Ep. 88: The Women Who Carry Christmas

Everyone loves Mrs. Claus—quiet, domestic, eternally supportive. In the first half of this episode, we break down how she became the perfect Victorian woman: stuck in the private sphere, doing all the work, and getting none of the credit. Then we get into Catherine Dickens, the real-life Mrs. Claus behind A Christmas Carol, and how Charles Dickens built a legacy while burning her reputation to the ground. Turns out the “ideal wife” only thrives in fiction—and even then, she’s exhausted.