The author of Food Through the Ages presents a festive overview of Dickens-era Christmas traditions—from decorations and songs to games and recipes. Anna Selby discusses how the Victorians invented many of the Christmas traditions we enjoy today from Christmas trees and cards to carols and Father Christmas himself. Dickens and Prince Albert shaped how many people view the British Christmas, an idea explored in the opening chapter. There is an emphasis on Victorian food, including authentic wassailing recipes and an easy introduction to planning traditional Christmas foods and traditional decorations. It offers readers a chance to enjoy a traditional Christmas, one centered around the home, family, and simple decorations made from nature, a far cry from the materialistic Christmases we have today. This lovely book reminds us all just how enjoyable Christmas really is and shows us how to recreate our favorite traditions and recapture the magic of Christmas.

At the darkest moment of the year, when the nights seem endless and the days very short, comes that most joyful of festivals. Christmas is a truly magical season, bringing families and friends together to share the much-loved customs and traditions that over the centuries have come to surround this heart-warming and deeply symbolic occasion. Each family has their own personal traditions, and ways they celebrate the special day. Yet underneath the tinsel, fairy lights and wrapping paper are many long-standing traditions that we all know and love. Why do we drag a fir tree inside our house and decorate it? How long Santa has been delivering gifts to good children? What would Christmas be like without mince pies? We owe a lot to the Victorians. They transformed the way Britain celebrated Christmas in the 19th century and we continue with their traditions today. In 1848 a British confectioner by the name of Tom Smith came up with the idea of wrapping sweets inside a package that snapped when pulled apart. It was the Victorians that really centred Christmas round the family, with the eating of a Christmas dinner together, giving gifts and playing games. All these things have become central to a British Christmas Day.

Cozy up this Christmas With three heartwarming stories! In A Father for Christmas by Carla Kelly, widow Lissy and her young son give refuge to a handsome stranger for Christmas… In A Kiss Under the Mistletoe by Carol Arens, with her reputation in tatters, Louisa lets out her manor house to captivating Hugh and his motherless little girl… And in The Earl''s Unexpected Gifts by Eva Shepherd, the Earl of Summerhill is shocked at becoming guardian to young twins—but could their governess be his best present yet? From Harlequin Historical: Your romantic escape to the past.

“A wonderful story of redemption and restoration that will warm your heart during the Christmas season—or any time of year!” —Francine Rivers, best-selling author of Redeeming Love Wrapped in a cloud of steam, the engine rolled to a stop, the screech of metal against metal filling the frosty air. Snow blew across the railway platform and around Meg’s calfskin walking boots. The weather definitely was not improving. She ordered tea with milk and sugar, eying the currant buns and sweet mincemeat tarts displayed beneath a bell jar. Later, perhaps, when her appetite returned. At the moment her stomach was twisted into a knot. “Anything else for you?” the cashier asked as she handed over the tea, steaming and fragrant. Meg was surprised to find her fingers trembling when she lifted the cup. “All I want is a safe journey home.” “On a day like this?” the round-faced woman exclaimed. “None but the Almighty can promise you that, lass.” “A Wreath of Snow glows with warmth, charm, and grace. A wonderful read.” —BJ HOFF, author of The Riverhaven Years series Christmas Eve 1894 All Margaret Campbell wants for Christmas is a safe journey home. When her plans for a festive holiday with her family in Stirling crumble beneath the weight of her brother’s bitterness, the young schoolteacher wants nothing more than to return to the students she loves and the town house she calls home. Then an unexpected detour places her in the path of Gordon Shaw, a handsome newspaperman from Glasgow, who struggles under a burden of remorse and shame. When the secret of their shared history is revealed, will it leave them tangled in a knot of regret? Or might their past hold the threads that will bind their future together? As warm as a woolen scarf on a cold winter’s eve, A Wreath of Snow is a tender story of love and forgiveness, wrapped in a celebration of all things Scottish, all things Victorian, and, especially, all things Christmas.

