Only one month to go...

... until Christmas Day!

Which means it won't be long before I dust off The Chrismologist's advent calendar, ready for another year.

So, come 1 December, make sure you check out TheChrismologist.com for a new fascinating festive fact every day...

Call the Chrismologist!

It's getting to be that time of year again. In only five weeks' time people all over the world will be making their final preparations for Christmas. For some, those preparations include producing items of media, whether they be radio shows, TV programmes, or newspaper articles.

So, if you're wondering what to include this year, why not Call the Chrismologist? I am very happy to appear on radio or TV and have been interviewed for numerous pieces for the press before. Ask me your Christmas questions or simply consult my Christmas book What is Myrrh Anyway? to gather some ideas.

TheChrismologist.com

Just a note to let you know that this blog is no longer being updated.

To keep up with all my Christmas updates and news about my Christmas books, click this link to visit TheChrismologist.com.

The Chrismologist

Don't forget to check out my new website TheChrismologist.com for all your Christmas facts and regular season updates.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Ebenezer Scrooge and Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol

Join the campaign to make Ebenezer's Carol No. 1 this Christmas here!

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Ebenezer Scrooge and Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol

Join the campaign to make Ebenezer's Carol No. 1 this Christmas here!

Let's make Ebenezer's Carol No.1 this Christmas!

The plan:

To get Ebenezer's Carol, by The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing, to No. 1 in time for Christmas. A proper steampunk Christmas song for Christmas No. 1!

What we need to do to achieve this:

1) For Ebenezer's Carol to chart it needs to sell roughly 8,000 copies. The single needs be downloaded as a single, and not as part of the A Very Steampunk Christmas EP. It's available now from iTunes, eMusic and Amazon.

2) So, forward this message to all your friends (be they steampunks or otherwise) but remind them that they must buy the song by itself for it to get into the singles chart.

3) Blog about this, post a link on your Facebook page, Tweet about it, but most importantly - buy the single Ebenezer's Carol!

4) Arrange events themed around this, call the local press, use your contacts - whatever you've got - and we could really make this happen!

This is a chance for steampunk fans to really make themselves heard and make a difference for the future of Christmas. The fate of Ebenezer's Carol and Christmas music itself is in your hands! Let's make Christmas 2010 a Very Merry Steampunk Christmas!

TheChrismologist.com

As long time followers of this blog (and my many others) will already know, I currently juggle about eight blogs, updating people on various aspects of my writing, and - to be honest - it was all getting a bit much, especially when there are effectively two blogs for the same book, only one of them for the American market and one for the UK.
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So, I've decided to merge the two blogs for Christmas Miscellany and What is Myrrh Anyway? in one, easy to manage, dot com, called...
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Click this link and check it out for yourself. In fact, why not bookmark the site and add it to your favourites today?

It's still a work in progress at the moment, but over the coming weeks I'll be adding more features and content all the time. And you can already email me all your Christmas questions direct at info@thechrismologist.com.

I look forward to seeing you there.

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Christmas River Cottage style

River Cottage is warming up for Christmas.




You can place your orders here.

Glad Tidings!

All the latest Christmas news is here!

Australia Suffers from Santa Shortage

Toys R Us Hiring 45,000 for Christmas

Campaign Against Santa in Movies Growing

New Christmas Album to Reveal Unreleased Bing Crosby Holiday Songs

Build A Bear to Launch Pop-Up Stores for Christmas

Holly Jolly Jigsaw.com Launches

Happy PGL Christmas!

Today is the 25th June, which means that it's time to celebrate PGL Christmas!

If you've ever fancied working at a PGL centre, but weren't sure if it's really for you, it's worth knowing that all PGL centres organise special events for staff - including karaoke evenings, themed fancy dress nights in the bar, barbecues, quiz nights, pool tournaments and even Christmas parties on 25th June!

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, ten dancing Christmas robots

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, four funky fonts

The first is called Fortune...


... and to find the rest, follow this link...

Merry Xmas!

Every year more than 400 million people celebrate Christmas around the globe, which makes it one of the biggest religious and commercial festivities in the world.

But have you ever wondered why Christmas is so often shortened to Xmas?

In fact, the practice dates back further than you might suspect, ans has nothing to do with devaluing the Christian festival, as many people believe. In reality, both Christ and Christmas have been abbreviated for at least 1,000 years. The word Christ appears in Medieval documents as both 'XP' and 'Xt' and can even be found in this form in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle from 1021. By why were those particular letters used?

To find out more, pick up your copy of What is Myrrh Anyway? in time for the festive season. After all, there's only 17 days to go until Christmas! (Or should that be Xmas?)

A Champagne Christmas

Why not splash out this Christmas with a bottle or two of champagne? After all, the cost of a bottle of champagne could drop to as low as £10, as stores are forced to cut prices to clear their stocks of millions of bottles that have been left unsold thanks to the recession.


Then you could have a go at making this delicious Christmas cocktail.

