Table of Contents

PART I -- MAKERS & MILESTONES OF CHRISTMAS: (i) Charles Dickens & Washington Irving; (ii) Robert Seymour; (iii) Pagan Rome & its Empire; (iv) Saint Nicholas; (v) Saint Francis of Assisi; (vi) Martin Luther; (vii) Marchmont Nedham, 1600s England; (viii) Edmund Andros, 1600s New England; (ix) Henry Livingston Jr., Clement C. Moore, & Don Foster; (x) 'The Children's Friend' 1821; (xi) Prince Albert & Mr Mike Carr; (xii) Thomas Nast; (xiii) Ulysses S. Grant; (xiv) Valentine Davies; (xv) Col. Harry Shoup, USAF; (xvi) The Year 1958; (xvii) Unknown author of 'Dan d'Oidhche Nodlag.' -- -- -- PART II -- A QUESTION-&-ANSWER GUIDE TO THE SEASON OF CHRISTMAS: [Chapter 1] The Merry Christmas -- where it came from; [Chapter 2] Christmas Calendar -- the 40 Days of Christmas; [Chapter 3 -- Interlude] The Tom & Jerry; [Chapter 4] Christmas Calendar -- The 12 Days of Christmas; [Chapter 5 -- Interlude] Scrooge Movies; [Chapter 6] Christmas Calendar -- The 20 Days of Christmas; [Chapter 7 -- Interlude] Christmas Movies; [Chapter 8] The Vigils of Christmas (day begins at night); [Chapter 9] The Banning of Christmas (in Geneva, England, Scotland, & the U.S.); [Chapter 10 -- Interlude] More Christmas Movies; [Chapter 11] The Resurgent Christmas of the English-speaking World; [Chapter 12] The Street Carnival -- Mumming, Wassail, & Waits; [Chapter 13] Other Days & Seasons Around Christmas; [Chapter 14 -- Afters] Notes on Four Christmas foods; Christmas Cookies; & 'A Visit from St Nicholas' 1823. [Sources & Bibliography].

About the Author

The author, Artemesia D'ECCA, studied classics, and has worked as a journalist, an archive researcher, and a designer. She has collaborated on a number of reference books and autobiographies, and is the author of the time-travel novel The Secret of Jules and Josephine.

Reviews

"... Charming, with illustrations galore... A good guide to the festive season, raising a few laughs and managing to evoke some old-fashioned nostalgia for a time of year swamped by commercialism." --Books Ireland [2012] "...The book is very entertaining both in its array of miscellaneous facts about the season of the Nativity, and in its wide array of illustrations, many drawing on the rich traditions left us by the Victorians. The aim of the author is to entertain and to enlighten in a gentle way--and she achieves both, making this a Christmas present which will amuse for years to come." --The Irish Catholic Journal.