As we ease our way into another Christmas season, we’re practicing thta somewhat forgotten tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas time! In 1883, Temple Bar magazine published a story by a writer and physician named Arthur Conan Doyle. Nowadays, we refer to him as sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and we know him best as the creator of that most famous of detectives: Sherlock Holmes. But this 1883 story isn’t about Sherlock. It’s about a ship trapped in arctic ice and the strange things the captain and crew experience. Join Brian for a reading of The Captain of the Polestar.

Mentioned in this Episode

Biblioasis

Music in this Episode

• “Dewbound” — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive
• “Ethereal Relaxation” — Kevin MacLeod, via Incompetech

They’re the spiced cookie with the funny sounding (to American ears) name. Pfeffernusse — or, “pepper nuts” in English — contain neither pepper nor nuts. And for centuries, the original recipe has been a closely guarded secret. Baker and podcaster Glen Warren joins me in this episode.

Mentioned in This Episode

Seasons Eatings Podcast

Music in This Episode

• “The Poplar Grove” — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive
• “Midvinter” — Scott Buckley, via scottbuckley.com.au
• “Felix Mendelssohn: Songs Without Words” Vassily Primakov, via Free Music Archive
• “The First Noel – Silent Night” — Ralph Rousseau Meulenbroeks, via Magnatune Compilation
• “Piano Moment” — Zakhar Valaha Music, via Pixabay
• “Jingle Bells” — Scott Holmes Music, via Free Music Archive

Buy the Christmas Past Book!

Order your copy today. And remember…it makes a great gift!

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-a-Million

IndieBound

Share a Christmas memory

Be on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com. Keep it reasonably short, clean and family friendly, and be sure to say your name and where you’re from.

Keep in touch

christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com

Facebook page

Facebook group

Twitter

Instagram

Website

It’s fluffy, sweet, and studded with raisins and candied fruit peel. It’s the Italian Christmas cake known as Panettone. Get ready to talk with your hands, along with me and Max Miller of Tasting History as we dig in.

Mentioned in This Episode

Tasting History

Music in This Episode

• “Bushwick Tarantella” — Kevin MacLeod, via Youtube Audio Library
• “Saloon Piano – Ragtime Retro Vintage Jazz Comedy Music” — FreeGroove, via Pixabay
• “We Three Kings” — James Edwards, via Magnatune Compilation
• “PianoCello” — Reverie Now, via Pixabay
• “Pop Vibration” — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive
• “Good King Wenceslas” — Richard Irwin, via Hymns Without Words
• “Jingle Bells” — Scott Holmes Music, via Free Music Archive

Buy the Christmas Past Book!

Order your copy today. And remember…it makes a great gift!

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-a-Million

IndieBound

Share a Christmas memory

Be on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com. Keep it reasonably short, clean and family friendly, and be sure to say your name and where you’re from.

Keep in touch

christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com

Facebook page

Facebook group

Twitter

Instagram

Website

Most of the classic American Christmas songs come from the 1940s. What was it about that decade that accounts for an explosion of Christmas music that’s stood the test of time? What is it about those songs that sounds so Christmassy? And why are Christmas classics so few and far between in recent generations? Join me and Berklee College of Music professor Chris North to dive in!

Music in This Episode

• “Sleigh Ride” — Marcus Staab, via Musopen
• “Home for the Holidays” — Track Tribe, via Youtube Audio Library
• “Christmas Jazz” — Audio Coffee, via Pixabay
• “171221 – jazz style piano / day / happy / love / life” — WELC0MEИ0, via Pixabay
• “Christmas Magic Night” — Lesfm, via Pixabay
• “Night Jazz” — Music for Videos, via Pixabay

Buy the Christmas Past Book!

Order your copy today. And remember…it makes a great gift!

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-a-Million

IndieBound

Share a Christmas memory

Be on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com. Keep it reasonably short, clean and family friendly, and be sure to say your name and where you’re from.

Keep in touch

christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com

Facebook page

Facebook group

Twitter

Instagram

Website

They’re the festive party favors containing a paper crown, a trinket, and a joke — and wrapped in a package that goes “bang” when you open it! Christmas Crackers are an invention of the Victorian age. And more specifically, one confectioner named Tom Smith. Smith single handedly created a tradition that has endured for generations.

