Backstory
Christmas Past
The fascinating stories behind our favorite holiday's traditions
As Seen In
Does your Christmas Spirit include a healthy dose of curiosity?
Equal parts nerdy deep dive and warmhearted celebration, Christmas Past delivers holiday cheer with a storytelling style inspired by public radio. Available wherever you find podcasts.
What Listeners Are Saying
Really good
My boyfriend put this on on our 6-hr car ride, and I listened to about five of these and snoozed. This guy's voice, research, joy, and storytelling is REALLY GOOD. The podcast itself is worthy of a Christmas tradition. Highly recommended.
Love it!!
I absolutely love learning the history of all my favorite Christmas traditions! Brian thoroughly researches each topic and delivers the information in a cheerful, yet very soothing manner. I often tell people it's like listening to a Christmas NPR segment!! He has also created a great community on the Christmas Past Facebook group where us Christmas Crazies discuss and celebrate year round!
Audio, but make it cozy
Christmas Past is a delight. Brian Earl is charming and wholesome, making car rides a little bit more magical. He takes a look at holiday traditions and sheds light on their history in short snippets that are easy to listen to. He also provides bonus episodes and is constantly improving his content. I appreciate this little pick me up, and listening to it will be a new holiday tradition for me. :)
Latest Episodes
Get the Book
Behind every Christmas tradition is a story, often a forgotten one
When we deck the hall and pour the eggnog, we're continuing centuries-old narratives, while being barely aware of their starting chapters. Christmas Past: The Fascinating Stories Behind Our Favorite Holiday's Traditions reveals the surprising, quirky, mysterious, and sometimes horrifying stories behind the most wonderful time of the year. With 26 short chapters, it’s a festive, digestible Advent calendar of a book.
Available now in hardcover and ebook from Lyons Press and audiobook from Recorded Books. Order your copy today. And remember...it makes a great gift!