🎄A beautiful seasonal Substack publication by Beth Kempton (bestselling self-help author and host of the UK's #1 favourite Christmas podcast)🌟 intended to be a lantern leading you through the darkness of winter ❤️ (Nov-early Jan only)
🎄The UK’s favourite Christmas podcast is back for a sixth series: HIBERNACLE, with host Beth Kempton. Please enjoy this the trailer for a glimpse of what is in store. May this be a place of winter refuge in the darkest season.
🕯️Episode 1 ‘PREPARATION: lamp light + love lists’ will be released on Thursday November 12, 2026. Mark your calendar and prepare for the return of the cosiest podcast.
Series 6 'HIBERNACLE' includes:
✨Stories of Christmas traditions from listeners across the world
✨Ideas for a calmer Christmas
✨ Thoughtful journalling prompts
✨ Cosy reading recommendations
✨Seasonal recipes and craft projects
✨Nature corner
✨Giveaways of lovely things
✨And new for 2026 – we will be exploring ideas for Analogue Joy
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit calmchristmas.substack.com
🎄🎧Season 5 Episode 9 ✨Joy to the World✨
Thursday, January 1, 2026 • Duration 53:25
***Please note the silence in today’s episode is intentional to accommodate a series of journalling questions!***
Happy new year friends! The final episode of each season of this podcast is always a bittersweet moment. Christmas is behind us, we are deep in winter now, and a new year is upon us, with all its promise and possibility. I hope today’s episode eases you in thoughtfully, and leaves you hopeful about the year ahead. It includes:
* My favourite poem to read as a new year begins
* Twelve potent journalling questions (with silent writing time in between each one)
* Some thoughts on things to plant at this time of year
* An invitation to head outdoors, whatever the weather
Thank you so much for journeying through the festive season with me this year. What a joy it has been. I hope you have enjoyed this 'winterlude’ as much as I have. Don’t forget to subscribe so you get notified when The Calm Christmas Podcast is back next November. Until then, I hope to see you on my other Substack @Beth Kempton.
✨Wishing you a light-filled 2026✨
Beth Xx
Lovely things for you
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
🎄🎧Season 5 Episode 8 ✨The Deer's Cry✨
Saturday, December 27, 2025 • Duration 01:01:10
Friends, I hope you had a lovely, peaceful holiday, or indeed, whatever kind of Christmas you had hoped for, and if you didn’t, well it’s done now, and you enjoy a quiet few days ahead and then a shiny new year.
I always feel mixed emotions at this particular time of year, sad that Christmas is over, relieved that all the work of Christmas is done, and hopeful that everyone enjoyed as best they could, given the circumstances, and also secretly delighted about this sacred pause that I call ‘The Hush’ and love so very much.
For many years now, I have sensed something very special about these precious days between Christmas and New Year. It’s as if some kind of portal opens up. January will be here before we know it, but until then, let’s stretch these days as wide open as we can and meander for a while, giving our minds and hearts a chance to assimilate and process all that’s happened over the past 12 months and plant some seeds for the year ahead.
This moment is that fleeting pause when time bends and magic hovers between the book ends of the season. We must and we should are abandoned in favour of ‘Shall we...?’ and ‘We could...’ Spontaneity and softness become the order of the day. This is a precious time to breathe deeply, savour moments with loved ones or alone. Feel the world slowing for just a while. It’s a time for reflection and releasing, meandering and dreaming, and today’s episode is all about that.
It includes:
* The special magic of this time I call ‘the Hush’
* An amazing story of manifestation, which began on this podcast
* An invitation to speak your dreams aloud
* A beautiful wintery visualisation
* A potent question to guide you beneath the surface of things
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
🎄🎧Season 5 Episode 7 ✨Driving Home for Christmas✨
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 • Duration 35:01
There is a moment of silence that occurs every year somewhere between the dawn of Christmas Eve and the setting of the sun on Christmas Day itself. A moment we all have experienced at least once in our lives, maybe more than once. It can silence a great city like London or New York, and it can bring stillness to our hearts, whoever and wherever we may be. That moment of silence is unlike any other. It offers the promise of new beginnings, of the clean slate of New Year, and it incorporates the breathless expectancy of Christmas Night itself, when a familiar figure enters our lives and changes them briefly. - The Winter Solsticeby John Matthews
Welcome to Christmas Eve Eve and to Season Five, Episode Seven, Driving Home for Christmas. To me that feeling of expectation on the cusp of Christmas is about the feeling of time folding in on itself as all past Christmases and hopes for future Christmases collapse into a single moment on the cusp of Christmas itself and anything - even magical things - seem possible. This cosy episode includes:
* Christmas Eve traditions from listeners around the world
* A special memory of the Budapest Christmas Market
* Thoughts about gathering
* Taking a moment for gratitude
* Giving ourselves grace
* A delicious mocktail recipe
* The simplest Christmas craft project
* A special Christmas story
* Our final get ahead tips
* A Christmas message for you
With inspiration from John Matthews, Clement Clarke Moo1515115re, Chris Rea, Fiok, the team at Pentire in Cornwall, Sara Starling and Kings College Cambridge.
