Steve: Hi, this is Steve Webb, your OG Godcaster.
Steve: You're about to hear the LifeSpring Advent Calendar, which was recorded in 2006.
Steve: It's a daily show which will run right up to Christmas Day,
Steve: so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode.
Steve: Now, the story of Advent and Christmas is a timeless story, so it doesn't age.
Steve: However, the links and the phone numbers mentioned on the podcast have all changed but one.
Steve: WhyChristmas.com is still current and active,
Steve: and it's the best Christmas information website on the Internet.
Steve: LifeSpringPodcast.com now forwards you to LifeSpringMedia.com.
Steve: And the phone number you'll hear on the show is changed to plus 1-951-732-8511.
Steve: Hello and welcome back to the LifeSpring Advent Calendar.
Steve: It's day number 22.
Steve: I'm Steve Webb, your host.
Steve: Well, it's getting nearer to Christmas, and even in sunny Southern California, it's gotten a little nippy.
Steve: As I'm recording this today, it's 61 degrees Fahrenheit.
Steve: Now, I know some of you are laughing at me saying, well, that's shorts weather.
Steve: Well, for us in Southern California, it's cold.
Steve: Oh, well, let's get into the Christmas spirit today by opening today's door.
James: well it's certainly getting colder over here in the uk but i don't know if we'll have a white
James: christmas this year because i've only ever seen one and so that's what we're talking about today
James: it's snow and ice but why are snow and ice so closely associated with christmas
James: well there's no mention of them in the christmas story that's a good question snow and ice coming
James: together is really down to the victorians and in main to one victorian mr charles dickens
James: one of his most popular novels a christmas carol is set on christmas eve and features all of the
James: snowy things we now associate with christmas and the christmas carol is also one of my favorite
James: stories i just don't feel christmasy until i've seen the muppets christmas carol it's just one of
Steve: my favourite films. Well, that's a really good one, but the Patrick Stewart version is my favourite.
James: When Charles Dickens was a child, Britain had some very heavy snowfalls around Christmas,
James: and so he put lots of snow and ice in his stories set at Christmas. Another of his books,
James: The Pickwick Papers, also features some very famous literary Christmas snow scenes.
James: So it just became a part of our cultural consciousness, I guess.
James: One of the other reasons that snow and ice became popular in Victorian times
James: is because of Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert. He came from Germany,
James: and so he was used to some very snowy Christmases.
James: And he also popularised a Christmas tree
James: and many other traditions over here in the UK.
James: And Christmas cards were also started in Victorian times
James: and pictures of snowy scenes were very popular,
James: remembering back to the early hard Christmases of years long ago.
James: And what happens if it snows on Christmas Day?
James: You get a white Christmas, of course!
James: I've only ever seen one white Christmas over here
James: and it was two years ago in 2004.
James: It was really great, and it was lovely seeing people tramp into church in their lovely big snowy boots on Christmas morning.
James: However, back in pre- and early Victorian times, white Christmases happened practically every year,
James: and in fact frost fairs were held on the frozen River Thames in London until 1814.
James: Have you ever seen a white Christmas, Steve?
Steve: Well, I haven't seen a white Christmas here in Riverside, James, but when I was eight years old, I lived in New Jersey,
Steve: and that year we did have snow.
Steve: As a matter of fact, the very first time I ever saw it snow was while I was at school.
Steve: I looked out the window and I saw the snow coming down,
Steve: and I jumped up to look, and the teacher that I had that year was just so sweet,
Steve: and she just let me stand there by the window and watch it snow.
Steve: And all the other kids thought I was some sort of a weirdo having never seen it snow,
Steve: but I just stood there for the longest time watching it snow.
Steve: So that was my first white Christmas.
Steve: What else have you got for us today?
James: Perhaps the most famous white Christmas of them all is the song sung by Bing Crosby.
James: It was first recorded in 1942 and came from a film called Holiday Inn, set in snowing Vermont.
James: And did you know that there's a 75% chance of it snowing on Christmas Day in Vermont?
James: That's really good white Christmas odds.
Steve: And that's one of the reasons I don't live in Vermont.
James: Irvin Berlin wrote I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas and it only took 18 minutes to record.
James: The original version sung by Bing Crosby has sold at least 30 million copies around the world.
James: Now that's an awful lot of white Christmases.
James: So wherever you are this Christmas, whether you have a white one or not, I hope you have a great one.
Steve: Well, it's really fun to be getting so close to Christmas now.
Steve: I hope that you have a white Christmas where you're at.
Steve: Thank you, James, for all the great information.
Steve: Of course, the theme music today was Brian Duncan and the Neo Soul Band with This Christmas,
Steve: and the background music was Tony Evans and his orchestra with White Christmas.
Steve: This has been day number 22 of the Lifespring Advent Calendar.
Steve: And for James Cooper, I'm Steve Webb.
Music: It's a love that I get from you.
Music: It never gets old.
Music: It's Christmas.
Music: It's a love I need.
Music: And it's what I want.
Music: It's Christmas.
Music: And it's what I want for you.
Music: Story is so good.