WEBVTT 00:00:00.020 --> 00:00:02.540 Hi, this is Steve Webb, your OG Godcaster. 00:00:02.940 --> 00:00:07.060 You're about to hear the LifeSpring Advent Calendar, which was recorded in 2006. 00:00:07.640 --> 00:00:10.300 It's a daily show which will run right up to Christmas Day, 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:12.960 so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode. 00:00:13.440 --> 00:00:17.520 Now, the story of Advent and Christmas is a timeless story, so it doesn't age. 00:00:17.620 --> 00:00:22.440 However, the links and the phone numbers mentioned on the podcast have all changed but one. 00:00:22.820 --> 00:00:25.240 WhyChristmas.com is still current and active, 00:00:25.400 --> 00:00:28.300 and it's the best Christmas information website on the Internet. 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:32.820 LifeSpringPodcast.com now forwards you to LifeSpringMedia.com. 00:00:33.020 --> 00:00:39.320 And the phone number you'll hear on the show is changed to plus 1-951-732-8511. 00:00:56.560 --> 00:00:59.060 Hello and welcome back to the LifeSpring Advent Calendar. 00:00:59.560 --> 00:01:00.740 It's day number 22. 00:01:01.580 --> 00:01:02.680 I'm Steve Webb, your host. 00:01:03.480 --> 00:01:08.120 Well, it's getting nearer to Christmas, and even in sunny Southern California, it's gotten a little nippy. 00:01:08.600 --> 00:01:12.360 As I'm recording this today, it's 61 degrees Fahrenheit. 00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:16.660 Now, I know some of you are laughing at me saying, well, that's shorts weather. 00:01:17.220 --> 00:01:19.460 Well, for us in Southern California, it's cold. 00:01:20.880 --> 00:01:24.380 Oh, well, let's get into the Christmas spirit today by opening today's door. 00:01:38.720 --> 00:01:43.180 well it's certainly getting colder over here in the uk but i don't know if we'll have a white 00:01:43.340 --> 00:01:47.940 christmas this year because i've only ever seen one and so that's what we're talking about today 00:01:48.280 --> 00:01:53.539 it's snow and ice but why are snow and ice so closely associated with christmas 00:01:53.980 --> 00:01:58.720 well there's no mention of them in the christmas story that's a good question snow and ice coming 00:01:58.880 --> 00:02:03.640 together is really down to the victorians and in main to one victorian mr charles dickens 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:09.320 one of his most popular novels a christmas carol is set on christmas eve and features all of the 00:02:09.479 --> 00:02:14.460 snowy things we now associate with christmas and the christmas carol is also one of my favorite 00:02:14.760 --> 00:02:20.819 stories i just don't feel christmasy until i've seen the muppets christmas carol it's just one of 00:02:20.740 --> 00:02:24.840 my favourite films. Well, that's a really good one, but the Patrick Stewart version is my favourite. 00:02:25.140 --> 00:02:29.320 When Charles Dickens was a child, Britain had some very heavy snowfalls around Christmas, 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:34.000 and so he put lots of snow and ice in his stories set at Christmas. Another of his books, 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:38.240 The Pickwick Papers, also features some very famous literary Christmas snow scenes. 00:02:38.860 --> 00:02:41.440 So it just became a part of our cultural consciousness, I guess. 00:02:41.860 --> 00:02:45.020 One of the other reasons that snow and ice became popular in Victorian times 00:02:45.580 --> 00:02:49.360 is because of Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert. He came from Germany, 00:02:49.420 --> 00:02:51.780 and so he was used to some very snowy Christmases. 