A is for Advent Services
Riley's school hosted a special Advent service this year, known as a Christingle Service. Riley made a Christingle symbol (that I accidentally threw away before photographing because I did not understand the significance although her explanation was right on. Oops.) So the Christingle was essentially an orange wrapped in red ribbon stabbed with tooth picks with dried fruits on the ends with a candle wrapped in tinfoil stuck in the middle of the orange. Now do you see why I didn't get it? Well, it turns out that the orange represents the world, the red ribbon represents Jesus' blood, the fruit represents the fruits of the Earth, and the candle represents Jesus Christ as the light of the world. Pretty sweet. Here's a photo from the Christingle service. Riley even read a line during the service--"The fruit and nuts remind us of all God's good gifts."
B is for Boxing Day
December 26th is a bank holiday here in England known as Boxing Day. It actually has nothing to do with the sport of boxing and originated because boxes would be used to collect money for the needy. I am told that this is a shopping holiday (my ears perked up at the comparison to Black Friday). There is even a Cyber Boxing Day event. Since we were headed to London on Boxing Day, I made sure to check out the happenings for Boxing Day...for blog research purposes, of course. ( :
C is for Christmas Crackers
Christmas Crackers are a big deal here. Riley told my mom we had Christmas Crackers tonight on the phone and nearly died laughing when Grammy asked if they were yummy. Christmas Crackers are cardboard tubes wrapped up to look like giant pieces of candy. It is pulled apart by two people (like a wishbone) and splits open with a loud cracking sound. Inside is a little toy (today we got a top, 2 tiny dice, a really small protractor and a tiny stick game), a riddle (printed like a Chinese fortune), and a special hat to wear during dinner. Here are the girls modeling their hats. It is safe to say that they LOVE Christmas Crackers...Riley first saw them during a Christmas Lunch at school and wants to have them with breakfast, lunch and dinner ever since. We have had to ration our crackers and hide many a small toy before Lyla ingests it.
D is for Decorations
People here seem to decorate their homes for Christmas but there are alot less outdoor Christmas lights. We've only seen one or two houses with a simple strand of lights. People do put lights on their Christmas tree, along with baubles, as Riley now calls Christmas ball ornaments.
E is for Eve
Like in the US, many people attend church services on Christmas Eve. In addition, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carol is broadcast on radio throughout the UK and across the world from Kings College Cambridge. We celebrated with other Americans at a fun Open House where Father Christmas even made an appearance!
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| Still pretty afraid... |
F is for Father Christmas
Santa Claus is usually called Father Christmas here, although everyone knows what you mean when you say Santa. Whatever you call him, Lyla is still afraid of him! Our elf, Carlos, did leave us a very funny book on his last night here called "Father Christmas Needs a Wee". Lyla thinks it is very funny that mommies at toddler group always ask their kids, "Do you need a wee?" so we found this book especially funny. Riley has read it to Lyla at least ten times already...and we only got it yesterday!
G is for Grotto
Kids here visit Father Christmas in his grotto, which seems to be a little alcove where Santa hangs out with his elves. As I mentioned in a previous post, children do NOT sit on Santa's lap for the token screaming photo. Instead, kids have a chat with Santa (usually standing across from him) and get a present when they leave. This is a new thing for us because Santa in the States usually promised great things for Christmas morning or passed along a candy cane but not gifts. Hooray for Father Christmas and his grotto!
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| Santa's Grotto at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland |
H is for Happy Christmas!
I had never heard Happy Christmas before we got here but here it seems Happy Christmas and Merry Christmas are used equally as often. Lots of Christmas cards even say Happy Christmas....just sounds different even though it means the same thing!
I is for Ignite!
Dessert here is always called pudding (I'm not sure what actual pudding is called) and Christmas has its own special pudding called...you guessed it! Christmas pudding! I think this is the same thing as Plum Pudding. You'll read more about Christmas Pudding and its preparation when we get down to S but I will tell you that it is decorated with holly, doused with brandy and ignited or flamed! That is some serious Christmas pudding! We did not partake in making Christmas pudding this year but Wayne did try it and was not impressed. Maybe next year...
J is for Jelly
Riley thought it very important that we include this one so that you all know that jelly here does not mean what you mix in your pb & j! Jelly here means jello (I believe it caused Riley some initial confusion during lunch at school when people asked if she wanted jelly for pudding. Whoa!). So she wanted everyone to know that jelly is sometimes offered as a Christmas pudding and it means red or green jello. Got it?
K is for Kilted Sausages
A kilted sausage is a mini sausage wrapped in bacon and is more commonly referred to as a Pig in a Blanket. Very confusing for me since I think pig in a blanket and think of tiny hot dogs in yummy crescent roll. Nope. Sausage in bacon. Sounds like Wayne's idea of heaven! So I heard kilted sausage and really like that term as it is much less confusing.