You can listen on iTunes/Spotify or here on Substack.
I would like to dedicate this episode to Chris Rea, whose classic Driving Home for Christmas inspired the title, and who sadly died yesterday, December 22, aged 74.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
🎄🎧Season 5 Episode 6 ✨Midwinter Light✨
Thursday, December 18, 2025 • Duration 29:33
Winter can be a difficult time for any of us grieving, or experiencing feelings of sadness or loneliness. And yet there is always beauty to be found in amongst it all. This week’s episode, Midwinter Light: Holding joy and sadness in December, is about allowing ourselves all the feelings, and encouraging us to take some quiet time to think about those we love and miss as the world rushes all around us.
So many of you have shared how you have been through difficult things this year. For some of you, I know that all you want this year is one more Christmas with a loved one. I want you to know that you are not alone in your experience of things being hard in this season, and I hope that together, we can honour the sadness and also look for the light.
This is the week of the Winter Solstice, when the darkness begins to shift into light. We can lean into the darkest dark, or we can welcome the promise of that light. I find that we tend to hold both the dark and the light at this time of year, because memories come flooding back as Christmas moves in, and some of those are beautiful and some of those are painful.
We might sense deep gratitude for those who are here and a bone deep ache for those who are not. We might, at the same time, be aware of all of our blessings and all of our longings. The thing is, we don’t need to resist any of it. The Winter Solstice is an ancient ritual event in the human calendar that invites us to simply sit with it, all the sadness and the joy, the darkness and the light. I hope Episode 6 is a balm for your soul.
This episode includes:
* Thoughtful words to comfort you when things feel hard
* Some reflections on the symbolism of the Winter Solstice
* Some love for sweet robins
* Delicious, nourishing recipes for you and for your furry friends
* Get ahead tips and an invitation to seek out shooting stars
With inspiration from Donna Ashworth, Machine Soul Collective, EC Krupp, Carolyn MacVicar Edwards, Charles Baudelaire, , Kim Krans, Charles Bertram Johnson, , Hannah Langdon, , Royal Museums Greenwich, Songbird Survival and the RSPCA.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
🎄🎧Season 5 Episode 5 ✨And Winter Came✨
Thursday, December 11, 2025 • Duration 47:43
One of the most gorgeous carols in the world reminds us of how bleak midwinter can be, and yet how there is beauty and even comfort in it.This episode is all about taking care of ourselves in the dark season, finding ways to stay warm, inspired, healthy and connected. It includes lots of love for trees, and hedgehogs, and suggestions for wellbeing in winter from listeners and experts alike. This episode includes:
* The single easiest step to radical self-care this winter
* What to put into a Winter’s Evening Care Package
* Ways to keep warm without spending a fortune
* The tradition of Christmas trees including research and insights from Canada’s Christmas Tree Lab
* The feeling of climbing a tree
* How to contribute to the UK’s Ancient Tree Inventory
* A fresh way of thinking about sleep
* Some love for hedgehogs
* A wonderful Citrus Miso recipe from Rachel de Thample
* Nature observation advice from Tristan Gooley
* A thoughtful writing prompt
* Dates for your diary
* Get ahead tips
With inspiration from Christina Rossetti, Enya, Bernd Brunner, The Christmas Tree Lab, Henrik Dahle, The Woodland Trust, Dr Stephanie Fitzgerald, Hedgehog Street, the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, Rachel de Thample, @fogchaser and Tristan Gooley.
May this be a treat for you as the darkness moves in,
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
🎄🎧Season 5 Episode 4 ✨On This Winter's Night✨
Thursday, December 4, 2025 • Duration 40:30
In our winter writing episode this week we are exploring the poetry of solitude and the solace of poetry. I hope you will listen somewhere quiet this week, notebook in hand, and love every moment of it.
