Algernon Blackwood

“ Should it ever fall to the lot of a stranger to be walking through the country lanes near midnight on Christmas-eve, he will be startled to hear, on the last stroke of twelve, the iron clang of the church bells far and near ring out the best chimes of which they are capable, and from Land’s End to John o’ Groats not a church tower that possesses bells will be silent. When these cease the waits begin their rounds, and going from house to house, and village to village, they sing carols and Christmas hymns until the light begins to glimmer in the eastern sky and another Christmas-day has dawned. ”

“ But to see Christmas as it is really kept by the people we must leave the cities and dive deep into the heart of the country; we must mingle with the crowd that at the festive season enters the gates of the squire’s hospitable mansion, or in the long low rooms of the old farmhouses. The real beginning of the festivities is on Christmas-eve, when the large parties meet their friends from far and near round the festive board. ”

“ The stores in the towns and villages are all shut, and while the morning of Christmas-day is in every respect treated as a Sunday, the latter part of the day is given up to whatever outdoor amusements the state of the weather may render suitable; the evening sees the assembly of joyous parties and friendly gatherings, which last into the small hours of the morning, and are looked forward to by the younger portion of the community with an eagerness which the passing years tend rather to increase than to diminish. ”