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8 December: A Christmas Croak

This is the opening to ‘A Christmas Croak’ which was first published in 1861 and is an alternative version of Christmas favourite God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. Robert Brough’s miscellany A cracker bon-bon for Christmas parties: consisting of Christmas pieces for private representation and other seasonable matter, in prose and verse, in which the song …

5 December: Snow Posset

                      While it sounds like a Christmassy drink that wouldn’t look out of place alongside mulled wine or eggnog, a snow posset was originally concocted in the hope of alleviating minor ailments. Written in 1743 by Henrietta Harley, Countess of Oxford, the recipe for snow …