We can trace the history of Christmas back to Saturnalia, the Roman festival where everything was turned on its head. The slave would act the master and vice versa. Presents were exchanged within families.
If we go on to the Middle Ages we would find a Christmas that differed from the Victorian vision.
Victorians romanticised childhood and put them at the centre of things.
Pre-Victorian Christmases were social in the wider sense - less the nuclear family, more adult, more convivial. It wasn't so family centred it could be wilder instead of this wonderful sweet celebration at home. You might go to a special church service and drink at the tavern.
The rise to dominance of Puritanism during the English Civil War led to a period of sporadic assaults on the Christmas tradition. When Puritans opposed Christmas they felt the partying had taken over.
By the end of the 18th Century, Christmas had declined in importance as a holiday. But in the 19th Century it enjoyed a resurgence in Britain that spread across the Atlantic and helped shape the way much of the world celebrates it today. Charles Dickens played a big part in it, setting out in his novels a vision of Christmas that people could re-engage with.
Although many would say Dickens was the inventor of the Victorian Christmas, he based it very much on the 18th Century - stagecoaches in snowy lanes, jovial landlords, squires giving presents to the poor and presiding over groaning tables.
One of the key aspects for us about Christmas is a break from work - a couple of weeks for the luckiest. But in Victorian times Christmas Day was often just another day of grimy toil.
And there were plenty of new traditions. The tree, the turkey, Christmas cards and crackers all came to a prominent place in the celebrations.
Many believe it was Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, who first brought the German Christmas tree concept to Britain. The idea of a fir tree festooned with decorations and candles did not immediately catch on, having to wait until its enthusiastic adoption by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Turkey had been in the country for centuries, but only in the 19th Century started to make its journey to Christmas meal, finally achieved after World War II.
If there is one significant element that truly can be said to have been lost from the Christmas experience it is the exhortations to a personal brand of charity.
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