It’s Christmas Eve. It’s all been building up to this: tonight and tomorrow — basically one continuous celebration with a long winter’s nap in the middle of it. It's the ideal day for reminiscing about Christmases past. And so, as you and I spend part of Christmas Eve together, I’m so happy to present the fourth and final memories episode for the season. I’m so grateful to everyone who’s shared a memory this year, making 2020 truly the biggest and best season yet for sharing warm Christmas memor...
Dec 24, 2020•26 min
A Visit from Saint Nicholas wasn't the first published poem to describe Santa Claus arriving on a sleigh to deliver toys on Christmas Eve. But it is the best known poem to do it. In fact, it's one of the best known poems in the English language. But the story behind A Visit from Saint Nicholas, is in its own way, almost as elusive as catching a glimpse of Santa Claus himself on Christmas Eve. It’s a story of somewhat mysterious origins, disputed authorship, combining of legends, and the making o...
Dec 23, 2020•21 min
Christmas is just days away. At this point in the season, maybe you're feeling like you wish you could slow down time and make it all last just a bit longer. It's the perfect time to really reflect on the warmth and magic of the season, and the memories of Christmas Past. So I'm proud to present another episode this season dedicated to just that! Music in this episode Wish Background — Kevin MacLeod, via Incompetech Christmas Memories — Jim Witter , shared directly by the artist Be sure to check...
Dec 21, 2020•27 min
Just who is Mrs Claus? A token character, destined to play second fiddle? A grandmotherly figure baking cookies? The queen of Christmas? The CEO of the North Pole? Since her off-hand introduction in 1849, the story of Mrs. Claus has been one of a legend that’s been writing itself. Thanks to Deeana Golden from IBRBS for appearing in this episode. And special thanks to Tiffany Houghton for permission to use her song, Mrs. Claus. Be sure to check out the " Definitive Directory of Christmas Podcasts...
Dec 19, 2020•12 min
According to legend, a little girl named Pepita saw her humble nativity offering of roadside weeds miraculously transform into bright red flowers on Christmas eve. For generations, the legend was part of the Christmas celebration for many communities in Mexico. And that's where it could have stayed, if it weren't for a man named Poinset. The story of how the poinsettia came to America and how they came to be so ubiquitous at Christmas, has some strange twists and turns in it. Ones that involve a...
Dec 17, 2020•13 min
It's a first! The 2020 season of Christmas Past includes multiple episode dedicated just to you and your Christmas memories. So let's cozy up by the fire and reminisce with the rest of the Christmas Past family with some treasured memories from our listeners. Don't forget to check out the Definitive Directory of Christmas Podcasts ! Links A Cozy Christmas podcast Your Creative Brief Youtube channel Music in this episode Wish Background — Kevin MacLeod, via Incompetech Share a Christmas memory on...
Dec 15, 2020•16 min
The mince pie is one of the least understood, most maligned, and sometimes subversive Christmas traditions we have. And yet, it’s still here. With its pastry crust and spiced — and often, boozy — fruit filling, it’s a survivor. And its story touches on hallucinogens, Prohibition, food preservation, the Puritans, and a Christmas dessert with a bad-boy reputation. A dessert that’s as American as, well...as American as mince pie. Thanks to Veronique Greenwood for appearing in this episode. Be sure ...
Dec 13, 2020•14 min
I'm back with another surprise episode. This time, author Mark Voger and I talk about Christmas nostalgia in popular culture. It's the topic of his new book, Holly Jolly. Links http://markvoger.com/ Holly Jolly on Amazon Music in this episode Turning — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive Be sure to check out the " Definitive Directory of Christmas Podcasts " Share a Christmas memory on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com. Keep...
Dec 12, 2020•26 min
When is a Christmas movie not a Christmas movie? Well, for starters, when it’s released in August. But even more so, when it arrives before a time when the very notion of Christmas movies even existed. Christmas in Connecticut checks all of the boxes of a Christmas movie. Its events occur over Christmas, and there's plenty of Christmas imagery. But at the time of its release, Christmas movies didn't really exist. But of course they do today, and it's mostly thanks a single, revolutionary, invent...
Dec 11, 2020•16 min
It's my favorite episode of the year: the one that's all about YOU and your Christmas memories. For the past four seasons straight, Christmas Past has presented an episode filled with Christmas memories from listeners all over the world. Is 2020 the first year that there will be more than one episode like this? Only you can decide that. There's still time to send Christmas memories to appear in this season. Check out the ThreeKicksPodcast from Chris, who appears in this episode Don't forget to c...
