Victorian Christmas - Tumblr Posts

Ooh okay so I’ve been thinking, and hear me out. I know Spike has adapted and become pretty thoroughly modern and Punk Rock and all that, but never forget that, as a human, he was a Victorian gentleman. So, I like to imagine that every once in a while, he does these random little Victorian things, like sending Buffy a truly weird Christmas card like one of the above or wanting to tell a spooky Christmas Eve ghost story. 

Granted, in life, proper little aspiring Romantic Poet* William said he didn’t like to discuss “dark, ugly business”^ such as the “rash of disappearances” that had been going around town (spoiler alert: the ones caused by the vampires that were soon to turn him, but I digress) so maybe that suggests he wasn’t the biggest fan of the Christmas Eve ghost story before his turning--although it’s also possible he simply wasn’t big on true crime (nor the people telling it, since they often made fun of his poetry) but he was still down for a spooky story enchantingly spun on a dark night by the fireplace; I know we don’t get a ton of pre-turn William--but either way, after becoming a vampire and thus becoming into Dark, Edgy Things, I’m convinced he would have loved a scary Christmas Eve ghost story, and I like to imagine he carried that forward with him even after getting into the Ramones and Nirvana and hair dye. And whatever Passions is; I should really look that up. Huh, I guess it’s basically just a soap opera. But in any case, we know the guy likes to tell a good spooky story, like that time when Dawn comes to visit him and he’s regaling her with his own gruesome exploits, so we know he has a talent for suspenseful tale-telling. Even after getting his soul back, I don’t think that storyteller aspect of him goes away (although he probably prefers fictional stories to his personal history now). 

So, one year, Buffy gets a Christmas card with an illustration of Santa stuffing a kid into his sack or frogs falling on ice, and on the back there’s an invitation to Christmas Eve ghost stories in Spike’s crypt (does he move back into a crypt? I’m just into season 7 now and he’s living at Xander’s at the moment but I do still picture him in his crypt) and anyways I miiight have to write this fic now if I can get around to it. As much as I love punk rock Spike, I still want him to be a little Victorian sometimes :)  

*I know he’s technically from after the Romantic Era proper--he was born shortly after it ended if you take Wikipedia’s end date of 1850 and consider that he was I think 26 when he was turned in 1880 (which is firmly in the Victorian era)--but I still feel like Romantic Poet is what he was aspiring to be.

^I looked up a transcript for the quotes; thanks go to this site

P.S. Along these lines, I’ve also been thinking about whether Spike would go Christmas Caroling. I do very much doubt that soulless vampire Spike ever would, but I’m fairly confident that pre-turn William would do it happily; so, my question is, would now-reensouled Spike be willing to go caroling, or would he still be too Edgy? These are the real questions about Buffy’s soul lore we should be asking, haha. 

Victorian Christmas cards were bonkers

The more I think about Victorian Christmas traditions and Spike, the more I wonder whether this may’ve been a Christmas party. It probably isn’t, given the lack of Christmas decorations, and I suppose there are plenty of other occasions for which Victorians might throw a party, but I still enjoyed the thought of it being one as I imagined it yesterday. (Also, even if it isn’t one, I’m quite sure Mr. William Pratt would’ve also gone to Christmas parties, and they probably would’ve looked a lot like this but perhaps with a few more pine boughs and red ribbons.)

I also recently discovered this podcast from the Weird Christmas blog, which has fit well with the cravings for Victorian Christmas traditions Spike's awakened in me. I already talked about Spike and Christmas ghost stories, in this post and a bit more in my tags on my reblogs of that podcast on blagueofchaos, but another thing mentioned in that podcast was Victorians playing hide and go seek at a Christmas party. I would just like you to join me in imagining sweet little William the Bloody playing hide and go seek at a fancy Victorian high society Christmas party. 

I just... I really love pre-turn Spike and thinking about him and Victorian-ness and Christmas things. 

William “Spike” Pratt | Fool for Love (5.7)

winter wonderland .⋆｡⋆🎄˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆.