An image a day for December 2025 no. 26. I shared the so-called Christmas rose yesterday, but here's an actual rose at Christmas! If you’re cutting a rose, be careful no petals fall from the flower, otherwise, you’ll have bad luck.

"Seasonable Scene At Bexhill. This is Crowmere Avenue, as it ought to appear tomorrow, and as it actually was last April, when it was "taken" by Mr. J. E. Ray, an enthusiastic amateur photographer." Bexhill Observer 26.12.1908. #Bexhill #Sussex #Christmas #Snow #History #1900s

Children's Pantomime by Emil Vieler, Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex c.1908. #Bexhill #Sussex #Christmas #Pantomime #History #1900s

Tibetan Rug

Day 25 of #HooklandChristmasTree. Maybe you had too much apple brandy last night, maybe you've been flustered cooking/resolving family fights, but the last decoration goes on at lunch. A silver Starfall Common Falling Star with a trail of squishing star rot. Blessings to you all.

#BookologyThursday #Celtic: `#Niamh had fallen in love with #Oisin, who was overtaken on first sight with desire for this lovely woman from the #Celtic #Otherworld. 1/3

Aubrey Beardsley Christmas Card (1895)

Sunbeam #Hilo #Hawaii 26.12.1876. "...had a short walk through grass and ferns to a pretty double waterfall, tumbling over a cliff, about 100 feet high, into a glassy pool of the river beneath. It fell in front of fern-filled black lava cavern, over which a rainbow generally hangs." #Brassey #1870s

A Bronze Age horned helmet from Brøns Mose at Viksø, decorated with bosses and adorned with eyes and a beak. The helmet was found with an identical one in a bog. They were probably used at religious ceremonies. Later on, they were deposited in the bog as offerings. 🧵1/2 📷 me 🏺 #archaeology

#FossilFriday Fine specimen of the problematical fossil Dickinsonia costata from the Ediacaran. On display at the South Australia Museum, Adelaide.

This is the 4.5m tall isolated menhir which stands on the W edge of the tertre tumulaire (a low but long type of tumulus) in the NW corner of the alignments at Kerlescan in Carnac (Morbihan). Card by Laurent in Port-Louis c. 1905.

Wishing joy and peace to everyone🕊️ art by Loré Pemberton

"A Merry Christmastide. The wish is old this bears to you, But so are Time and Christmas too." #Christmas #1900s

"Lord Derby's Recruiting Scheme. The Offices In Devonshire Place." Bexhill Chronicle 25.12.1915. #Bexhill #Sussex #WW1 #History #1910s

"...by kind permission of the "Winning Post," which says:- "Not to know Jimmy Glover, of 'The Lane' and Bexhill, is to argue yourself unknown. He is the musical genius of Old Drury and his delightful numbers have contributed largely to the success of many a pantomime." #Bexhill Observer 25.12.1909.

Christmas Programme, from Colwall Court, Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex 1946. #Bexhill #Sussex #Christmas #School #History #1940s

#MerryChristmas from Newcastle University Special Collections & Archives! This #Christmas break, enjoy a festive blog on the public reading of A Christmas Carol and how Dickens’ classic has been celebrated over time blogs.ncl.ac.uk/speccoll/202... #ArchiveAdventCalendar @arascot.bsky.social

“Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend.   Before we too into the Dust descend;   Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie.   Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and   — sans End!”   ("The Rubáiayát of Omar Khayyám", transl. Fitzgerald)   🎨 René Bull (1913)   #Bookologythursday

"The Return Of Old Christmas. - Drawn By James Godwin." The Illustrated London News 25.12.1858. #Christmas #ChristmasDay #Victorian #Art #History #1850s

Wishing all followers a very joyful Christmas, and hope the weather wherever you are is better than in this pessimistic illustration.

🎄 A very merry Christmas to you from all at the museum. 🎅🏻 Here is an old picture of Egerton Park (from January 2017), when we were having very wintry weather! #Christmas #Winter #Bexhill

Merry Christmas to all those celebrating. Happy Thursday to all those who are not. And I hope this day passes bearably and swiftly for anyone struggling today. Dragon with Christmas Gift, Edward Gorey.

Physicists would dearly love to find new particles, but there's no sign of them in colliders like the LHC. Now we have found a new way of accessing a tiny slice of reality where they might be hiding

Trolls on their way to a feast at the Troll Castle. Theodor Kittelsen, 1904.

Sunbeam #Hawaii 25.12.1876. "I think at least half the population of #Hilo had been on board the yacht in the course of the day, as a #Christmas treat...her masts were tipped with sugar-canes in bloom. Her stern was adorned with flowers...in the arms of the figure-head was a large bouquet." #Brassey

Merry Christmas everyone! If you’ve been visited by 3 magi or their equivalent I hope they came bearing better gifts than this empty-handed lot at the dolmen du Parc in St-Nectaire (Puy-de-Dôme). Anonymous card early 1910s.