Episode 4 ‘On This Winter’s Night’ includes:
* Some beautiful wintery poems
* A writing invitation inspired by the moon
* Some wonderful wintery words and their meanings
* The tradition of Christmas cards
* How to make a zine
* A delicious gingerbread recipe
* Some Christmas joy from English railway stations and the London Underground
* This week’s Get Ahead Tips
With inspiration from Robert Frost, Lady A, David Whyte, Yosa Buson, Yuki Sawa, Edith Marcombe Shiffert, Paul Anthony Jones, Dianne Casey, the Academy of American Poets, Robert Hillyer, Matt Evans Fog Chaser, Kerri ní Dochartaigh, Mary Searle Chatterjee, the University of Birmingham Time for Letters project, John Julius Norwich, Charles Dickens, 42nd Street, Kate Trenchard, Helen Garcia, Barter Books, Morden Station, the London Underground, the staff of Axminster and Salisbury Stations and Alix Klingenberg.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
🎄🎧Season 5 Episode 3 ✨Holly, Ivy and Evergreen✨
Thursday, November 27, 2025 • Duration 01:00:14
All we really need to make our homes cosy in winter, and to make any seasonal gathering special, is a little bit of care and attention, some light, some kindness, perhaps a twinkling tree or a scattering of greenery, and maybe a pretty tablecloth. But it doesn’t have to be fancy, and it definitely doesn’t have to be perfect or all matching.
Episode 3: Holly, Ivy & Evergreen is all about simplifying, beautifying and cosifying our homes for the winter, making them welcoming for us and for others. It includes:
* Birth month herbs (Which one are you, I wonder?)
* The symbolism and uses of some of our favourite evergreens
* Christmas dinner table musings
* Tips for simplifying, beautifying and cosifying your home this holiday season
* Decorating traditions from listeners around the world
* Talk of advent candles
* How to make a winter flower garland with Bex Partridge
* A simply delicious recipe from Jess Elliot Dennison
* A thoughtful journalling invitation
* Get ahead tips and dates for your diary this week
With inspiration from @homesandgardensofficial @shegrowsveg @countrylivinguk @danuforest @laura_weir @annes.universe @botanical_tales @rossandrossgifts @jess_elliot_dennison @fogchaser @sarahravenperchhill @danninichollsmusic
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
🎄🎧Season 5 Episode 2 ✨The Christmas Present✨
Thursday, November 20, 2025 • Duration 53:13
In the old days, Christmas was much more about gathering and feasting after a long year than about gifts given and received, but in modern life Christmas shopping has become something of a frenzied affair for many, starting with the Black Friday sales and running all the way up to last minute panic buying on Christmas Eve. Not only is this stressful before Christmas, it make January harder when the credit card bill arrives.
This week’s episode of the Calm Christmas Podcast - Season 5 Episode 2: The Christmas Present - is an invitation to consider how best to allocate not only money, but also your time and attention this year. It includes:
* Reflections on how Christmas gifting has changed over the years
* A few ideas unusual homemade items and children’s book gifts
* A little bit of festive shopping humour ;-)
* Cosy talk about the rain, and respect for honey bees
* A mermaid adventure
* Some lovely wrapping-related Christmas crafting ideas
* The world’s simplest recipe for edible chocolate bark (makes a lovely homemade present)
* Get ahead tips and dates for your diary this week
Note: In our ‘Get Ahead Tips’ section I mention a descendant of Charles Dickens performing A Christmas Carol as a one-man show. I made an error, saying that Gerald Dickens is the author’s Great Grandson when in fact he is his Great Great Grandson. Apologies for that!
With inspiration from Clement Clarke Moore, @robbiewilliams @moneysavingexp @rhodri Judith Flanders, Maya Angelou, @freyanorth @auriolb Jill Barklem, CS Lewis, Ruth Simmons, @carolinarabei.illustration Josie George @porridgebrain @tomfletcher @sara.starling.voiceover Sir Peter Thornton, @leyla.kazim @mermaidexplorer @erinniimi Alan Connor, @kunze Laura Fleiter, @skyemcalpine @sibster @unicef @dickensshows @fogchaser
You can listen on Substack, Spotify or . You can also find more (specific!) mindful gift ideas in my book , as well as in the following earlier podcast episodes:
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
🎄🎧Season 5 Episode 1 ✨Do You Hear What I Hear?✨
Thursday, November 13, 2025 • Duration 56:59
The UK’s #1 favourite Christmas podcast is back for a fifth season of cosiness and calm, hosted by bestselling British author Beth Kempton. Here in Episode ‘Do You Hear What I Hear?’ we begin the new season of the Calm Christmas Podcast in Scotland, with the beautiful words of baker Flora Shedden, owner of Aran Bakery, which perfectly capture what us 'Keepers of Christmas' sense and love about this time of year - the contrast between the cold outdoors and the cosy inside, the warmth we try to bring to our homes, to our communities, the details we notice when we pause long enough to look and listen to what is happening in nature and so on.
