Christmas notes

From Prince Albert to Nigella Lawson, we've picked out five seasonal reads from our archives:

Cultural notebook Why do celebrity chefs tell us how to cook Christmas lunch every year? Sam Leith claims it’s all a big literary-theoretical experiment

These islandsSamantha Ellis describes her Jewish-Muslim Christmas

If I ruled the world Give or take a few spiritual details, Germans practically invented Christmas. Lucy McDonald says we should celebrate the holiday as they do

Andy's gift Andy got himself for Christmas. But would his wife be pleased? A short story by Michel Faber, author of The Crimson Petal and the White

The way we wereIan Irvine's compilation of seasonal diary extracts from William Lashly, Joan Wyndham and others.