UK/US Christmas Traditions

[*Emma*]

Re: UK/US Christmas Traditions

I just tried to look up how much turkey costs here but its not on sale yet so i cant... but i can guarantee its twice as much as what everyone else pays LOL

[julirama723]

Re: UK/US Christmas Traditions

The christmas light thing...

What I've noticed is that some "nice" houses *do* decorate, and some don't. Just as some trashy houses decorate, and some don't. The difference is the elegance of the display. Nice houses usually have clear lights, or nice garlands, or single color strands (like blue lights, or red lights, etc.) whereas the tacky houses have santa's sleigh on the roof, mis-matched sets of lights from 1983, wooden reindeer feeding in the grass, giant candy canes sticking out of the yard like javelins, and 3 inflatable snowglobes on the lawn.

I will say that Michigan (or at least my area) had more decorators than Montana (or at least my area of MT) has. Not that I mind...I'm not one for putting up external decorations, personally, though I loved it when my dad would do it when I was a kid.

With my family, Christmas Eve is the "fun" night--we would all meet up at my grandmother's house, all of her children, siblings, and grandchildren, to exchange presents and have a big feast. Christmas Day was spent with immediate families, and was very low key. Mainly it consisted of eating, watching movies, and laying around in pjs. When my grandmother died, my immediate family still kept the 24th as the big day. We would go to mass, then come home for a late Christmas feast, and then we'd open our presents, usually staying up until 3am or something. The next day we slept in, ate leftovers, and did a whole lot of nothing.

When I was in college, my boyfriend and I would go to my family's house on Christmas Eve, and his family's house on Christmas Day. Now that my boyfriend and I have moved 2000 miles away from home, Christmas has become the "big" day. One year we had a nice romantic dinner, last year we spent the day with friends. We open our presents on that day, play games, feast, and talk to our families on the phone.

[Labarum]

Re: UK/US Christmas Traditions

Scholarly note:

The abbreviation Xmas for Christmas is not what it seems. The "X" is a Chi from the Greek alphabet - the first letter of Christ in Greek

χ ρ ι σ τ ο ς

---

Christmas starts at midnight on Christmas Eve and ends (maybe) on 12th night, 6 January - The Feast of the Epiphany where the Bible story remembered is that of the coming of the Wise Men. More anciently, and still in the Greek Tradition, the Epiphany celebrates the Baptism of Christ by John the Baptist 30 years or so after his birth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphany_(Christian)

But maybe Christmas lasts 40 days and ends on 2 February, Candlemas, properly called the Presentation of Christ in the Temple or the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candlemas

[TitianWasp]

Re: UK/US Christmas Traditions

Ha ha - Learning, my husband is from L.A. He threatened me with that snowglobe again last night!

I definitely relate to being someplace different for the holidays. Keep your chin up.

[apple]

Re: UK/US Christmas Traditions

Sounds like some awesome Christmas/holiday traditions!

We usually dig out our Advent candles and celebrate Advent. But I slacked off my part of the job this year with my studies. We barely just got the tree up!

We'll spend Christmas Eve with a ton of extended family, eat dinner, exchange gifts, and then head to the candle light service at church where we take up about 3 rows. Christmas morning we spend the morning with just our family of 4 opening presents, drinking coffee, making phone calls, and then head over to more family's house (like we just don't have enough time to spend on Christmas Eve, we have to go see them again on Christmas Day). I have a great family, but most of them are a like a bad girl friend...if you don't call them all the time or visit them, they hound you to death with guilt trips and leave tons of messages....ugh..

Except this year Hubby's thinking of doing something different...it may cause a ripple effect within the family when they realize we don't show up on Christmas Day...forbid that we ever start different traditions and instead have fun rolling down snow! Woo hooo!

He wants one of those giant, blow-up snow globes. My grandmother would roll over in her grave.

You should see my neighbor's front yard. We have this neighbor that we like to call "lawnmower man" because he rides his lawn mower up and down the street in the summer time (he races his lawn mower)....okay, so I'm not doing well expelling the myth that most American's are rednecks.

Any ways... LM man and his wife decorated their front lawn and house that puts Clark Griswald to shame in the movie "Christmas Vacation". I'd sneak a picture, but I'd probably get caught by the neighborhood granny-police.

[sadie147]

Re: UK/US Christmas Traditions

Any ways... LM man and his wife decorated their front lawn and house that puts Clark Griswald to shame in the movie "Christmas Vacation". I'd sneak a picture, but I'd probably get caught by the neighborhood granny-police.

This thread make me think of that scene, Christmas vacation is right up there IMO as one of the best Christmas movies out there!! i never get tired of it.

I wanted to get some of the reindeer punch glasses that the griswalds had, off of ebay for my christmas party, until I saw they go for $350 a pair!! for punchglases!