The 25 Strangest days of Christmas Day 19 - Snow Was Part of the Ideal Christmas—Because of Dickens

0:00 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to the Strange History Podcast and

0:03 Speaker 1: Day nineteen of our Victorian Christmas countdown the twenty five

0:07 Speaker 1: Strangest Days of Christmas. If Christmas feels cozy, snowy, lantern

0:13 Speaker 1: lit and sentimental, you can thank Charles Dickens. Dickens grew

0:18 Speaker 1: up during one of the coldest winters in English history,

0:22 Speaker 1: so he believed snowy Christmases were standard. When a Christmas

0:26 Speaker 1: Carol came out in eighteen forty three, his imagery carried

0:30 Speaker 1: lantern glow, frost on window panes, warm scarves, and street

0:35 Speaker 1: vendors goodwill mixed with melancholy. It struck something deep. American

0:41 Speaker 1: and British Christmases weren't widely celebrated in this cozy, domestic

0:45 Speaker 1: way before Dickens. He didn't just write a book, He

0:49 Speaker 1: rewrote the holiday. His influence still shapes Christmas cards, decorations,

0:55 Speaker 1: the general concept of holiday spirit. His story was so

0:59 Speaker 1: low that it has never gone out of print, not

1:03 Speaker 1: even once. Dickens is the reason your December looks the

1:06 Speaker 1: way it does.

1:08 Speaker 2: This episode is sponsored by Ghosts of Christmas Past Holiday Counseling.

1:13 Speaker 2: Are three spirits visiting you tonight. We help you unpack

1:17 Speaker 2: that Ghosts of Christmas Past book. Now before midnight, we

1:22 Speaker 2: accept most major Christmas warranties and ghost insurance.

1:26 Speaker 1: Next, we enter the music of Victorian Christmas, music that

1:30 Speaker 1: sounded surprisingly like funeral hymns.