A Quieter Kind of Christmas

Let me be clear from the start. I have nothing against a spectacular Christmas. The glitter, the big productions, the songs you cannot get out of your head until February. If that is your Christmas, enjoy every moment of it. But I'll admit, quietly, that it is not really mine.

I think a lot of people feel the same way without quite saying so. That what they actually want from December is something simpler. Real connection with other people. Stories told honestly. Experiences that do not require a lighting rig or a costume budget to move you.

There is a moment in my one man performance of A Christmas Carol where Bob Cratchit mourns the death of Tiny Tim. It's brief. There's no music swelling underneath it, no special effects, no set. Just the words Dickens wrote, and a man standing in a room imagining a father's grief. Sometimes after the show an audience member will tell me they cried at that moment and, when they do, I understand exactly why. I felt it too. It was written on my face, and in such an intimate space they saw it, and they felt it, and for a moment we were all sharing the same thing. A grief that can only come from love.

That's what I mean by a quieter Christmas. Not lesser. Just closer.

The thing is, I do not think this is a rare or unusual thing to want. I think a great many people arrive at December hoping for exactly that kind of connection and come away slightly puzzled as to why they didn't quite find it. The answer is usually that it was there all along, just not in the places that shout the loudest. The quieter things do not tend to advertise themselves quite as aggressively.

So here, in no particular order, are five of them worth seeking out this December.

Mat Jones performing at The Old Operating Theatre Museum in London.

A Christmas Carol, Mat Jones / Vintage Verse (quelle surprise)

Performed straight from the reading text that Dickens himself used on stage, this is a one man show that tours intimate venues across the UK each December. No adaptation, no cast, no spectacle. One performer, the original words, and a room full of people. Now in its twelfth year. Tickets at vintageverse.co.uk

Matthew Wood brings ghost stories to life in venues across the UK.

Ghost Stories for Christmas, Edwyrdian Tales

There is a long tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas, one that Dickens himself was part of, and Edwyrdian Tales keeps it beautifully alive. A single performer brings Victorian ghost stories to life in across the UK. Unsettling, atmospheric and entirely without pyrotechnics. Find dates at edwyrdiantales.com

London Concertante create incredible experiences in amazing spaces

Candlelight Concerts, London Concertante

Classical music performed by candlelight in churches and historic spaces across the country. London Concertante tour nationally throughout December with programmes ranging from Vivaldi to festive favourites, and the combination of the music, the venues and the candlelight creates something genuinely transporting. Find your nearest at londonconcertante.com

Mulled wine, making and meeting all in one place.

Wreath Making Workshops

There is something quietly joyful about making something with your hands in the company of other people. Wreath making workshops run throughout December at garden centres, village halls and small studios across the UK, usually with mulled wine, usually with strangers who become friends by the end of it.

Search for your nearest.

Nothing says Christmas quite like bellowing your favourite carol into the late afternoon darkness.

Carols by Candlelight, at local churches across the country

Every year I take a day away from performing to help run a carols by candlelight service at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Caldecote, the tiny North Hertfordshire church where I performed my very first show back in 2014. It is entirely candlelit. There is one pedal organ. We sing together against the cold. I would not miss it for anything.

You don't need to find my church (but you can if you like, it's here). Almost every church in the country holds something similar in December. Find yours, wrap up warm, and sing.