L is for Lucky
So going back to Christmas pudding, there is another trick to baking or eating them that we will share. When baking, you're supposed to add coins or other trinkets to the cake and whoever finds them gets to keep them. I am so unlucky that I would probably choke! Definitely not a dessert for Lyla! I even read that some people have little family tradition trinkets (a horseshoe charm for good luck, ring for love, thimble for work, button for new clothes, coin for wealth). I am not sure how many people actually do this but I am intrigued!
M is for Mince Pies
This was the easiest letter of all! The British LOVE their mince pies! I must admit that I really thought they contained meat and was pleasantly surprised to find out that they are are made with dried fruit, sugar, spices and brandy. We have all tried these since they are EVERYWHERE...they are associated with Christmas here like cookies are in the States. Kids here even leave them for Santa (no cookies or biscuits for Santa in England!) Apparently they also leave sherry instead of milk, but we only found that out after Christmas. We left mince pie and cookies since we weren't sure what Santa would expect from us. We think he was happy because he ate them all...and his reindeer ate all but a little nub of the nine carrots Riley left. Success!
N is for Nordmann Fir
The most popular type of Christmas tree in England, it looks pretty different from the trees we were used to. The tops of the trees look the most different to us...judge for yourself!
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| The Nordmann Fir |
O is for Outdoor Markets
There are wonderful outdoor Christmas markets all throughout England that feature yummy food, mulled wine, and Christmas shopping. We visited a big German Christmas Market in Birmingham this year, along with the local Cheltenham Christmas Market. We also visited the Winter Wonderland market/fair in Hyde Park while we were in London, which was huge and had an ice rink and rides. I LOVE rides and so do the girls so it was great!
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| Birmingham Christmas Market |
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| At Hyde Park Winter Wonderland |
P is for Pissup Parties
Wayne contributed this one to our list but I confirmed via the internet. Ha! Apparently these are holiday parties involving an abundance of drinking. Good to know.
Q is for the Queen's Afternoon Message
The Queen does a national address at 3:00 on Christmas afternoon. You can watch this year's below. Enjoy!
R is for Reindeer
Obviously reindeer are from the North Pole but we have seen a bunch of controversy lately over a British retailer who is selling pate reindeer meat. Read all about the drama. Poor Rudolph...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2074988/Harvey-Nichols-sell-tinned-Reindeer-meat-Christmas-delicacy.html
The British celebrate Stir Up Sunday on the last Sunday before the start of Advent. On this day people traditionally mix up their Christmas pudding, giving it plenty of time to sit until Christmas. The whole family takes turns stirring the pudding and making a wish.
T is for Theatre
A very big thing here is to visit the panto with your family during the Christmas season. Panto story lines are usually based on traditional children's stories and the plot is adapted to add comedy. Some of the male parts are played by females and vice versa and there's alot of double entendre, making the story interesting for kids and adults! The audience participates in the show and it is overall great fun. Jack and the Beanstalk was playing in Cheltenham but we missed it and are going to see Peter Pan in Bristol, starring David Hasselhoff as Captain Hook.
U is for Unwrap
Lots of things may be different here, but people still wrap their presents up in wrapping paper and everyone has lots of fun unwrapping them!
V is for Vivacious School Performances
One of my favorite parts of this holiday season was visiting Riley's school for her Christmas show. It is strange to think that virtually all schools here, including state schools, put on religious Christmas productions, often incorporating the nativity. This is very different from the school productions I'm used to in the US. Riley was a beautiful Christmas tree in her school show. Wasn't she cute?
W is for Wassail & Wine
We couldn't pick just one for this one! We thought you should know that caroling is known as wassailing here & mulled wine (a hot spiced wine) is a very popular drink for the holiday season.
X is for Kisses
In the US, I was familiar with the concept of writing XOXO to represent hugs and kisses but, while this was widely understood, it didn't seem to be widely used apart from children and teenagers. Here, people write X or XX in closing of an email, card or text message. I'm told it means kisses but is a way of closing out a message with love. Sweet but confusing if you're not familiar with the custom! I noticed alot of x's on Riley's Christmas cards from her classmates.
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| Riley's note reads: "For all of the elfs. Love from Riley" Overlook the misspelled elves and check out the many Xs... (Love from is popular here too) |
Y is for Yule log
People eat log shaped cake at Christmas time known as Yule Logs. I've seen them on restaurant menus and in grocery stores. Apparently they were originally named after the large, hard log known as the Yule Log that was burned in the fireplace for Christmas. They look pretty yummy! We will have to try one of these next year!
Z is for Zzzz
Christmas is exhausting and learning all these new customs has been pretty tiring! We were very excited to celebrate our first Christmas here in the UK and were excited to see that celebrations here were actually very similar with a few fun new surprises! As you can see, everyone was wiped out from all of the fun!
We missed all of our family and friends this Christmas but did have a very nice time here in England throughout the entire holiday season! Merry Christmas everyone!
