Christmas Jumper Guides, History and Recipes

Christmas history and traditions

Why Do We Hang Christmas Stockings?

A bishop, three sisters, and gold landing in the laundry. The stocking legend — including the parts added centuries later.

1 min read

Christmas history and traditions

A god killed by a plant, Druids with golden sickles, and a custom that is basically Georgian. The strangest party licence explained.

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Christmas history and traditions

A bean in a cake, a servant crowned king, and the 5 January deadline for decorations. The season’s forgotten finale.

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Christmas food

Turkey, sprouts, crackers, pudding, mince pies and the chocolate log — every item’s origin story, in one tour of the table.

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Christmas food

A tree trunk burned for luck, miniaturised by Parisian pastry chefs into the bûche de Noël. First recipe: 1890.

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Christmas history and traditions

Cracker mottoes began as sincere love poetry. How the pun took over, and why a groan works better than a laugh at a shared table.

1 min read

Christmas history and traditions

Lauscha’s glassblowers, the 1847 moulds, and the Woolworth orders that put German glass on every tree in the world.

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Christmas history and traditions

Eighty hand-wired bulbs on a revolving tree in a Manhattan window — Edison’s associate Edward Johnson invents the fairy light.

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Christmas history and traditions

Norway’s annual thank-you for the war years — plus the Savoy dinner, the commandos and Ian Fleming behind the very first one.

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Christmas food

A pudding with its own church date, a coin descended from a medieval party game, and the only course deliberately set on fire.

1 min read