Now I've always been a Dickens fan and he did Christmas rather well in much of his work. Mr Pickwick came immediately to mind.
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| Christmas Eve at Mr Wardle's |
By Phiz (Hablot K Browne)
Image scanned by Phillip V Allingham; source www.victorianweb.org
Dickens was also very good at ghost stories - I sure you all know the ghosts in his 'Christmas Carol.' At Christmas in 1859 there was a series of ghost stories in 'The Haunted House,' the Extra Christmas number of 'All the Year Round.' So if you have the time and fancy a good read you can have one on line here
It's time for Santa to get in on the act and thanks to Project Gutenberg I found a delightful, illustrated poem by Elizabeth Andersen called 'The Goblins' Christmas.'
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| Santa Claus (The Goblins' Christmas - by Alexander Sharp 1908) |
I also came across the work of Thomas Nast - 'Christmas Drawings for the Human Race' - including this rather rotund gentleman.
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| Santa Claus |
Nast first drew Santa
Claus for the 1862 Christmas season edition of Harper’s Weekly; he is said to have “invented”
the image popularly recognized as Santa Claus in America.
Christmas is a time when presents are exchanged and I have been privileged to play with one of mine already. As a result during the Twelve Days of Christmas I cannot promise my love two turtle doves, nor a partridge in a pear tree so I've compromised with this video clip.
One Wood Pigeon in an Apple Tree
All that remains is for me to wish all my fellow Sepians a very Merry Christmas and to thank you all for for your comments and encouragement throughout the year.
Meanwhile I must find a sleigh to hitch up to this chap before I visit you all at Sepia-saturday-157-christmas
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| Ho,ho, ho! |
