The Laboratory

Well, here we are at the end of another Advent Calendar. We hope you've enjoyed the pictures, and music, and anniversary memorabilia along the way. How better to finish than with a memento of Christmas Eve 1864, in a printed copy of "A Visit From St Nicholas" by Clement Clarke Moore. This was produced by Louis Prang, based in Massachusetts, and known as the Father of the American Christmas Card. You can see the full-size one at SuperItch . Wishing you, your family and friends, a very happy and peaceful Christmas, AND a visit from St Nicholas! Adam and Sarah  xx

Nearly there! We thought you'd enjoy hearing some Christmas jingles - these are from friend of the Advent Calendar, top educationalist, gifted author and average headteacher Geoff Barton. He's collected jingles from an early age and loves the close harmonies and perky pop of these mini-melodies. For Christmas he's loaded a new one every day and you can hear them all here! 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 And here's Geoff's life story in a jingle! Follow him at  @RealGeoffBarton and his website is at geoffbarton.co.uk

So exciting that we have so many friends celebrating their baby's first Christmas - our little nephew Finlay Pearce, our god-daughter Beatrice Brookes, and baby Beatrice Creen in Canada, to name but three. We were tickled by these cartoons from Kate Beaton, a Canadian cartoonist, all about "King Baby". Her website is at: www.harkavagrant.com where she also does adaptations of medieval woodcuts and satirical cartoons about Jane Austen characters. Check her out!

Here's just the thing to wash away the stress and nastiness of modern life. It's Princess Estelle, Duchess of Östergötland, and her parents Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel, from the Swedish Royal family. Every Christmas, they release an official video and they are all so adorable. Here's 2013:

Our third and final Saturday on the calendar takes us all the way back to 1864. This is the year that Christ Church, Ottershaw was founded by Sir Edward Colebrooke, and we have had a year of celebrations and commemorations. So when looking for an 1864 theme for today, I was astounded to find this : Cinderella, or, Harlequin and the Magic Pumpkin, and the Great Fairy of the Little Glass Slipper: A Pantomime written by the Brothers Grinn.  London: Published and sold in the [Royal English Opera] Theatre, [1864]. First performed Monday, 26 December 1864.   Cast: Hobgoblin, a discontented Demon who lives by himself and won't give up his Hermit for any quantity of spirits (Mr. Lingham); Papillion, a Fairy who's "beautiful as a Butterfly" (Miss Craven); Prince Ugolino, who has carried out the direction "laugh and grow fat" (Mr. E. Danvers); Grimguffin, his Private Tutor (Mr. Naylor); The Baron Pumpolino (Mr. W. H. Payne); Pedro, his head man and foot-man (M...

So many reasons to get that Friday feeling ... less than a week to Christmas, payday (for some), last day of term (for many), and it's nearly the weekend! So kick back and chill to this power ballad version of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" from Rosie Thomas, her Christmas album was one of Rolling Stone's top 40 albums for the Christmas season: A VERY ROSIE CHRISTMAS! by Rosie Thomas

More nativities: here's an update to one of the best, the 2010 Sausage Nativity. Everyone thought there was only one photo of it on the web. But here's a rare unreleased close-up of the Wise Men: And we only found out about this today - it's the world's largest nativity, with 1000 people taking part!