Front Cover:-  'Christmas and New Year' by Alan Morris. I have tried to represent the two year end events in a simplistic illustration. 

Christmas Pudding:- Originated as a 14th century "porridge" called frumenty that was made by boiling beef and mutton with fruits, wines and spices. More like soup this was eaten as a fasting dish in preparation for the Christmas festivities. By 1595 frumenty was evolving into plum pudding, having been thickened with eggs, breadcrumbs, dried fruit and the addition of ale and spirits. The Puritans, in 1664, banned it as a "lewd custom" It was George I who, having tasted and enjoyed plum pudding, re-established it as part of the Christmas feast in 1714. By Victorian times Christmas puddings had evolved into something which looked similar to the ones enjoyed today.
See:- http://www.primary-networks.com/wickham/celebrations/xmas/pudding.html

Great Clock of Westminster:- Sir Edmund Becket designed the clock, it was built by Messrs E.J. Dent & Co. and completed in 1854. The name Big Ben refers to the large cracked bell struck by the clock rather than the clock itself. Millions of people listen out for the midnight chime of Big Ben to herald in the New Year.
See:- http://www.whitechapelbellfoundry.co.uk/bigben.htm