What could be better for holiday reading than a book of stories and tales about our most fond Christmas traditions?! I loved reading this during the holidays and it really shed some insight on the why and what of our traditions. The cover art is gorgeous!!

Princess Fuzzypants here: Christmas- or Catmus as we kitties call it- in days gone by was not what we see as “traditional” today. In fact, for a very long time, it was not even considered a major holiday. Some of the older traditions are a blend of other traditions that were absorbed. In fact some come from pagan rituals. There were times when certain things cropped up and became annual events or foods. Those too have changed over the centuries. But the closest start to what we see as Christmas is from Victorian times. There were some traditions that I knew already to have begun then and some that I did not know. The fact that train travel and mass transportation allowed families to gather makes sense but I had never considered the cause.

The book looks at customs and foods- including recipes for those who are tempted to try something different. It is filled with lots of detail and fun facts. There is quite a bit of repetition which is unfortunate but the reader will come away with a fuller appreciation of Christmas traditions. Four purrs and one paw up.

Interesting little book to read for the holiday season. It answers a bunch of questions I didn't know I had about holiday traditions. What's the deal with fruit cake? What's the meaning behind "Silent Night?" How did Rankin and Bass' Rudolph Christmas special come to life? It was an enjoyable read, especially when you're trying to get into the holiday spirit. My biggest criticism is there wasn't enough space given to holiday movies. The book goes over some of them but stops at A Christmas Story. I was disappointed at the few movies featured. Where's Home Alone? What about Elf? I always love reading and learning more about these holiday staples and felt a bit cheated that they weren't discussed more.

This coffee table-style book about Christmas trivia is not really my style, but probably good for others.

This is a fun compendium of various Christmas traditions with short form explanations of how many of our favorite Christmas foods, songs, and activities came to be.

The book is based off the podcast of the same name, so you’ll recognize some of the content if you listen to Earl’s podcast. He did a lovely job of choosing a variety of topics to be included in the book, and while I sometimes found myself wanting more information on a given subject, the shorter vignettes make it easier to retain more when presented with so many different Christmas-themed topics at once.

The food and decor subjects seem to work best in this format, as well as Christmas traditions like wassailing and Santa Claus. I probably could have done without going over Christmas movies and tv specials, but in all it’s a great collection of Christmas fun and facts, and is worth a read whether you are a podcast listener or not.

This was such a fun read. I have loved Christmas with a passion since I was a child and the glory of the special holiday isn't lost on me as an adult. This book got me into the spirit!

An interesting but basic look at Christmas traditions. While I found a lot of interesting material here, I wish that the book had been longer and we had gone more in-depth on the topics covered. A lot of the chapters seemed to end abruptly, at a point where I thought more information was coming.

If you're a fan of the Christmas Past podcast, you will love having this book as a companion! The history is well researched and SO interesting! There's truly no Christmas fact left behind here. Brian's writing is relatable and nostalgic as he takes you back to his 80's Christmases. I would have loved to see some listeners' stories and/or research that he occasionally includes on the podcast.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! It's an easy read, broken down into many short chapters, so you can pick it up and read for a short time, or indulge yourself into reading several at once. I learned a great deal about how and why we have developed the Christmas traditions we have today. AND....bonus.....I am now freshly armed with new information for the trivia game we put on at our annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party!

This is a fun read that would make an excellent Christmas gift. I expected the histories to be small bite-size factoids but instead, I was given longer, more-detailed histories. I quite enjoyed it.

Christmas Past is a wonderful book for anyone who loves Christmas. I was surprised at how much I didn't know. Thanks, NetGalley! This was a great book to leisurely read any time of year.

CHRISTMAS PAST was such an interesting and educational read. There were so many things I had never heard of! Would make a fabulous hostess gift/door prize for any Christmas get together.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Rowman and Littlefield for my copy of Christmas Past The Fascinating Stories Behind Our Favorite Holiday's Traditions by Brian Earl in exchange for an honest review. It published November 1, 2022.
This podcast, turned book is just so neat! I really enjoyed the reading experience, due to Earl's podcasting experience, he translated it well to text.
The subject matter of this book was so fun, and I found every possible excuse to continue reading it! This would make an excellent gift for any Christmas-lover in your life!

Christmas Past is a charming look at where our Christmas traditions come from.

What I loved:
I loved the general premise of this book: to understand why we celebrate Christmas the way we do. Each chapter is dedicated to the story behind so many beloved traditions - wrapping paper, Christmas movies and carols, snow globes, Santa Claus, candy canes, and more. Reading this book is a delightful way to kick off the holiday season.

