Of Christmas as long, long ago is my new book arriving for the 2025 Christmas season.

Find out what Christmas was like centuries ago.

Sneak preview, it was weird, and spooky, and rowdy.

Kind of gross sometimes.

Find it wherever books are sold in hardcover from Lions Press and audiobook from recorded books. It's Christmas as you've

never seen it before, and it makes a great gift. I'm Brian Earle. This is Christmas Past.

The fields lay silent under the late December night sky, and in the dark stood a man, tending to his

work by night, his breath curling white into the cold air. It could have been any cold winter's

night. The air was sharp, the sky black and brittle, glittered with stars. These lights in the

firmament moved predictably, like the turning of a great celestial

wheel, announcing the seasons, marking the passage of time.

The heavens were a hymn sung in perfect harmony, forming patterns and shapes that made

the ancients think of gods and monsters, a cosmic clockwork older than any civilization that could observe it.

But tonight wasn't just any cold winter's night,

because tonight a new star appeared in the sky,

bright, unmistakable, and out of place.

The old books had spoken of signs in the heaven, of celestial messengers heralding great change,

and this star, too, had been foretold by wise men, and its appearance would attract yet more wise men soon after, eager to pay homage.

But for now, for tonight, there was just the man in the field,

looking up at yonder star, struck with awe and wonder, a quickened pulse, a trembling surge of

emotion, an awareness that this strange object shining in the night sky fulfilled a prophecy and announced a new age, a new world.

This is a Christmas story, but it's not the one you think it is.

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