00:02:52.520 --> 00:02:54.400 And he also popularised a Christmas tree 00:02:54.600 --> 00:02:56.520 and many other traditions over here in the UK. 00:02:57.340 --> 00:02:59.760 And Christmas cards were also started in Victorian times 00:03:00.160 --> 00:03:02.420 and pictures of snowy scenes were very popular, 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:06.660 remembering back to the early hard Christmases of years long ago. 00:03:07.660 --> 00:03:09.660 And what happens if it snows on Christmas Day? 00:03:10.040 --> 00:03:12.000 You get a white Christmas, of course! 00:03:12.760 --> 00:03:14.900 I've only ever seen one white Christmas over here 00:03:15.340 --> 00:03:17.420 and it was two years ago in 2004. 00:03:18.100 --> 00:03:24.720 It was really great, and it was lovely seeing people tramp into church in their lovely big snowy boots on Christmas morning. 00:03:25.460 --> 00:03:31.220 However, back in pre- and early Victorian times, white Christmases happened practically every year, 00:03:31.220 --> 00:03:36.720 and in fact frost fairs were held on the frozen River Thames in London until 1814. 00:03:36.720 --> 00:03:38.640 Have you ever seen a white Christmas, Steve? 00:03:38.640 --> 00:03:43.740 Well, I haven't seen a white Christmas here in Riverside, James, but when I was eight years old, I lived in New Jersey, 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:46.880 and that year we did have snow. 00:03:47.560 --> 00:03:52.440 As a matter of fact, the very first time I ever saw it snow was while I was at school. 00:03:52.980 --> 00:03:55.360 I looked out the window and I saw the snow coming down, 00:03:55.410 --> 00:03:59.340 and I jumped up to look, and the teacher that I had that year was just so sweet, 00:03:59.420 --> 00:04:02.060 and she just let me stand there by the window and watch it snow. 00:04:02.270 --> 00:04:06.160 And all the other kids thought I was some sort of a weirdo having never seen it snow, 00:04:06.360 --> 00:04:08.760 but I just stood there for the longest time watching it snow. 00:04:08.930 --> 00:04:10.740 So that was my first white Christmas. 00:04:11.110 --> 00:04:12.220 What else have you got for us today? 00:04:12.940 --> 00:04:17.180 Perhaps the most famous white Christmas of them all is the song sung by Bing Crosby. 00:04:17.720 --> 00:04:23.000 It was first recorded in 1942 and came from a film called Holiday Inn, set in snowing Vermont. 00:04:23.420 --> 00:04:27.380 And did you know that there's a 75% chance of it snowing on Christmas Day in Vermont? 00:04:27.800 --> 00:04:29.460 That's really good white Christmas odds. 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:32.320 And that's one of the reasons I don't live in Vermont. 00:04:32.860 --> 00:04:37.520 Irvin Berlin wrote I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas and it only took 18 minutes to record. 00:04:38.380 --> 00:04:42.900 The original version sung by Bing Crosby has sold at least 30 million copies around the world. 00:04:43.320 --> 00:04:45.200 Now that's an awful lot of white Christmases. 00:04:45.730 --> 00:04:49.880 So wherever you are this Christmas, whether you have a white one or not, I hope you have a great one. 00:05:13.340 --> 00:05:15.480 Well, it's really fun to be getting so close to Christmas now. 00:05:15.570 --> 00:05:17.680 I hope that you have a white Christmas where you're at. 00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:19.580 Thank you, James, for all the great information. 00:05:20.060 --> 00:05:23.860 Of course, the theme music today was Brian Duncan and the Neo Soul Band with This Christmas, 00:05:24.080 --> 00:05:28.080 and the background music was Tony Evans and his orchestra with White Christmas. 00:05:29.180 --> 00:05:31.960 This has been day number 22 of the Lifespring Advent Calendar. 00:05:32.660 --> 00:05:34.640 And for James Cooper, I'm Steve Webb. 00:05:35.780 --> 00:05:38.500 It's a love that I get from you. 00:05:38.840 --> 00:05:40.140 It never gets old. 00:05:40.760 --> 00:05:41.940 It's Christmas. 00:05:42.260 --> 00:05:43.920 It's a love I need. 00:05:45.220 --> 00:05:46.560 And it's what I want. 00:05:46.840 --> 00:05:47.920 It's Christmas. 00:05:48.300 --> 00:05:50.380 And it's what I want for you. 00:05:51.140 --> 00:05:52.440 Story is so good.