The creative team of Rankin and Bass have produced some of the most enduring, nostalgia-producing Christmas specials in television history. Historian and biographer Rick Goldschmidt joins Brian to tell the story of how an art director and an ad jingle writer became “the kings of Christmas.”

Links

• More info about Rankin/Bass and Rick Goldschmidt
• Rick’s books about Rankin/Bass

Music in this episode

• “Kettled” — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive
• “Soft Piano” — Anastasia Kir, via Pixabay
• “O Holy Night (Solo Piano)” — 23843807, via Pixabay
• “Wish Background” — Kevin MacLeod, via Incompetec

Connect

• Facebook page
• Facebook group
• Instagram
• Bluesky
• Twitter / X
• Email: christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com
• Website

Book

Christmas Past: The Fascinating Stories Behind Our Favorite Holiday’s Traditions makes a great gift for all the Christmas lovers in your life. Available in hardcover and audiobook. Find it wherever books are sold, like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

A lot of people complain that Christmas comes earlier every year. But, is that really true? Extended holiday shopping seasons have been the norm for well over a century. And besides, there’s one big (and spooooky) reason that Christmas can only come so early. Marketing professor Darrin Duber-Smith joins Brian to discuss the phenomenon of “Christmas creep.”

Music in this episode

• “Silent Movie (Old Record Version)” — Anastasia Kir, via Pixabay
• “Deck the Hall Jazz” — Anastasia Kir, via Pixabay
• “Ambient Piano” — BlackPy Beats, via Pixabay
• “Gentle Soft Piano – Christmas Vibes” — Alex Products, via Free Music Archive
• “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” — Dee Yan-Kee, via Free Music Archive

Connect

• Facebook page
• Facebook group
• Instagram
• Twitter / X
• Email: christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com
• Website

Book

Christmas Past: The Fascinating Stories Behind Our Favorite Holiday’s Traditions makes a great gift for all the Christmas lovers in your life. Available in hardcover and audiobook. Find it wherever books are sold, like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Actor John Rhys-Davies (Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones) joins Brian to discuss Scrooge, A Christmas Carol. Rhys-Davies plays Dickens’s narrator in this four-part audio drama podcast, set for re-release on November 22.

Music in this episode

“O Holy Night” — Calvin Clavier, via Pixabay

Connect

• Facebook page
• Facebook group
• Instagram
• Twitter / X
• Email: christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com
• Website

Book

Christmas Past: The Fascinating Stories Behind Our Favorite Holiday’s Traditions makes a great gift for all the Christmas lovers in your life. Available in hardcover and audiobook. Find it wherever books are sold, like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Happy Halloween, everybody! And more than that: welcome to another season of Christmas Past.

Yes, it’s still Halloween. But that’s the perfect time to kick things off, because it gives us a chance to honor the classic Christmas tradition of sharing a ghost story. Our Victorian forebears really loved their ghost stories — for all occasions, but perhaps especially for Christmas. Many magazines of the era published ghost stories specifically for the Christmas season. The stories didn’t necessarily involve Christmas; but they were meant to be enjoyed on Christmas Eve, adding a little extra chill to a cold winter’s night.

Though the tradition has faded, it’s not gone altogether. And that’s thanks in part to my friends at Biblioasis publishing. Every year, they publish a series of classic ghost stories beautifully illustrated by the acclaimed artist known only as Seth. It’s become a yearly tradition here on Christmas Past to start the season off with a story from their current series.

In today’s story, when a group of tourists visits the deserted island of Podolo, one wants to rescue a feral cat they find there, and the others reluctantly agree. Unfortunately, the rescue proves more difficult than they expect — and they soon discover they’re not alone on Podolo.

Music in this episode

• “Didion” — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive
• “Frequency of Sleep Meditation” — Leigh Robinson, via Pixabay
• “Endless” — MildRelaxation, via Pixabay

Connect

• Facebook page
• Facebook group
• Instagram
• Twitter / X
• Email: christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com
• Website

Book

Christmas Past: The Fascinating Stories Behind Our Favorite Holiday’s Traditions makes a great gift for all the Christmas lovers in your life. Available in hardcover and audiobook. Find it wherever books are sold, like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Here in America, the day after Christmas is simply that: the day after. The party’s over. But in England, it’s an official holiday. December 26 — Boxing Day — is the Christmas afterparty you’ve been missing out on. What’s the story? And what does it have to do with boxing? Paul Kerensa joins Christmas Past to…unpack the box.

Mentioned in this Episode

• Paul Kerensa
• Hark! The Biography of Christmas, by Paul Kerensa

Music in this Episode

• “Good King Wenceslas” — U.S. Army Band, via Wikimedia Commons
• “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” — DJ Williams, via Youtube Audio Library
• “In the Bleak Midwinter” — Julius H., via Pixabay
• “Emotional Piano Improvisation” — Alexander Nakarada, via Film Music
• “Holiday Gift” — Kai Engel, via Free Music Archive

Section from A Christmas Carol read by Peter John Keeble, courtesy of Librivox

For many families, the Christmas Eve feast is a so-called “meatless meal.” It’s a tradition of European Christian roots that has gone on to take many forms.

Mentioned in this episode

Plating Grace

Music in this Episode

• “Italian Trip” — wildsound159, via Pixabay
• “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen,” — Don Maue, shared directly by the artist
• “First Snow” — Scott Buckley, via ScottBuckley.com.au
• “Silent Night” — DJ Williams, via Youtube Audio Library
• “Mortality” — Podington Bear, via Free Music Archive

In the late nineteenth century modern postal systems were still coming into their own. Around the turn of the century, many countries, including England, began issuing Christmas themed postage stamps. You might think that America would have been among them, but boy would you be wrong.

In fact, America was one of the last countries to get on board. American Christmas stamps are only a few decades old. And the story there has to do with simple economics and America’s system of government.

Mentioned in this Episode

Christmas Philatelic Club

Music in this Episode

• “Christmas Jazz” — Denys Kyshchuk, via Pixabay
• “Running Waters” — Audionautix, via Youtube Audio Library
• “Noel” — Audionautix, via Youtube Audio Library
• “Acoustic Guitar 1” — Audionautix, via Youtube Audio Library
• “Dreamland” — Aakash Gandhi, via Youtube Audio Library
• “Wish Background” — Kevin MacLeod, via Incompetech

For a bread that’s short, its history is long. Exactly how long, and the particulars of how it all came about, though, are unclear. But one this is clear: shortbread is an essential — and delicious — part of the festive season.

Mentioned in this Episode

• Tasting History Youtube Channel
• Tasting History, book by Max Miller

Music in this Episode

• “Hush Ye, My Bairnie” — Trygve Larsen, Pixabay
• “Drops of Melting Snow (after Holst, Abroad as I was walking)” — Axletree, via Free Music Archive
• “Soft Piano” — Agnese Valmaggia, via Film Music
• “Auld Lang Syne” — Trygve Larsen, Pixabay
• “Angels We Have Heard on High” — Don Maue, shared directly by the artist