Mentioned in This Episode

• Peter Kimpton’s Website
• Tom Smith’s Christmas Crackers — Book by Peter Kimpton

Music in This Episode

• “The Kishner Method” — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive
• “Forget” — Lesfm, via Pixabay
• “God Rest You Merry Gentlemen Christmas Piano Background Music” — Lesfm, via Pixabay
• “Sedative” — Lesfm, via Pixabay
• “Stress Relief Piano” — PianoAmor, via Pixabay
• “Night Jazz” — Music for Videos, via Pixabay

Buy the Christmas Past Book!

Order your copy today. And remember…it makes a great gift!

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-a-Million

IndieBound

Share a Christmas memory

Be on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com. Keep it reasonably short, clean and family friendly, and be sure to say your name and where you’re from.

Keep in touch

christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com

Facebook page

Facebook group

Twitter

Instagram

Website

It’s the theater experience that’s as rollicking and raucous as it is festive! And it’s also mostly unknown to American audiences. Join Brian in this episode to hear all about the British tradition of Pantomime.

Mentioned in This Episode

• http://www.evolution-productions.co.uk/
• https://www.vam.ac.uk/

Music in This Episode

• “Vaquero Perdido” — The Mini Vandals, via Youtube Audio Library
• “Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies” — Kevin MacLeod, via Incompetech
• “Dona Norem” — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive
• “Twinkle Like a Star” — Monday Hopes, via Pixabay
• “Ding Dong Merrily on High” — Steve’s Bedroom Band, via Musopen
• “Snowflakes – Winter & Christmas Swing Music” — Julius H, via Pixabay

Buy the Christmas Past Book!

Order your copy today. And remember…it makes a great gift!

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-a-Million

IndieBound

Share a Christmas memory

Be on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com. Keep it reasonably short, clean and family friendly, and be sure to say your name and where you’re from.

Keep in touch

christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com

Facebook page

Facebook group

Twitter

Instagram

Website

They were a symbol of the Space Age and then, quickly, they were a relic of the past. Aluminum Christmas trees burst onto the Christmas scene in the late 1950s and reached peak popularity during the 60s. And then…they were gone. But a new generation is discovering the kitschy, retro charm of this uniquely American invention.

Mentioned in This Episode

The Wonderful World of Evergleam by Theron Georges

Theron Georges’s Aluminum Christmas Tree displays

Music in This Episode

• “Dunder” — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive
• “Acoustic Motivation” — Coma Media, via Pixabay
• “O Christmas Tree – O Tannenbaum – Piano Christmas Carol” — JuliusH, via Pixabay
• “Silent Night” — Zakhar Valaha Music, via Pixabay
• “Shades of Spring” — Kevin MacLeod, via Incompetech
• “This Christmas” — Hot Music, via Pixabay

Buy the Christmas Past Book!

Order your copy today. And remember…it makes a great gift!

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-a-Million

IndieBound

Share a Christmas memory

Be on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com. Keep it reasonably short, clean and family friendly, and be sure to say your name and where you’re from.

Keep in touch

christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com

Facebook page

Facebook group

Twitter

Instagram

Website

We’re officially kicking off the 2022 season of Christmas Past with a Thanksgiving family gathering, a return to a beloved Bay Area tradition, and a visit to the Cratchit family in London. Cozy up by the fire and welcome the festive season with the entire Christmas Past family.

Many thanks to Denise Lamott, Therese Porter, Kevin Patterson, and everyone at The Great Dickens Christmas Fair for making this episode possible.

Music in this episode

“The Winter Fall by PrabajithK” — Mild Relaxation, via Pixabay

“Relaxing Piano Music” — Kevin MacLeod, via Incompetech

“Peace and Comfort” — Dee Yan-Key, via Free Music Archive

“This Christmas” — Hot Music, via Pixabay

Buy the Christmas Past Book!

Order your copy today. And remember…it makes a great gift!

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-a-Million

IndieBound

Share a Christmas memory

Be on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com. Keep it reasonably short, clean and family friendly, and be sure to say your name and where you’re from.

Keep in touch

christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com

Facebook page

Facebook group

Twitter

Instagram

Website

It’s an annual tradition on Christmas Past: The game of Christmas trivia where you have to spot the lie! Join Todd Killian from Christmas Clatter and I as we quiz listeners Ashley and Laura about Christmas in the 1940s, 50s, 60s, and 70s. Play along and put your Christmas spirit and lie detection skills to the test!

Music in This Episode

• “This Christmas” — Hot Music, via Pixabay
• “Turning” — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive

The post Two Truths and a Lie: Four Decades appeared first on Christmas Past.