug of cocoa, some foofy jammies, and the Hallmark Channel. Today, Brandon Gray, co-host of Deck the Hallmark, recalls some of the best, worst, and most romantic ones reviewed in his new book, I'll Be Home For Christmas Movies.  Get the book on Amazon Music in this episode: " This is Christmas " — Scott...