Читать книгу The Christmas Book - Enid blyton - Страница 4

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There is no time of the year at which we honour more old customs than at Christmas time. The whole season is full of them, and their beginnings go back down the centuries into the mists of time.

We keep many of these old customs without knowing their meaning—but it adds much more to their interest if we know how they began, where and why. Why is plum-pudding called plum-pudding, when there are no plums? Why do we always hang up holly and mistletoe? Why do we give presents, and have a Christmas tree? Who was Santa Claus?

This book tells the story of a family who like to keep Christmas properly, and in the course of the story, most of the old customs are explained in, I hope, an interesting and natural way, so that the child reader will learn and enjoy at one and the same time.

For a great deal of my information I am indebted to my good friend, Mr. L. J. F. Brimble, who spent much time and trouble hunting for the origins and meanings of many of our curious old customs. This information I have moulded into the story. I should here like to take the chance of thanking him for his kind help, and of expressing my real gratitude.

ENID BLYTON