Dec 09, 2020•19 min
Nowadays, wassail, like sugarplums or hot buttered rum, is a part of the Christmas season that most of us experience mainly through references in songs and stories and artwork. But this old English custom is about much more than sharing a cup of good cheer. It’s about one of the parts of Christmas that’s mostly likely destined to remain stuck in Christmas past: inverting the normal rules of social order...with a little help from alcohol. Thanks to Conrad Bladey, author of the five-volume The Boo...
Dec 07, 2020•12 min
Dana Nachman is the director / writer / producer of Dear Santa . This new documentary follows various people involved in the US Postal Service's century-old " Operation Santa " program, which helps get children's letters to Santa Claus answered. Dear Santa is available on several major streaming platforms. Check this listing to see how you can watch it at home. You can also watch this interview on YouTube ! Mentioned in this episode My Dear Santa: A True Crime Christmas Caper : Christmas Past's ...
Dec 05, 2020•15 min
Snow globes are one of those items that seems like it could have been around forever. But they are a relatively new invention, and it wasn’t until decades after their invention that they’d become more or less exclusively a Christmas decoration. And that’s a story involving shoemakers, World War II, Austrian souvenir shops, baby food, and a super top secret process for creating fake snow. That literally only one person on earth knows. Thank you to Erwin Perzy III of Original Viennese Snowglobe Ma...
Dec 03, 2020•13 min
In this bonus episode, Brian's Christmas spirit is put to the test with a fun-filled game of Christmas trivia. This…is…Sherperdy! Today, we take a little break from the typical action. Normally this time of year, the episodes feature the backstories to Christmas traditions and Christmas memories. But a very special member of the Christmas Past family invited yours truly to play a game of Christmas trivia. So, play along at home and see how you do! Thanks again to Rachel in New York for inviting ...
Dec 01, 2020•40 min
For something so closely tied to Christmas — whose very image and flavor is practically synonymous with the season — it may be surprising to realize that origins of candy canes are something of a sweet mystery. Thanks to Kirk Vashaw, CEO of Spangler Candy Company , for appearing in this episode. Be sure to check out the " Definitive Directory of Christmas Podcasts " Share a Christmas memory on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com. Ke...
Nov 28, 2020•13 min
Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Well here we are at the beginning of another Christmas season together. This is Christmas season number five for Christmas Past. Today we're ringing in the 2020 Christmas season with a reading of the 1922 story, The Velveteen Rabbit. Be sure to check out the " Definitive Directory of Christmas Podcasts " Share a Christmas memory on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com. Keep it reasona...
Nov 26, 2020•28 min
We're kicking off November of 2020 with a visit from an old friend. Alex Palmer, author of The Santa Claus Man , appeared in Christmas Past's miniseries, My Dear Santa,: A True Crime Christmas Caper . Now he's back with a new book, The Atlas of Christmas . Join Alex and me for a discussion some of the fun, quirky Christmas traditions around the world that we miss out on here in America. Don't forget to check out the Definitive Directory of Christmas Podcasts ! Music in this episode I Saw Three S...
Nov 02, 2020•16 min
Just in time for Halloween, it's a story about a very creepy game of hide that takes place on Christmas Eve. Happy Halloween! Christmas Past is back for another Ber Months Bonus episode, for those of us getting an early start on the Christmas season. Share a Christmas memory 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 c...
Oct 30, 2020•23 min
We're almost to the end of October. The countdown to Christmas is in full swing, and I'm back again with another Ber Months Bonus episode. This time it's another forgotten work of Christmas fiction: the 1917 short story "It was the same Christmas morning," by Cyrus Townsend Brady. Be sure to check out the " Definitive Directory of Christmas Podcasts " Share a Christmas memory on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com. Keep it reasonabl...
Oct 23, 2020•13 min
It's mid-October and that means the countdown to the countdown to Christmas is in full swing! Christmas cards and panettones are starting to appear on the shelves. Maybe you're even starting to think about Christmas dinner. So was the protagonist of this episode's short story. I'm reading the 1895 story, published anonymously, called My Christmas Dinner. It's a comedy of manners about a narrator who turns down one Christmas dinner invitation after another, holding out for the "ideal" Christmas i...
Oct 16, 2020•20 min
In today's episode, Brian reads the1917 short story titled 'The Lone Scout's Christmas,' by Cyrus Townsend Brady. It's the story of a grieving boy facing a Christmas in an unfamiliar place, when he finds himself stranded in the snow. But he uses his scouting skills to bring everything to a satisfyingly Christmassy conclusion. Be sure to check out the " Definitive Directory of Christmas Podcasts " Share a Christmas memory on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to chr...
