Next Thursday is Thanksgiving! And that means the start of an all new season of Christmas Past. By now you've probably seen Christmas ads and merchandise on the shelves and the airwaves. So let's check out a classic episode from the archive, where Brian tells the story of how Christmas advertising came to be.

Be sure to check out the "Definitive Directory of Christmas Podcasts"

Share a Christmas memory on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to [email protected]. Keep it reasonably short, clean and family friendly, and be sure to say your name and where you're from. 

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Music from this episode

• Pipe Dreamz — Matt Oakley, via Free Music Archive
• Cases to Rest — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive
• We Wish You — Kevin MacLeod, via Incompetech

Thanksgiving is a week from Thursday, and that's when official 2020 season of Christmas Past begins. As we count down, we're taking a look back at the classic episodes that started it all. Today, it's the 2017 episode about the surprising history behind The Nutcracker. 

Be sure to check out the "Definitive Directory of Christmas Podcasts"

Share a Christmas memory on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to [email protected]. Keep it reasonably short, clean and family friendly, and be sure to say your name and where you're from. 

Keep in touch

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• http://christmaspast.media

Music from this episode

• Pipe Dreamz — Matt Oakley, via Free Music Archive
• Cases to Rest — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive
• We Wish You — Kevin MacLeod, via Incompetech
• Let There Be Joy — Cathy Oakes, via Feels Like Christmas

We're less than two weeks away from the start of the new season of Christmas Past. Till then, we're revisiting some classics from Christmas Past...past. Today's episode is the last in the original three-part series about the origins of Santa Claus.

Be sure to check out the "Definitive Directory of Christmas Podcasts"

Share a Christmas memory on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to [email protected]. Keep it reasonably short, clean and family friendly, and be sure to say your name and where you're from. 

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Music in this episode

• Here Comes Santa Claus — Maestros of Swing, via SoundCloud
• T’was the Night Before Christmas — Clement Clark Moore, via Free Music Archive
• Cottonwoods — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive
• Under the Stars — Shady Dave, via FreeSound
• Sunday Morning — Nicolai Heidlas, via SoundCloud

Thanksgiving is just two weeks away, and that means the start of the new "official" season of Christmas Past. Till then, we're revisiting some of the classics from the vault. This time, it's part two of the three part series that started it all. 

Be sure to check out the "Definitive Directory of Christmas Podcasts"

Share a Christmas memory on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to [email protected]. Keep it reasonably short, clean and family friendly, and be sure to say your name and where you're from. 

Keep in touch

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Music from this episode

• Christmas Time is Here — Bruce Levenstein, via SoundCloud
• March — Kai Engel, via Free Music Archive
• The Time to Run (Finale) — Dexter Britain, via Free Music Archive
• Shooting Star — Dexter Britain, via Free Music Archive
• The Zeppelin — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive
• Golden Hour — Podington Bear, via Free Music Archive
• Blue — Podington Bear, via Free Music Archive

It's the countdown to the 2020 Christmas season episodes of Christmas Past! From now till Thanksgiving, we're revisiting some of the classic Christmas Past episodes. Today's is the very first episode of Christmas Past, published on Thanksgiving Day in 2016. It's the first in a three-part series about the origins of Santa Claus.

Be sure to check out the "Definitive Directory of Christmas Podcasts"

Share a Christmas memory on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to [email protected]. Keep it reasonably short, clean and family friendly, and be sure to say your name and where you're from. 

Keep in touch

• [email protected]
• Facebook page
• Facebook group
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• Instagram

Music in this episode

• Hammer and Damper — The Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive
• Red City Theme — The Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive
• I Am Running Down the Hallway of the Viewmont Elementary — Chris Zabriskie, via Free Music Archive
• Sunset — Podington Bear, via Free Music Archive

Leading up to Thanksgiving Day (when we kick off the 2020 season episodes), we're revisiting some of the classic episodes from the Christmas Past back catalog. This one is the first episode I ever created for Christmas Past: Sugarplums!

Even though you hear about sugar plums every Christmas, do you actually know what they are? In this episode we learn the mostly forgotten history of this Christmassy treat.

Be sure to check out the "Definitive Directory of Christmas Podcasts"

Share a Christmas memory on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to [email protected]. Keep it reasonably short, clean and family friendly, and be sure to say your name and where you're from. 

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Music from this episode

• Just Watching — Podington Bear, via Free Music Archive
• Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy — Pyotr Tchaikovsky, performed by Kevin MacLeod, via Free Music Archive
• Alone — Shady Dave, via FreeSound
• There is Romance — Kevin MacLeod, via Incompetech

We're kicking off November of 2020 with a visit from an old friend. Alex Palmer, author of  The Santa Claus Man, appeared in Christmas Past's miniseries,  My Dear Santa,: A True Crime Christmas Caper. Now he's back with a new book,  The Atlas of Christmas.

 

Join Alex and me for a discussion some of the fun, quirky Christmas traditions around the world that we miss out on here in America.

