Christmas
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Nick Clegg goes for photobooth japes, David Cameron stresses status, and Ed Miliband does ‘family guy but leader too’
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Christmas is fast approaching so, naturally, our thoughts turn to festive jumpers. Here are some of the most fun yet tasteful options, without a Rudolph in sight
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Deck your doors and hang your halls with a festive wreath
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I dislike my selfish brother who gets to spend Christmas where he wants, but I’m always expected to celebrate it with my mum. Annalisa Barbieri advises a reader
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Taking all the best bits of the Bing Crosby film, this festive-themed jukebox musical is a big-hearted celebration of the genius of Irving Berlin, writes Alfred Hickling
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Drink Aloud: Mulled alcohol is as much a part of Christmas as sprouts and stockings. But should it be wine, cider or rum-spiked eggnog?
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From Bruegel to Botticelli, Laura Cumming chooses her favourite depictions of the Christmas story
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While the older cast members were enjoying their bubbly, we got the Hackney Empire panto’s young ‘uns to rate the Christmas chocolate that makes them melt
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Christmas taste tests Taste test: it’s feeding time at London zoo as keepers rate the best mince pies
Homa Khaleeli: Putting down the penguins they are in charge of, the keepers turn their attention to the merits of mince and the price of the pies
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As invites to Christmas parties begin to flood your inbox, this week’s anonymous PR blogger shares some important tips
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Much reviled in the past, some zippy innovations mean the e-card is not as awful as it once was
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Peter Bradshaw: It’s been over a decade since someone made a really misanthropic Christmas movie. Surely we deserve something grim?
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Originally published in the Guardian on 5 December 1985: A company with links to the National Front is offering to liven up your Christmas party with a ‘bootagram’
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Nordman fir trees from Scotland at discount supermarket are cheapest available to festive shoppers
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Evidence that shoppers engaged via social media spend more is forcing retailers to radically change the way they communicate
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Traffic jams and frayed tempers at south Wales farm that is supplying No 10, on busiest weekend of the year for tree sellers
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Don’t waste money on a pack of smellies that no one wants – there are some brilliant beauty products out there, whether you have £2 or £120 to spend. Sali Hughes reveals this year’s best
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We appraise some of this year’s more ‘interesting’ festive musical releases: the bad, the worse, and the really quite odd
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Kim Lomax: For our hardworking group of testers, this is a labour of love as they sample the delights of chocolates swaddled in fancy boxes. And not a jelly baby in sight …
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Daily Mirror leads the Fleet Street field in its traditional annual festive funk over the Christmas TV schedules
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From the office party to a big night out with friends, Simon Chilvers suggests eight ways to spruce up your partywear this season
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TV’s favourite greyhound barks out loud after woofing down a tail-wagging assortment of canine Christmas temptations
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Go backstage at Hackney Empire’s annual pantomime, where Clive Rowe and Sharon D Clarke are waiting in the wings to give the audience goose bumps
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Rhik Samadder: The West End stars of East is East are biscuit conoisseurs, so what would Jane Horrocks, Ayub Khan-Din and fellow cast members make of this year’s Christmas selections?
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Christmas party saviours: 12 Secret Santa ideas for under a tenner
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Vicky Frost: Traditional and covered in flaming brandy, or going out on a limb with chocolate and orange, there’s something for everyone at Truro fire station. But which pud puts the glow in Green Watch?
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Programming includes last episode of Miranda and Citizen Khan, Mrs Brown’s Boys, Top Gear and Strictly festive specials
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Doctor Who, Miranda, Mrs Brown's Boys, Top Gear and Strictly Come Dancing all feature in the corporation's 2014 Christmas trailer
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GuardianWitness assignments A boozy Farage and a lonely Clegg – our readers mock up MPs' Christmas cards
From Tony Blair’s gritted teeth to Nigel Farage as white van man, the art of the politician’s Christmas card is a tricky one. We asked you to come up with your own suggestions via GuardianWitness -
Jennifer Gerson Ufalussy: ’Tis not the season for ‘irony’
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Christmas taste tests 'What do you call a snowman in the desert?' Comedians test the best Christmas crackers
James Kettle: If a cracker joke can make a professional comic crack a smile, it must be good. Miles Jupp, Holly Walsh, Cariad Lloyd, Elis James and Ben Target prepare to pull
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We took nine bottles of champagne along to the Hackney Empire for their panto actors to quaff. Did we have any left at the end? Oh no we didn’t
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More cake with your tea, vicar? We put Gogglebox vicar Kate Bottley and her husband, Graham, up against a full hamper of shop-bought festive cakes
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Looking to add some final touches to your pupils’ nativity outfits? Here’s how to make them look great with breaking the bank
Loose canon The whole point of Christianity is to create a deeper form of humanism