Christmas: Did you mean...?

The Christmas Truce of the First World War has become a legendary story. The romantic image of enemies shaking hands in the middle of no man’s land, or playing football between the trenches, reoccurs again and again in popular culture. But...

An 1886 cartoon drawn by Tom Merry showing the British prime minister William Gladstone dreaming of Queen Victoria's Christmas, a dinner with representatives of the nations in the British Empire. Gladstone is depicted as the miser Ebenezer...

Ebenezer Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present, illustration by John Leech from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, 1843.

A group photograph taken during the Christmas Truce of 1914 on the Western Front during the First World War (1914-18). The British troops are members of the 2nd Battalion, Gordon Highlanders. Imperial War Museums, London.

A photograph taken during the Christmas Truce of 1914 on the Western Front during the First World War (1914-18). Possibly showing Riflemen Andrew (middle) and Grigg (second from the right, background) of the London Rifle Brigade with troops...

A photograph of a letter written by Alfred Dougan Chater describing the Christmas Truce of 1914 on the Western Front during the First World War (1914-18). (Imperial War Museums)

A painting depicting the tradition of attending a morning church service on Christmas Day. Print by Hoover & Son. (Library of Congress)

A photograph of an autograph taken during the Christmas Truce of 1914 on the Western Front during the First World War (1914-18). The autograph was taken by David H. W. Smith, 1st Battalion London Rifle Brigade. (Imperial War Museums)

The frontispiece for Birds' Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, 1912.

A photograph taken during the Christmas Truce of 1914 on the Western Front during the First World War (1914-18). British troops from the Northumberland Hussars, 7th Division, Bridoux-Rouge Banc Sector. (Imperial War Museums)