A festive public reading of 'The Snowman' and 'The Grinch Who Stole Christmas' for all ages, with hot cocoa and a Christmas craft per ticket.
Gladstone's Land is hosting a public reading of The Snowman and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas on Tuesday 1 December, from 1:00 pm to 1:45 pm. It's part of their 'Christmas at Gladstones Land' collection, a cosy winter afternoon session for all ages. The idea is simple: bring along your favourite blanket, settle in, and sip hot cocoa while the stories are read aloud. Each ticket includes the cocoa and a Christmas craft to make on the day.
Two of the best-known Christmas stories ever written are the stars here, both by their original authors. Raymond Briggs published The Snowman in 1978 as a wordless book of more than a hundred soft-pencil panels, leaving the words out so it could be read in any language. It contains no Father Christmas and no presents. The Grinch, by Dr Seuss (Theodor Geisel), came in 1957 as a rhythmic, rhyming tale of a green recluse who discovers that Christmas doesn't come from a store. Briggs died in 2022 and was famously grumpy about the commercialisation of Christmas, a sentiment that sits comfortably alongside the Grinch's own early views on the season.
The venue itself is worth a mention. Gladstone's Land is one of the oldest buildings on the Royal Mile and one of the city's oldest tenements, so you're sitting inside 400 years of Edinburgh history while you listen. It's a good spot for a quiet afternoon in the middle of the city.
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Tickets start from £9 for children, and the whole thing runs for 45 minutes on Tuesday 1 December, from 1:00 pm to 1:45 pm, at Gladstone's Land, 477B Lawnmarket, Royal Mile, Edinburgh EH1 2NT.