Don't forget to check out the  Definitive Directory of Christmas Podcasts!

Music in this episode

• I Saw Three Ships — Audionautix, via YouTube Audio Library

Share a Christmas memory on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to [email protected]. Keep it reasonably short, clean and family friendly, and be sure to say your name and where you're from. 

Keep in touch

• [email protected]
• Facebook page
• Facebook group
• Twitter
• Instagram
• http://christmaspast.media

Order your copy today! Of Christmases Long, Long Ago

Connect with Me

• Links to all the things https://christmaspastpodcast.com/links
• Email: [email protected]

Books

Of Christmases Long, Long Ago: Surprising Traditions from Christmas Past (2025, Lyons Press and Recorded Books) It's Christmas as you've never seen it before, and it makes a great gift for all the Christmas lovers in your life.

Christmas Past: The Fascinating Stories Behind Our Favorite Holiday's Traditions (2022, Lyons Press and Recorded Books)

Just in time for Halloween, it's a story about a very creepy game of hide that takes place on Christmas Eve. Happy Halloween! Christmas Past is back for another Ber Months Bonus episode, for those of us getting an early start on the Christmas season. 

Share a Christmas memory on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to [email protected]. Keep it reasonably short, clean and family friendly, and be sure to say your name and where you're from. 

Keep in touch

• [email protected]
• Facebook page
• Facebook group
• Twitter
• Instagram
• https://christmaspast.media

Don't forget to check out the  Definitive Directory of Christmas Podcasts!

Music in this episode

• Quiet Road — Peder B. Helland, via Soothing Relaxation
• Planet Earth — Peder B. Helland, via Soothing Relaxation

Order your copy today! Of Christmases Long, Long Ago

Connect with Me

• Links to all the things https://christmaspastpodcast.com/links
• Email: [email protected]

Books

Of Christmases Long, Long Ago: Surprising Traditions from Christmas Past (2025, Lyons Press and Recorded Books) It's Christmas as you've never seen it before, and it makes a great gift for all the Christmas lovers in your life.

Christmas Past: The Fascinating Stories Behind Our Favorite Holiday's Traditions (2022, Lyons Press and Recorded Books)

We're almost to the end of October. The countdown to Christmas is in full swing, and I'm back again with another Ber Months Bonus episode. This time it's another forgotten work of Christmas fiction: the 1917 short story "It was the same Christmas morning," by Cyrus Townsend Brady.

Be sure to check out the "Definitive Directory of Christmas Podcasts"

Share a Christmas memory on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to [email protected]. Keep it reasonably short, clean and family friendly, and be sure to say your name and where you're from. 

Keep in touch

• [email protected]
• Facebook page
• Facebook group
• Twitter
• Instagram

Music in this episode

• Planet Earth — Peder B. Helland, via Soothing Relaxation
• Heartstrings — Dave Depper, via Needledrop

Order your copy today! Of Christmases Long, Long Ago

Connect with Me

• Links to all the things https://christmaspastpodcast.com/links
• Email: [email protected]

Books

Of Christmases Long, Long Ago: Surprising Traditions from Christmas Past (2025, Lyons Press and Recorded Books) It's Christmas as you've never seen it before, and it makes a great gift for all the Christmas lovers in your life.

Christmas Past: The Fascinating Stories Behind Our Favorite Holiday's Traditions (2022, Lyons Press and Recorded Books)

It's mid-October and that means the countdown to the countdown to Christmas is in full swing! Christmas cards and panettones are starting to appear on the shelves. Maybe you're even starting to think about Christmas dinner. So was the protagonist of this episode's short story. I'm reading the 1895 story, published anonymously, called My Christmas Dinner. It's a comedy of manners about a narrator who turns down one Christmas dinner invitation after another, holding out for the "ideal" Christmas invitation to arrive.

I hope you enjoy hearing it as much as I enjoyed reading it!

Don't forget to check out the  Definitive Directory of Christmas Podcasts!

Share a Christmas memory on the podcast! Just record a voice memo into your phone and send it to [email protected]. Keep it reasonably short, clean and family friendly, and be sure to say your name and where you're from. 

Keep in touch

• [email protected]
• Facebook page
• Facebook group
• Twitter
• Instagram

Music in this episode

• Christmas Village — Aaron Kenny, via YouTube Audio Library
• Planet Earth — Peder B. Helland, via Soothing Relaxation

Order your copy today! Of Christmases Long, Long Ago

Connect with Me

• Links to all the things https://christmaspastpodcast.com/links
• Email: [email protected]

Books

Of Christmases Long, Long Ago: Surprising Traditions from Christmas Past (2025, Lyons Press and Recorded Books) It's Christmas as you've never seen it before, and it makes a great gift for all the Christmas lovers in your life.

Christmas Past: The Fascinating Stories Behind Our Favorite Holiday's Traditions (2022, Lyons Press and Recorded Books)