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Bath Christmas market is one of the longest established in the country with traders coming from all over the West Country and beyond to set up shop on the cobbled streets surrounding the abbey. Matt Baker meets some of the local producers trading at the market including a twilight chilli farmer and a world champion cheese maker. Later Matt finds out the historical significance of giving gifts before meeting up with the rest of the team to receive his present under the abbey Christmas tree.

Decking the halls with evergreens is a tradition that goes back to Pagan times. Ellie Harrison helps florist Coral Gardiner maker a traditional Georgian kissing bough and garland using the evergreens found in hedgerows. Ellie also meets botanical illustrator Julia Trickey - whose seasonal watercolours are on this year鈥檚 Christmas stamps - before attempting to paint her own evergreen ivy leaf.

John Craven catches the Christmas post and discovers Bath鈥檚 special link to the Christmas card. At the city鈥檚 postal museum he picks up a quill and finds out that writing season鈥檚 greetings could be quite a chore. John also gets a rare chance to see a valuable original Christmas card and finds out more about the man who dreamt up and popularised the cracker.

We all dream of a white Christmas but how likely is it to happen this year? The idea of a white Christmas was popularised by Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol when winters were cooler and there were frost fairs on the River Thames. Weatherman John Hammond takes to the ice and, with the help of figure skaters, explains how snowflakes are formed and the science behind snowfall. 聽

Adam Henson visits Cotswolds Brussels sprout grower Martin Haines. At this time of year they employ a large team of seasonal sprout pickers. This labour-intensive job can be challenging and the short, cold, winter days make this process even tougher. Adam does a stint in the fields and discovers it鈥檚 not as easy as it looks. He also meets with a community of Polish workers and gets the opportunity to experience a traditional Polish Christmas lunch.

Christmas is a busy time of year for the church community but while congregations may temporarily swell, the number of clergy continues to be in steady decline. For rural communities this means vicars are spread over larger areas of the countryside and must be shared by the congregations they serve. Tom Heap visits rural Herefordshire to find out what a day in the life of a countryside vicar is really like. With four services in one day Tom discovers what pressures are faced by our rural clergy and how the lay community is being mobilised to help.

Georgian homes were modestly decorated with evergreens at Christmas but feasting was a lavish affair. Ellie helps decorate No. 1 Royal Crescent in the traditional style and finds out more about Georgian festivities from museum curator Victoria Barwell. Later Ellie finds out about some of the extravagant food the Georgian鈥檚 would have eaten at dinner, before making her very own mince pies with real mincemeat!