Christmas has been all things to all people: a religious festival, a family celebration, a time of eating and drinking. Yet the origins of the customs which characterize the festive season are wreathed in myth.

When did turkeys become the plat du jour? Is the commercialization of Christmas a recent phenomenon, or has the emphasis always been on spending? Just who is, or was, Santa Claus? And for how long have we been exchanging presents of underwear and socks?

Food, drink and nostalgia for Christmases past seem to be almost as old as the holiday itself, far more central to the story of Christmas than religious worship. Thirty years after the first recorded Christmas, in the fourth century, the Archbishop of Constantinople was already warning that too many people were spending the day not in worship, but dancing and eating to excess. By 1616, the playwright Ben Jonson was nostalgically recalling the Christmases of yesteryear, confident that they had been better then.

In Christmas: A Biography, acclaimed social historian and best-selling author Judith Flanders casts a sharp and revealing eye on the myths, legends and history of the season, from the origins of the holiday in the Roman empire to the emergence of Christmas trees in central Europe, to what might just possibly be the first appearance of Santa Claus - in Switzerland! - to draw a picture of the season as it has never been seen before.

'A treasure chest, bursting with facts and thoughts about what homes mean and how they can be lived in' Frances Wilson, Mail on Sunday (The Making of Home)

'A delight . . . a Niagara Falls of fascination, covering all manner of "everyday" things' Daily Express (The Victorian City)

'With Flanders's expert knowledge and guidance we can shudder at the violence or the cold calculation of murders . . . Excellent, well written and hugely well informed' Daily Mail (The Invention of Murder)

'Impressive . . . authoritative, serious and ambitious' The Times (Consuming Passions)

'The book brings the Victorian era vividly to life. The houses may be very familiar - but their daily lives are another country' Daily Mail (The Victorian House)

'Excellent. Flanders's questioning intelligence makes this a delightful book. It marks a significant moment in the understanding of the Victorian woman' Sunday Times (A Circle of Sisters)

This informative and entertaining history is an absolute delight.