The centrepiece of Mrs Truran’s display of festive books in the Library is Christmas! Traditions, Celebrations and Food across Europe, by Old Queenswoodian Stella Ross Collins (1913-2018).

This beautifully illustrated book celebrates the customs, traditions and feasts that characterise the festive season in over 40 European countries. You can browse a sample of the contents above.

It’s packed with fascinating historical insights, along with inspirational ideas for decorations, games, food and drink from across the continent. 

Stella shows us the first modern Christmas card, designed in 1843, and tells the origin story of Hamleys toy shop in London. There’s a chapter on Nativity cribs, notably the mechanical crèche in the Capuchin church in Warsaw, where the traditional donkeys, oxen and camels rub shoulders with toy trains, buses and aeroplanes.

You can learn about all manner of ancient customs, such as the surreal and slightly sinister Welsh tradition of the Mari Lwyd - a prancing horse’s skull bedecked with ribbons that wanders from house to house on New Year’s Eve with songs, pranks and blessings.

She also celebrates the musical traditions of the season, and includes sheet music for some carols that are extremely popular in European countries but may be less familiar to British readers.

Towards the end of the book, Stella offers mouth-watering recipes for dishes, desserts and drinks from across Europe, for anyone looking for a change from roast turkey and sprouts! You can learn to make Polish almond soup, Lithuanian stuffed fish fillets, Luxembourgeois ham in hay, Belgian crêpes St Sylvestre – traditionally served on New Year’s Eve, Danish roast goose with apples and prunes, and an Old English wassail cup.

The book was published in 1999 to raise funds for the NSPCC, a charity to which Stella devoted over 70 years of her life, and featured forewords by Her Majesty the Queen and the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair.