recurrence of the feast. Not that
they looked upon it as a feast in any ecclesiastical sense, for
Llanfairpwllycrochon was decidedly Calvinistically Methodist, and
rejected all such things as mere popish superstition.

"The Christmas goose was a great institution at Llanfairpwllycrochon.
The annual goose club had no existence there, it is true, but the
annual goose had nevertheless. Thomas Thomas, after his memorable
visit to London, came home imbued with one English idea which startled
the villagers more than anything had done since the famous bonfire on
the outlying hill when the heir came of age, and it was a long time
before they recovered from their surprise. It was nothing less
than a proposition to substitute beef for the Christmas dinner
instead of a goose. Here was a sad falling off from the ways of
Llanfairpwllycrochon! And Thomas Thomas was a man who persisted in an
idea once it entered his mind--an event of rare occurrence, it is
true, and consequently all the more stubborn whenever it did occur.
Thomas Thomas had, however, sufficient respect for the opinion of his
neighbours to make him compromise matters by providing for himself
alone a small beefsteak as an adjunct to the time-honoured goose.

"Another Christmas institution at Llanfairpwllycrochon was the
universal pudding, mixed as is wont by every member of the family.
Then there was the bun-loaf, or _barabrith_, one of the grand
institutions of Llanfairpwllycrochon. Many were the pains taken over
this huge loaf--made large enough to last a week or fortnight,
according to the appetites of the juvenile partakers--and the combined
"Christmas-boxes" of the grocer and baker went to make up the
appetising whole, with much more in addition.

"Christmas Eve was a day of exceeding joy at Llanfairpwllycrochon. The
manufacture of paper ornaments and 'kissing bushes,' radiant with
oranges, apples, paper roses, and such like fanciful additions as
might suit the taste or means of the house-holder, occupied most of
the day. And then they had to be put up, and the house in its
Christmas decorations looked more resplendent than the imagination of
the most advanced villager--at present at school, and of the mature
age of five and a half years, the rising hope of the schoolmaster, and
a Lord Chancellor in embryo in fine--could have pictured. As a reward
for the day's toil came the night's sweet task of making _cyflath_,
_i.e._, toffee. Thomas Thomas, and those who spo