Rupert’s here to wish you a happy Christmas Eve! #Bexhill

High Victorian madness: love it.

I wrote about wassailing: firstthings.com/wassailing-a...

Hare in the Snow, Ferdinand von Rayski, 1875.

"From the vallum of Cadbury Camp, looking West towards the Mendips and the Somerset Flats" from Ancient Earthworks & Camps of Somerset (Edward J. Burrow, 1924). #HillfortsWednesday #Archaeology #Prehistory #Watercolour #Monochrome #BlackAndWhite #CadburyCamp #Somerset

"Gathering For The Pantomime: A Dream Of Chancifancia. - Drawn By Alfred Crowquill." The Illustrated London News 24.12.1870. #WyrdWednesday #Christmas #Pantomime #Art #History #1870s

Glam Art Deco Winter Maiden looking like Elsa Lanchester playing the Snow Queen, following a stint as an extra in Odin's Wild Hunt. Sort of. (artists signature too small to make out)

Some say the animals talk at midnight on Christmas Eve and what the animals say is seldom good. But, of course, we hear what they have to say in our 25th #yulefolklore story, because it’s a proper #wyrdwednesday tale and… talking goats! Read it below! 🎨 Edgar Hunt

"Other Christmas Spirits By Patrick Braybrooke." Bexhill Observer 24.12.1938. "It was even believed that some spirits impersonated human beings & made their appearance on earth about Christmas time to delude & cause mischief at a time when joy & expectancy were in the air." #WyrdWednesday #Christmas

"Bexhill Wakes Up Early. Father Christmas, to youthful Bexhill: "You're growing such a big boy that I have several other fine presents in store for you." They are: "School, East Parade, Central Parade, Colonnade, Bijou." Bexhill Chronicle 24.12.1910. #Bexhill #Sussex #Christmas #History #1910s

Hans Trapp is a frightful being said to emerge on Christmas to terrorize misbehaving children. He was once a proud Knight named Hans von Trotha who turned to foul magic and cannibalism. As punishment, God transformed him into a scarecrow and cursed him to eternally wander the Palatinate woods.

I wrote about Yule Logs for @thespectator1828.bsky.social: “While the Yule Log may have pagan origins, it is perhaps better understood as the wooden equivalent of a goose or turkey – a special treat for the Christmas season, relieving the misery of midwinter.” spectator.com/article/the-... 🪵

Bexhill Manor House, winter 1940. #Bexhill #Sussex #Winter #WW2 #History #1940s #Snow

Untitled, 2015 - by Ileana Serban

You should stay up until midnight on Christmas Eve so you can open your front door and release any ghosts, ghouls and evil spirits living in your home ✨🎄❄️🕸

'Silent Night' by contemporary UK printmaker Hester Cox #WomensArt #ArtAdvent

“snapdragon" or "flapdragon" on #ChristmasEve. The British lexicographer Francis Grose wrote in 1811: "Raisins and almonds being put into a bowl of brandy, and the candles extinguished, the spirit is set on fire, and the company scramble for the raisins.” #folklore

In his satirical sci-fi story 'A Message From The Moon' (Pearson's Magazine, 1907), George Allen England shows exciting new technology immediately being corrupted for corporate gain. Prescient somewhat. The lovely image of early 20thC New York is by Warwick Goble. #scifi #sci-fi #NewYork #Edwardian

Winter by Louis Marie De Schryver (1862 – 1942).

Cylinder seals from ancient Mesopotamia — tiny objects carved with images and text — were early signatures. People rolled them over wet clay tablets and envelopes, and they tell us a lot about identity and authenticity. Interesting, brief read by Serdar Yalçin theconversation.com/signatures-m...

An old favourite for Christmas Eve and #WyrdWednesday. According to a little practised Flemish superstition, you'll have the power to recognise witches if you go to an intersection on Christmas Eve with a black chicken on your head. 🎨Heather Murray

Here are a few more of the UK's weirdest spooks. A spectral blue donkey haunted the village of Cobham, #Surrey. A ghostly grandfather clock was seen lurching round a suburban London garden. And in a lane at Crowborough, #Sussex, travellers would be accosted by a phantom bag of soot! #WyrdWednesday

Sunbeam #Kilauea #Hawaii 24.12.1876. "We were standing at the extreme edge of a precipice, overhanging a lake of molten fire...Dashing against the cliffs...with a noise like the roar of a stormy ocean, waves of blood-red, liquid lava hurled their billows upon an iron-bound headland..." #Brassey

Mystery as hundreds of Victorian shoes wash up on beach. 🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...