We will share a hot cuppa and conversations about ease, joy, endings and new beginnings, and much more including:
· Gentle planning
· All about Advent Calendars
· A little bit of poetry
· A lot of love for birds
· A round up of podcast listeners’ favourite Christmas music recommendations
· Our old favourites – Nature, Wellbeing and Traditions Corners
· A viral Christmas poem written for you
· A warming soup recipe courtesy of Flora Shedden
· Get ahead tips
· Some lovely goodies for you
With inspiration from @florashedden @aranbakery Jane Struthers, Christopher Winn, Bing Crosby, The Harry Simeone Chorale, Guinness World Records, @alixklingenberg @fogchaser @angelaferrarofanning @jenchillingsworth @rspca_official
Enjoy!
Beth Xx
LINKS TO LOVELY THINGS
· Head to @bethkempton on Instagram for the chance to win our first festive book giveaway of the season, with prizes for you and a friend!
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
Details about The Calm Christmas Podcast with Beth Kempton, a podcast by Calm Christmas by Beth Kempton
* ❤️ Our final giveaway on Instagram @bethkempton (The prize includes a personalised signed copy of my book The Way of the Fearless Writer, a Made of Stars journal by Meera Lee Patel, a goals journal from Mal Paper, a Midori sticky note pad to capture your ideas for the new year, and a complimentary place on my online class Do What You Love: the life-changing e-course.
* ❤️ MOON+SHADOW - a beautiful one-day virtual winter writing retreat taking place on Sunday January 11, 2026. This is FREE to all members of my private writing community SoulCircle. If you aren’t a member yet you can join here (choose Monthly to try it out or Annual to get a lovely discount). If you are already a member you don’t need to do anything. I’ll be sending out more details soon.
* ❤️ Join me for a gorgeous live seven-week deep dive writing and Substack immersion INK+FLAME, which begins on January 26. You can get 30% off if you register here by January 12.
* ❤️ You can get a huge 30% off ALL my writing and personal development classes (or 50% off bundles of inspiring classes to guide you through the year) in my gratitude sale (on here until Monday January 12, 2026).
With inspiration from Ryokan Taigu, Calexico, Blackdown Shepherd Huts, Fog Chaser, Laura Pashby, Shaun Davey, the Natural History Museum, BBC Wildlife Magazine, Mark Diacono and Kate Trenchard. You can listen on iTunes/Spotify or here on Substack.
Wishing you peace and joy for these in-between days,
* Moon + Shadow one-day virtual writing retreat on January 11 (join from anywhere, FREE to all paid subscribers/members of my SoulCircle private writing community. If you are not a member yet you can join here).
I’ll be back on December 27th with Episode 8, The Deer’s Cry: Welcoming the Hush. Until then, may you have whatever kind of Christmas you want and need this year.
You can listen on iTunes/Spotify or here on Substack. I hope you absolutely love it.
Wishing you many blessings in this final full week before Christmas.
Beth Xx
LOVELY THINGS FOR YOU
* This week’s giveaway @bethkempton on Instagram - You could win copies of The Country Commonplace Book by Miranda Mills, Calm Christmas and a Happy New Year by Beth Kempton, Hold Nothing by Elena Brower and The Gifts of Winter by Stephanie Fitzgerald plus a place on my gentle writing course Words Heal). Enter here.
* Register for my Winter Writing Sanctuaryhere (it’s FREE!)
* Gratitude sale on all my courses extended over Christmas - get support to do what you love at dowhatyouloveforlife.com (30% off courses, 50% off bundles!)
* Christmas Cards and the Construction of Social Relations in Britain Today by Mary Searle-Chatterjee in Unwrapping Christmasedited by Daniel Miller p.176
* You can join my beautiful private writing community SoulCircle at bethkempton.substack.com/subscribe (choose Monthly to try it out or Annual to get a lovely discount)
INGREDIENTS for chocolate bark (this is a very loose ‘recipe’…)
One large bar of good quality cooking chocolate or eating chocolate (such as Cadbury’s Dairy Milk) – you can choose to go with one of milk / dark / plain or melt 2-3 different bars in different bowls and then swirl them together
Some toppings of your choice (such as a handful of pistachios, crushed walnuts, candied orange peel, crushed candy canes or popping candy – just look at commercially available chocolate bars for inspiration!)
If you would like to flavour the chocolate you could add a few drops of something like peppermint extract
· Winter Story by Jill Barklem (with gratitude to the person on Substack Notes who reminded me that the cosy version of my life is very much like a Brambly Hedge mouse)
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