This is how Christmas looked 100 years ago

Everything was a little different at Christmas time 100 years ago. Or was it? We didn't have television or the internet. The average life expectancy was below 65.But at this time of year, we were pretty much doing all the same things.

That last minute Christmas shop? Just as hectic.

Santa delivering gifts? Sure, but he was slimmer and a little scary.

Image captionFather Christmas arriving at the Arding and Hobbs store in Clapham Junction, London, 1926

In fact, Santa's outfit has gone through a few different incarnations before the big-belted figure in red and white that we know today.

Hoods and cloaks used to be far more fashionable for Santa. Or Father Christmas. Or St Nick.

Santa is thought to be based on St Nicholas, who was the Bishop of Myra in the 4th Century. Bishops used to wear red and white.

In pagan times the mysterious figure of St Nick represented the coming of spring and wore a long green hooded cloak and a wreath of holly, ivy or mistletoe.

Image caption20 November 1931: Father Christmas delivering presents to the Children's Aid and Adoption Society at Leytonstone

Image captionReading with Santa, 1915

Image caption1925: A Christmas party at Queens Hospital, Bethnal Green

Christmas shopping!

You either love it or hate it.

But even when the population was smaller (in the UK in 1910 it estimated at 40m compared with 69m today), things were still busy. Very busy.

Image captionYou thought John Lewis was bad. This is last minute shopping in Petticoat Lane, east London, in 1946

Image captionThis is 1905. Nobody is trying to buy a hoverboard

Image captionHang on, I just saw that child in Debenhams...

Image captionOxford Street, defeating shoppers since December 1936

Toys looked pretty cool back then too...

Image captionToy cats and dogs at a Christmas Bazaar, 1911

We want a toy dog or teddy! Or this antique micro-scooter...

Image captionWhen self-balancing scooters didn't pose an imminent risk to the user

Meccano sets were big news 100 years ago. You can still buy them today. It's like Lego for people who want to become structural engineers.

Image captionShoppers look at a display of toys made by Meccano in the toy department of Whiteleys store in Bayswater, 1919

People used actual socks for Christmas stockings...

Some sock purists still do today - but most go for a suspiciously larger bit of fabric for incoming gifts.

And Christmas cards were HUGE business...

Image caption22 December 1916: Sacks of Christmas mail piled up at Waterloo Station, London

With new and cheaper stamps being introduced in the 1870s, lots of people began to send Christmas cards.

Image captionRoyal Mail employees working to deal with the Christmas post in a makeshift sorting room at St Pancras Baths, 1913

Christmas cards were pretty out there in Victorian times.

People still bought turkeys, just not always from the supermarket

Image captionDisplay of turkeys for Christmas in a shop window 1919

People still dressed up their dogs, though...

And used mistletoe when they wanted a kiss.

Image captionThese porters get a bit of snogging practice at the Southern Railways Nine Elms depot in 1937

Image captionKissing under the mistletoe on board the HMS Wakeful at Portsmouth in 1955

Awwww...