“Behind every Christmas tradition is a story — usually, a forgotten one. Each year, as we decorate a tree, build a gingerbread house, and get ready for a visit from St. Nicholas, we’re continuing generations-old narratives, while being largely unaware of their starting chapters. But knowing how these traditions began adds a new level of depth to our Christmas spirit, as well as an arsenal of anecdotes to share at Christmas parties. Christmas Past: The Fascinating Stories Behind Our Favorite Holiday’s Traditions reveals the surprising, quirky, mysterious, and sometimes horrifying stories behind the most wonderful time of the year.”

Normally, I wait until November before breaking out the Holiday Cheer, but I’ll make an exception for this book.

Brian Earl started out as a podcaster. In 2016, he started a ‘cast of the same name, to take long looks at our most beloved holiday traditions. In 2022, he turned it into a 200 page book, highlighting his favourites, as equal parts “nerdy deep-dive, and warm-hearted celebration.”

The audiobook is particularly robust as, not only does Earl, himself, narrate, but he uses actual clips from his podcast (headlines from yesteryear, interviews with experts, poetry, etc.) to bolster the prose.

Really, my only negative note is that the author tends to gloss over the negative. He obviously comes from a childhood of privilege, so #notallchildren, but he also glosses over some pretty un-jolly moments in history when he talks about the “booming Caribbean rum trade.”

Now, this is a secular look, so if you’re looking for The Reason for the Season (no, not Bailey’s Irish Whiskey) you won’t find Him. If, however you’re looking for insider info on everything from St. Nik, mistletoe, and fruitcake (the only reason you don’t like fruitcake is because you haven’t tried MY fruitcake. I will fight you on this), this is your book.

8/10

Thanks to NetGalley, Rowman & Littlefield, Lyons Press, and RB Media for this festive ARC.

Christmas, such a huge part of our lives and traditions, but where did it all come from, and how long have those traditions been around. In this delightful book about Christmas traditions, author Brian Earl has done the research and gives us the inside scoop on wassail, eggnog, caroling, Christmas movies, Christmas commercials, as well as why we say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Christmas (the Brits say that!). About 26 chapters about everything Christmas from food, to movies, to cards, wrapping paper, and so much more.
If you want to buy one book about Christmas than this is the one for you. Loved it in the Kindle version, and even ordered it for my permanent home library!!!

“Christmas Past” is a delightful book packed with just enough information to keep you entertained, but not overwhelmed.

Author Brian Earl, host of the very popular podcast “Christmas Past,” has gathered together the origins, reasons and details of diverse Christmas folklore and traditions, like eggnog, carols, Santa, gingerbread, staging “The Nutcracker,” and candy canes. (The red stripes on the famed Spangler candy canes are hand painted on, which really surprised me.)

Earl’s tone is self assured and lighthearted. He has a way of packing a lot of information into a short space, but the book never feels stuffed or jumbled. Each of the 26 chapters focuses on a popular Christmas item, tradition or folklore. I learned something new from every entry, and never felt like I was being given too much or too little information. The images and designs in the book are delightful as well, as they tend to be old ads or illustrations of common Christmas customs.

You could read this book in one sitting, but I took a few days to read it, because it’s so enjoyable. It would also be a great gift for kids ages middle school and up. Kids adore reading information nuggets, and these are especially accessible and easy to relate to.

I recommend “Christmas Past” without reservation!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free copy of this book to review.

This is a book version of Earl's podcast, which I've listened to and enjoyed. The book, which I assume is in color, rather than the black and white version presented in the PDF, is excellent for a gift book for someone who's curious about where our Christmas customs come from. I have several books like this, but this has updated information and also included modern traditions--most prominently about classic television Christmas animation, but the chapter about the snow globes was fascinating, too. As Earl points out, a lot of the traditions go back so far that it's difficult to track down exactly where they started. However, I am puzzled by his chapter on "The Twelve Days of Christmas." It is indeed a "forfeit" song, sung for party games, not a Christian metaphor, and I remember singing about "colly birds" (rather than "calling birds") from when I learned the song in the 1960s, but at one point it states "On days six through nine, we have pipers piping and drummers drumming." Actually day six is the geese and day seven is the swans, it's days eight through twelve that are interpreted as other things than birds. (Hallmark's answer to the "five golden rings" in their recent "12 Days of Christmas" ornament set was to make the fifth day a ring-necked pheasant.) I'm not sure how that error made it into the book.

This book is separated into 26 chapters, so you could feasibly read one chapter a day leading up to Christmas (if you start on the last day of November). This book is a very easy read, and is a book I would classify as a comfortable trivia book. It gives you short chapters that present the history behind many of the Christmas traditions that have either largely stayed the same, or evolved over the centuries since their introduction.

Introduction/forward is way too long. I was hoping this would be a bunch of quick short reads, that we could read aloud as a family, but it's written in a complete novel style.