I love Christmas! In particular, I love hearing about weird Christmas (or other winter holiday) traditions. My family has a few, but I'm always looking for good ideas!

This is why I was excited to read Brian Earl's <i>Of Christmases Long, Long Ago: Surprising Traditions from Christmas Past</i>. Brian has a podcast, <i>Christmas Past</i>, that he draws on for his book.

After reading <i>Of Christmases Long, Long Ago</i>, I have a mixed response. Here are my pros and cons...

PROS
- Brian draws on and includes a lot of primary sources, both visual and textual (quoting relevant poems and short stories)

- Cool illustrations. The illustrations from Dorothy Siemens that Earl includes are bright, festive and fun - adding a holiday vibe to each section.

- Wide-ranging topics. Earl's chapters cover a multitude of topics, from traditions of cross-dressing and mummer's plays to callithumpian parades and (legal!) bank notes that carried the likeness of St. Nicholas. I appreciated the diversity and thought Earl's chapter collections made sense.

Overall the book is a breezy and enjoyable read.



CONS
I do have a few disappointments about the book:

- Primary sources serve as about 1/2 the book which is already quite slim at just over 150 pages. I would have loved to have read more in-depth chapters about all of the traditions he includes. Or perhaps even some quotes from guests on his podcasts. He mentions that he draws heavily on Gerry Bowler's work (Bowler wrote the forward) - I would have loved to have seen some quotes from him or other folks he's interviewed. I did appreciate the images he sourced from Wikimedia Commons (some of them were super-interesting), but including the full Christmas-themed ghost story by A.M. Burrage (over 4 pages) felt like a bit of padding.

- Formatting was a little rough. This might have been on the pre-published Kindle copy I received for review, but it is a bit messy - both on Kindle device and on the Kindle app on desktop and iPad.


Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher(s), Globe Pequot and Lyons Press, for letting me read and review an ARC.

As promised, this book offers a fascinating look back at Christmases of the past and explores the origins and evolution of some of our beloved traditions. It's clear the author hosts a podcast called "Christmas Past" as the book reads very much like a podcast episode – it's conversational and informative. You can read it from beginning to end or easily skip around to topics that interest you because the author cross-references other chapters when necessary. While some chapters end a bit abruptly, and I wished for a bit more expansion on certain topics, overall, it was a very interesting read.

I really enjoyed learning about how Christmas was celebrated years ago. There were a lot of changes leading up to how we celebrate today. Very interesting.

This book grabs your attention from the start. It is short, but packed full of informative and interesting facts. I enjoyed learning about past traditions that surrounded the Christmas season (the 12 Days of Christmas). It truly brings to light how different Christmases of the past were in comparison of today! I appreciated the way the author incorporated excerpts of primary sources. For me, the most interesting part of the book was the last chapter. . . ending a book about Christmas with a scary story!

I received a free copy of, Of Christmases Long, Long Ago, by Brian Earl, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book shows us how Christmas has been celebrated through the years, how things have changed and how they have stayed the same. This was an interesting read, im glad not all these traditions have carried on through the years.

I was hoping for a lot more….very short book that was dense and not very enjoyable. It came and went without leaving an impression on me. I may have picked up a few fun facts to throw out at Christmas parties, but otherwise pointless.

As someone who unabashedly agrees with the author's assertion that "Christmas is the biggest thing there is," I found this to be a delightful 'companion piece' to my favourite season. While the author's previous work covers the origins of well-known Christmas fare (fruitcake, eggnog, and Rudolph), this book dives into more obscure territory and the origins of lesser-known customs and traditions from around the world, with fascinating history, vintage artwork, and a general sense of Christmas merry-making.