Welcome to another installment of Christmas in quarantine.

It's Christmas Past's impromptu mini-series of indeterminate length, all about bringing you some Christmas spirit during these uncertain times.

I do hope you're staying safe and healthy that you're practicing all of the of the common sense guidelines and taking your advice only from trained medical professionals.

Now today, we have another story, but before I get to that, I want to remind you that the

100th episode of Christmas Past is coming this week, and I want you to be on it.

So record a voice memo into your phone and send it to Christmas Past podcast at gmail.com.

You can say hi, send a shout out to a loved one,

or anything else you want to share with the rest of the Christmas past family.

But act soon so that I can be sure to include you in the episode.

The story we're starting today is from 1832 written by Miss Mant. It's called

Christmas A Happy Time, a tale calculated for the amusement and instruction of young persons. Gotta

love those 1832 book titles. We're going to break the story up into two parts, part one today,

part two tomorrow. I'll come back at the end

to say goodbye, but for now, get nice and cozy because once again, it's story time.

Harriet and Elizabeth Mortimer were two very pretty and, generally speaking, very good little girls.

Their kind Papa and Mama had taken a great deal of pains that they should be good,

and it was very seldom that they vexed them by being otherwise.

A very happy time was now expected at the family at Beach Grove by the arrival of John and Frederick Mortimer

from school. It was within a few days of Christmas, and as the sisters and brothers had never,

till the last few months been separated, their meeting together again was looked forward

to with general and lively pleasure.

Do you see anything of the stage, Elizabeth? said Harriet to her sister, who had been running

...