A family experiences Christmas as it would have been 150 years ago, while historians and experts provide historical background and revealing insights into the era. The programme charts the transformation of Christmas over the course of the Victorian era as it went from 12 days of feasting, drinking and partying to a far more family-friendly celebration focused on Christmas Day. Later, the modern-day family work their way through a Victorian Christmas to-do list, as they prepare to celebrate the big day as their 19th century ancestors would have.