Oct 09, 2020•25 min
We’re back for the ninth and final installment of the 1918 YA novel, “Campfire Girls in the Allegheny Mountains (or: A Christmas Success Against Odds).” It’s part of Christmas Past’s “Ber Months Bonus” series of episodes for those of us getting an early start on the Christmas season. Be sure to check out the " Definitive Directory of Christmas Podcasts " over at christmaspast.media Music in this episode We Are the Rain — Aakash Gandhi via YouTube Audio Library Relaxing Piano Music — Kevin MacLeo...
Oct 04, 2020•42 min
We’re back for the eighth (and next-to-last) installment of the 1918 YA novel, “Campfire Girls in the Allegheny Mountains (or: A Christmas Success Against Odds).” It’s part of Christmas Past’s “Ber Months Bonus” series of episodes for those of us getting an early start on the Christmas season. Stay subscribed for more Christmas fun throughout the Ber Months all the way up to Thanksgiving Day when the REAL Christmas season episodes begin. Music in this episode “ Relaxing Piano Music ” — Kevin Mac...
Sep 29, 2020•29 min
We're back for the seventh installment of the 1918 YA novel, "Campfire Girls in the Allegheny Mountains (or: A Christmas Success Against Odds)." It's part of Christmas Past's "Ber Months Bonus" series of episodes for those of us getting an early start on the Christmas season. As the countdown to Christmas grows shorter, the danger grows higher for the girls of the Flamingo Camp Fire. Find out what peril this episode has in store! Stay subscribed for new installments every few days over the next ...
Sep 26, 2020•25 min
We're back for the sixth installment of the 1918 YA novel, "Campfire Girls in the Allegheny Mountains (or: A Christmas Success Against Odds)." It's part of Christmas Past's "Ber Months Bonus" series of episodes for those of us getting an early start on the Christmas season. We're now about halfway through the story and in this installment, the action takes a breather, while the Christmas spirit ramps up a bit in Hollyhill. Stay subscribed for new installments every few days over the next couple ...
Sep 23, 2020•21 min
Continuing our "Ber Months Bonus" series, we're back for the next installment of the 1918 YA novel, "Campfire Girls in the Allegheny Mountains (or: A Christmas Success Against Odds)." The plot takes a bit of a breather in this installment, as everyone reacts to the harrowing events from last time. Stay subscribed for new installments every few days over the next couple of weeks! Music in this episode “ Relaxing Piano Music ” — Kevin MacLeod, via Incompetech " Silk and Silver " — Blue Dot Session...
Sep 15, 2020•20 min
Welcome to the next installment of Campfire Girls in the Allegheny Mountains (or: A Christmas Success Against Odds). Brian is reading this 1918 YA novel to kick off the Ber Months for those of us getting an early start on the Christmas season. This time, we check in on the boy scouts as they set out on their own holiday plans, only to stumble upon a devious plot! Music in this episode “ Relaxing Piano Music ” — Kevin MacLeod, via Incompetech " Gentle Marimbas " — Podington Bear, via Free Music A...
Sep 08, 2020•25 min
We're continuing our Ber Months bonus series for those of us getting an early start on the Christmas season. Brian is reading the 1918 YA novel, Campfire Girls in the Allegheny Mountains (or: A Christmas Success Against Odds). Last time we left the girls, they were on a train ride, and hostess Marion was disturbed by a mysterious letter. Let's see what happens next! Music in this episode “ Relaxing Piano Music ” — Kevin MacLeod, via Incompetech " Night Light " — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music...
Sep 05, 2020•22 min
Welcome back. We're continuing where we left off from the 1918 YA novel, "Campfire Girls in the Allegheny Mountains (or: A Christmas Success Against Odds). It's a fitting kickoff to the Ber Months Bonus episodes of 2020. Stay subscribed as I continue bringing a few chapters in each installment every few days until the story is complete. Music in this episode “ Relaxing Piano Music ” — Kevin MacLeod, via Incompetech " Turning " — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive Keep in touch christmaspa...
Sep 02, 2020•21 min
For many of us, the start of the 'Ber Months' marks the beginning of the holiday season. So today, on Ber Months Eve, I'm launching a new Story Time miniseries. Because COVID will make Christmas of 2020 a Christmas against the odds, I thought it would be fitting to read the 1918 YA Novel, Campfire Girls in the Allegheny Mountains (or: A Christmas Against Odds). I'll read one or two chapters in each installment until the story is complete. Happy Ber Months, sugarplums! Music in this episode “ Rel...
Aug 31, 2020•13 min
