Christmas traditions
These are my Christmas traditions, some older than others, but all equally as magical and festive as each other.
I will link my other blog post about Christmas activities at the bottom to add to your list of things to get you ready for Santa to shimmy down your chimney.
Christmas eve food
Now, Christmas Eve is the day to eat takeaway. Usually, we have a full English most of the time out somewhere, except in COVID-19, and then have supermarket pizza express pizzas for dinner, so there is less washing up and cooking for everyone involved.
A new bauble on the tree.
We add a new decoration to the family tree each year, where all the presents sit before the big day. I believe we have a 2020 Christmas decoration with the year on it, though we can all agree we wish to regret that year and erase it from our memory.
Christmas Carols
My mum joins the Christmas Carols at her local church, and each year, we are expected to attend the melodies, which are a candlelight event, though not a real candle, for help and safety. Even if you are not a Christian or have gone to church, I guarantee you know most of the songs they sing; it's genuinely festive, and you can leave before anyone corners you.
Christmas market: I wouldn't bark along too much as I have not stopped, but look at my Christmas market piece of recommendations. I always go to Wadderson with my mum, though this year we did not get our usual food, which we have gotten every year we have been going.
Winter Wonderland is the only time I swear I see one of my friends, but it is our massive catch-up. Each year, we say next year we will have boyfriends to come with us, but each year, there's no boyfriend in sight. Even if there were, it would still be our tradition of holding each other's hands, ice skating around, looking at all the couples, PDA being all romantic, and us just giggling at the cringe.
Another tradition that I had as a child was going to the panto. Now, I am not a fan of watching after Christmas, which does not feel like a proper traditional British event where we all go to see some comedy. Remember your lines… “He's behind you.” I did this with the brownies, guides, and maybe rainbows as a child, but also with my family.
I would not go to a place for a light walk, though I have been through one at a Christmas market. Some beautiful ones around the country work with local artists to bring a light show that is accessible and engaging for all age groups. At the end of the walk, there will likely be a bar and food for you to warm up with.
My Christmas activities post includes many Christmas traditions, including ice skating. Once, my primary school brought a plastic ice rink onto the playground, and we skated around. I have a photo of myself being held up by my friends.
Whether making mince pies, Christmas cake or pudding, or a gingerbread house, Christmas baking will make you festive and laugh when your roof collapses because you put too many sweets on it.
Christmas cards: It saddens me that my generation is not one for them, even though I love them. Maybe that’s because I love receiving posts that make me feel important. However, I have a significant role in my house as the Christmas card opener, and if someone else does it, they are in trouble even if I am not mentioned by name on the card.
If you have young children, these are some traditions for hot chocolate, and Christmas films are fabulous for every age group. In my day, schools held Christmas fairs, so that’s where we got our parents gifts, or we went to the guides market, where there was a secret Santa. You bought a gift and got it wrapped to give to a parent, and the gift was reasonably priced, a standardised price for little children. Also, at these events, I saw Santa; though I knew the man who dressed up as Santa for my sc, this one is the bane of any parent with young children: the elf of the shelf. Whoever invented this has much to answer for, though my mum did not appreciate it as a child.
Advent calendars: One year, my parents forgot, and my dad had to rush to the store on November 30th. There was not a great selection, so we get ours early now. I also always get the cheap Cadbury one that seems more expensive with less chocolate, but the joy of Cadburys in the morning is the best. There’s been a boom in brands doing beauty advent calendars in recent years. I love the high-end Boots at £100 and the Next similar. This year, my friend has the ASOS face and beauty and loves it with brands like Philip Kingsley. Boots has a cheaper skincare product at £50 if you want something more affordable. If you are more of an older generation, I would go for the M&S one for your anti-wrinkle products as some of the products in others are directed to a young audience.
You can find any advent calendar, from puzzles to jams and gins. You can find a perfect early Christmas gift here or late at this point in the festive period, but they might be discounted about now.
Decorating the house is my job; it seems always to be put on me. My dad's a bit of a Scrooge and wouldn’t let me get the tree before December or even in the first week of December. But we put tinsel everywhere. It's a very colourful house with a niche singing Christmas tree. I usually decorate my room before this. It used to be on the 1st of December, but I did it earlier to cheer myself up this year after Storm Bert cancelled a Christmas market I was booked to go to. The more tacky, the better. We have a singing Christmas tree, which my mum hates, which makes it more enjoyable for my dad and me.
Christmas shopping.
Now my mum loves me to buy my Christmas presents and for her to pay me back. Or she is sending me a link, girl, and I’ll buy it so she knows it is something we want, and she gets the wrong one. She doesn’t want a meltdown on Christmas, though Santa has never brought me that hamster I asked for for years as a child.
Christmas day tradition
Now everyone has that Christmas day tradition. If that's what type of presents Santa brings, the principal presents or little bits, every family's day is different, so this is mine.
When we woke up, my brother and I used to go into our parents' bed and open our stockings, but now his hangover is too much, so he wakes up at the last minute.
We then have a feast for breakfast, normally pastries and fruit. If you're lucky not to be pre-diabetic like my Dad, it’s human birdseed for breakfast.
After that, if we have time, we open some parental presents, but as we get old and sleep earlier, we don’t usually do this.
Next up is a quick trip to Church.
We then opened our big main presents while eating some pigs in blankets, but don’t worry—there were still some for our lunch.
Now, this is controversial, but my family doesn’t like turkey. It's dry, so we prefer a three-bird roast. There is considerable debate about what meat we get. One year, we had chicken.
We then return to the sofa around the Christmas tree, open my gifts, and maybe go on a quick walk or watch a film. In most cases, it takes us a while to pick one we all like and haven’t already watched. It is a mission.
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