Christmas Champagne Cocktail

Serves/Makes: 1

Ingredients:
1 lemon wedge
1/4 cup pink decorating sugar
1 sugar cube
1 dash of pomegranate nectar
Chilled champagne, or other sparkling wine or sparkling cider

Rub the rim of a champagne flute with the lemon wedge, then dip the rim into the decorating sugar (save any extra sugar for making more cocktails. Put the sugar cube into the flute. Drop the pomegranate nectar on the sugar. Pour in the sparkling wine or cider to fill the glass. Serve at once.

To find out more about the champagne price crash, click here.

Delia's Happy Christmas

What would Christmas be without Delia?

Well the queen of cookery writing has a new title out this season, with Delia's Happy Christmas.

Delia has long been the person we turn to for stress-free Christmas celebrations, and this year she celebrates 40 years of writing recipes.

Delia's Happy Christmas is the definitive guide to all aspects of cooking for Christmas. This cookbook will actually help you to plan your Christmas festivities to the very last culinary detail, even acting as an invaluable Christmas organiser from reminding you to make your Christmas pudding and chutneys in November to giving you a crucial countdown for the Last 36 Hours.

So what are you waiting for? Go here to pick up a copy for yourself so that Christmas this year can be as stress-free as it must be in Delia's household.

The History of Christmas... from an American perspective

If you're a fan of Christmas, or history, or both, why not pick up a copy of the History Channel's, The History of Christmas. Most of it is presented from an American perspective, but of course the early origins of the festive festival were in Europe and the Middle East.

To find out more about The (American) History of Christmas, click here.

Of course What is Myrrh Anyway? is still available from all good booksellers, and as a dissection of the winter solstice/Yule/Christmas, reading it isn't restricted to 25 December!

To pick up your copy of What is Myrrh Anyway? click here.

S Rozhdestvom!

Or, in English, Merry Christmas to all our Russian readers!

Yes, today - thirteen days after the Western Christmas Day - on 7 January, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates its Christmas, in accordance with the old Julian calendar. It's a day of both solemn ritual as well as joyous celebration.

After the 1917 Revolution, Christmas was banned throughout Russia, along with other religious celebrations. It wasn't until 75 years later, in 1992, that the holiday was openly observed. Today, it's once again celebrated in grand fashion, with the faithful participating in an all-night Mass in incense-filled Cathedrals amidst the company of the painted icons of Saints.

An old Russian tradition, which has its roots in the Orthodox faith, is the Christmas Eve fast and meal. The fast typically lasts until after the evening worship service or until the first star appears. The dinner that follows is very much a celebration, although meat is not permitted. Kutya, a type of porridge, is the main dish and full of symbolism - its ingredients being various grains for hope and honey and poppy seed for happiness and peace.

So, if you're celebrating the Russian Orthodox Christmas today - S Rozhdestvom and S Novym Godom!

The old ones are the best...

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me... twelveTwelfth Night traditions!

Twelfth Night is traditionally the time to take down your Christmas tree and any other festive decorations. To leave evergreens up in the house after this point is to bring bad luck on the household!

Here are some other Twelfth Night traditions that you might - or might not - be familiar with.

1) Twelfth Night is also known as Epiphany, the date on which the Christian Church celebrates the visit of the Magi to the Christ child.

2) The feast of the Epiphany originated in the East during the third century, in honour of Christ’s baptism.

3) During a special service held at St James’s Palace, London, on 6 January, members of the Royal Household present the Chapel Royal with the three gifts brought to the Christ child by the Magi.

4) At one time, the highlight of the Twelfth Night celebrations was the cutting of the twelfth-cake, which was supposed to have a dried pea or bean hidden somewhere inside it. Whoever found the bean was proclaimed king or queen for the rest of the evening’s fun and frivolity.

5) Another tradition involving a cake, upheld by the cast of the play currently being performed at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, is the eating of the Baddeley Cake. This is as a result of a stipulation made in the last will and testament of one Robert Baddeley, an actor from the eighteenth century, after whom the cake is named.

6) In the West of England Twelfth Night is the time when wassailing ceremonies are carried out.

7) At one time in England, Twelfth Night was known as being a good occasion on which to carry out various good luck rituals, as well as for its religious processions which almost went hand-in-hand with the spirited, and good humoured, revels.

8) One such ritual had farmers lighting bonfires to drive evil spirits away from their farms and fields, the tipsy agriculturalists cheering as they circled the fires to hasten the hobgoblins on their way.

9) There was also the time-honoured guessing game, whereby the (now probably inebriated) farmer had to guess what was being roasted in the kitchen before being permitted to re-enter his own home. This was not as easy as it might sound because his good wife might have something as ridiculously inedible as a shoe turning on the spit.

11) On 6 January you would also find Morris men dancing in the streets, along with fools and hobby-horses.

12) Practical jokes were the name of the game on Twelfth Night and the playing of games – particularly games of chance – with everyone determined to make the most of the last day of the holiday season.

So if you're planning to see Christmas out with a bang...

Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too,
And God bless you, and send you
A happy New Year,
And God send you
A happy New Year.