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Pick of the podcasts: White Christmas, Ed Reardon’s Christmas Week, The Calm Christmas Podcast

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Whether you’re feverishly wrapping presents, or cooking a Christmas feast, grab some headphones and give your ears a treat with the best festive pods.

Weird Christmas

Apple, Google, Spotify

Christmas for a lot of people is about being as cosy as possibly but here are plenty of other odd things to ponder about the festive season, too.

Craig Kringle, which isn’t his real name of course, explores lots of this in Weird Christmas, a podcast he started after posting his collection of strange postcards surrounding the holiday season.

From Krampus, and his female counterpart Perchta, to strange Christmas food, from Smalahove (Norwegian sheep head) or the history of rather bizarre-looking children’s Christmas music albums.


Ed Reardon’s Christmas Week

BBC Sounds

Radio 4 listeners will be familiar with Ed Reardon, author, pipe smoker, consummate fare-dodger and master of the abusive email.

Christopher Douglas’s comedy character is back for a Christmas special and in it, Ed needs a room at the inn. The Lock Keeper’s Arms, that is. But first, he has to deal with Scrooge.

Of course, Ed is infuriated about this as well as the fact he has to write a video-call friendly version of Rumpelstiltskin, and put up with his son who is recording a podcast.


The Calm Christmas Podcast

Apple, Google, Spotify

The Calm Christmas podcast is a cosy listen during the darkest season of the year.

Bestselling wellbeing author, Beth Kempton, shares soothing wintery words from her favourite poets and writers, tips for a stress-free holiday season and advice for taking care of ourselves at this time of year.

Join Beth at her kitchen table to explore ideas for a sustainable Christmas, look into the origins of some of our most-loved traditions, and see how winter is celebrated round the world.