Alex and Ruby are back in their SECOND time-slip adventure, tumbling back into a Victorian Christmas! From multi-award-winning author Sally Nicholls comes another brilliant action-packed adventure for 7+ readers, beautifully illustrated by Rachael Dean. When Alex and Ruby fall through the mirror in their aunt's house, they find themselves in a different historical period, each time with a different task to perform before they can return to the present. From Edwardian crime capers to Victorian Christmasses, their time-slip stories are always exciting and beautifully told. A Victorian Christmas is lovely - all the food and candles and games and singing - unless you're poor, motherless Edith who is condemned to be sent to a cruel boarding school on Boxing Day. Can Alex and Ruby persuade her strict father that home is where the heart is instead? Full of action and humour and featuring exciting black-and-white illustrations throughout, this is another superb time-slip story which brilliantly brings history to life as part of an adventure. 'A clever vehicle for introducing the differences between then and now in an accessible way, with a fast-paced plot and a lovely spooky ending' - The Times on A Chase in Time Have you read Alex and Ruby's other adventures: A Chase in Time , An Escape in Time and A Secret in Time ? Cover illustration by Isabelle Follath.

A romance anthology that features four Victorian-era novellas, each set at an elaborate tea party during the Christmas season.

Have you ever wanted to attend a Victorian Christmas celebration? Well now you can, in Once Upon a Christmas Feast you not only get an original story, but menus, recipes, favorite Victorian Christmas stories and songs. What's in this jam-packed Victorian Christmas celebration of a tome? First: an original Once Upon a Wedding short story. "Once Upon a Fairytale Christmas." The Duchess of Keystone is an unconventional woman who loves fairytales and happily ever after endings. When it comes to Christmas, she loves nothing better than to have her family gathered at her estate enjoying Christmas joy, food, games, and entertainment. This year, her niece Margause arrives to view the wonder of a fairytale Christmas celebration. At three, Margause loves to slip into the library of the ducal estate, where her parents fell in love, and peruse the books she hopes to read one day soon.Observant and advanced for her age, Margause notices that her aunts and uncles are not as happy as they should be about her Aunt Kate’s upcoming Twelfth Night wedding to a handsome, charming Irish rogue. She also doesn’t understand why her mother’s former governess Katherine tries so hard to cheer up Scroogish Sir Robert. It seems obvious to Margause that Sir Robert would need Mr. Dicken’s three ghosts to make him feel any Christmas joy. But then, what else does the Duchess of Keystone offer everyone, but a chance at a fairytale Christmas, where miracles happen around every corner. Next: An Appendix of traditional Victorian Christmas stories and essays by Charles Dickens...what? You didn't know "A Christmas Carol" wasn't his only Christmas story? Nope. Dickens, along with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, are actually responsible for making Christmas the holiday we celebrate today. You'll also find it handy to have the lyrics to several Christmas favorite songs, so you can make sure to lead your family in rounds of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" without messing up the lyrics. All in all, Once Upon a Christmas Feast is your guide to celebrating a very Victorian Christmas.

"Readers will easily fall for Sophie and Ned in their gaslit surroundings." -Library Journal, starred review A Courtship of Convenience Sophie Appersett is quite willing to marry outside of her class to ensure the survival of her family. But the darkly handsome Mr. Edward Sharpe is no run-of-the-mill London merchant. He’s grim and silent. A man of little emotion—or perhaps no emotion at all. After two months of courtship, she’s ready to put an end to things. A Last Chance for Love But severing ties with her taciturn suitor isn’t as straightforward as Sophie envisioned. Her parents are outraged. And then there’s Charles Darwin, Prince Albert, and that dratted gaslight. What’s a girl to do except invite Mr. Sharpe to Appersett House for Christmas and give him one last chance to win her? Only this time there’ll be no false formality. This time they’ll get to know each other for who they really are.

Darcy and Fitzwilliam is the rollicking tale of two cousins, close as brothers, along with their lovers, wives, children and a crazy old aunt. Book One in the series begins immediately after the wedding of Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet, following the young couple through the ups and downs of learning to live with the person you adore. Add to the mix Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam returning to London after the Battle of Waterloo, eager to shake off the bitterness of war with a little bit of scandalous behavior, only to find the love of his life. "It is absorbing. It is intoxicating. It is excellent." Jane Austen World