Bell Homestead National Historic Site will be kicking off the holiday season with its first ever reading of Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ on Saturday, December 6, and Sunday, December 7, 2025.
The event, A Bell Homestead Christmas Carol, opens on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. with a walk through of the Bell’s 1870 home, fully decorated for a Victorian-era Christmas, and continues at 7 p.m. with an adapted reading of the classic holiday tale. On Sunday, the walk through will take place at 1:30 p.m., followed by the reading at 2 p.m.
“David Jones, who is a member of the band Pleasant Ridge and a former English teacher at Brantford Collegiate Institute, has adapted the original tale into a reading that, believe it or not, all of us at the homestead are taking part in,” said Brian Wood, Curator of the Bell Homestead. “It’s going to be a little bit different than you would typically expect because in between segments of the reading, are going to be songs performed by the band Pleasant Ridge. We will of course be having an intermission where people can pick up some goodies in our café, and then we’ll finish up with the second half of the reading after that.”
Wood said the inspiration to hold the reading comes from Melville Bell’s fondness for Dickens.
“Alexander’s father loved Charles Dickens,” he said. “At the homestead, we actually have his copy of ‘The Chimes,’ which was the next Christmas story that Dickens wrote after ‘A Christmas Carol,’ as well as some of his copies of the author’s other works in our museum collection. He would often do public recitations of Dickens out in the opera halls and the community halls and such.”
For those who are interested in attending the event, tickets are $15 each (tax included) and can be purchased by calling 519-756-6220 or by emailing bellhomestead@brantford.ca.
The Bell Homestead’s festivities continue throughout the month, with a Candlelight Christmas Celebration on Saturday, December 13, and Mrs. Bell’s Little Christmas Party on Sunday, December 14.
“The Candlelight Christmas Celebration is our annual tour of the homestead, and of course it will be decorated for the holidays. As in previous years, folks do need to pre-book their tour, as we allow a maximum of eight people per session. Tours begin on the hour at 5 p.m., 6 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.,” said Wood. “Admission is by donation and the café will be open that night as well. The tours are once again being led by the Brant County 4-H Bell Homestead Club, who will be in costume. And as guests go through the tour, we’ll have baking in the historic kitchen as always, and musical entertainment in the drawing room.”
“Now, the very next day on Sunday, we’re hosting Mrs. Bell’s Little Christmas Party, which we started last year as a daytime event so that the little ones who are too young to stay up for our candlelight tours, get a chance to come as well,” continued Wood. “It’s very much a family oriented event; we’ll have story time, children’s crafts for them to do and take home, baking in the historic kitchen, music in the drawing room, and if all goes well, Father Christmas will be there too. There’s no need to pre-book and again, admissions will be by donation and the café will be open too.”
Overall, the curator said he and the rest of the team are looking forward to all their events.
“This is our favorite time of year here. It’s when the homestead really kind of comes to life and it feels like the family is with us,” said Wood. “So everyone’s excited for the holiday season and it’s really a chance to celebrate what the homestead represents, in terms of the invention of the telephone, but also just the whole idea of getting together with family. This is the time of year that Alexander Bell would come back from Boston to spend time with his family so this was the time of year that his parents were super excited that he was coming home for the holidays.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
