As we close in on Christmas Day, Tarah and I chat about some of the British and Christmas traditions we grew up with.
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45 Comments
I used to hate mince meat pie, however my roommate's grandmother made a GLORIOUS minced meat pie every Christmas, and I agree we need to bring back the minced meat pie tradition, and get rid of fruitcakes.
I’m watching this video on the 12th Day/12th Night 4 years later. So I’m thinking you two should onto PBS and look for travel expert Rick Steves special on visiting Europe during Advent and Christmastide. It’s fun, sweet and actually interesting. P. S. Best non-trad Xmas film would be “Gremlins.” Followed by the Japanese anime film “Tokyo Godfathers.” Also, as a child, my parents would drive me around neighborhoods, then take the subway train into Boston to see city lights. I think this may have a secret plan to placate my need for Christmas without actually celebrating it. I didn’t see the Nutcracker until freshman year of college and some of us got tickets to see it at the Boston Ballet. Won’t lie; it was magical.
We got one (1!) gift Christmas Eve.
i celebrate the Anglo Saxon Yule
I love Tarah! More videos with your well-spoken, beautiful, informative wife pleeeez. BTW, I'm American and pretty much do asTarah mentions for Christmas. We used to visit family but now my husband and son stay home and enjoy ourselves instead of a hectic traveling day. Enjoy Christmas!
There had better be ham. "You'll shoot your eye out, kid."
Ogilvie Park, in Wheeling West Virginia, is/was an annual event. Christmas lights are a big thing in the US.
We set aside one gift for Christmas Eve that was always an ornament to commemorate the year. When my son got older and Santa wasn't the thing anymore I started hiding one good gift and made up a little scavenger hunt. Merry Christmas 🎄
Growing up in Texas, there were years where we would have a piñata.
After supper on Christmas Eve we'd eat everything but dessert then get dressed and go to Christmas Eve Communion service. Afterwards, Dad would announce we were going to drive around and look at lights which the kids would go paralytic screaming until he gave up and took us home.
We'd unwrap the tree presents then eat the dessert we didn’t get in the rush to get to church. Santa came that night but our presents weren't wrapped. We fought over who got the sofa figuring since it was bigger we'd get more!
Christmas morning we'd wake up early (except for the year both Santa and Mrs Claus had flu, fell asleep and almost overslept their duties. ) for Santa then my aunt and uncle would come over and my mother always had a special slice of ham she'd cut up and fry. For some reason my uncle and I fought over the piece with the bone! Who knows why. I'm no longer 7 and he's been gone probably 25 years!
I only get mince tarts at Thanksgiving………. 😉 My wife makes them.
Growing up in the USA west coast our tradition was midnight mass and we allowed one gift when we returned home. Christmas morning we were allowed our stocking wich would have been filled with fruit typically a bannana and 2 or 3 tangerines a little candy and a small cheap toy. This was to keep us occupied until our parents woke then breakfast this was usually scrambled eggs with ham and Tea Ring (a dough filled with raisins spice and chopped nuts arrainged into a ring with slits to make it possible to form a ring decorated with walnut halves and marichino cherries). Dinner was a rather large Turkey stuffed with a savory bread stuffing, cranberries, somesort of veggies, candied yams, mashed potatoes, sweet pickels, olives (I'm probably forgetting a thing or three). Dessert was typicaly pie options were typicaly pumpkin, mincemeat or apple each available with whipped cream or an imitation of that. We watched Christmas movies afterwards. We also watched Christmas movies, cartoons like Charlie Brown and the Grinch and Christmas specials usually musical think Andy Williams, Lawrence Welk, or some other popular group, these shows ran through December even some popular TV shows had specials such as the Waltons. My fondest memories of Christmas were in the 1960's and 1970's before you young people were born.
Fnaire here, using my husband's account.
I lived in Chile as a little kid and then South Africa when I was a slightly older kid. For us, Christmas came in the middle of a nice, hot summer. In Chile, we woulpd always have Christmas dinner at Tia Tia's and stuff ourselves full of Tex-Mex food. (Dad and Aunt Tia are originally from northern Mexico.) In South Africa, we would always have a shrimp barbecue. We lived north of Sun City, so fresh seafood was a rare treat. In South Africa, we sang all the songs about winter and snow, which seemed daft, but we did it. Dad loved to organize a big potluck at church. We had a big tree there with electric lights before the rest of the town had electricity. Instead of snowball fights, we had a pool party, the "pool" being the local watering hole. Gifts typically weren't extravagant, since we didn't have much money, but Mom and Dad always saw to it that me and my brother were happy.
No opening gifts till after breakfast.
One of the five siblings would play Santa and give the gifts out one at a time.
The pets got wrapped gifts also.
Then usually driving to one of the grandparents for a huge dinner.
It was swell being 10 years old, im here to tell ya.
The sound of music is not very Christmasy…
Loved having your wife included?
I love mince pies.
We got a book on Christmas Eve.
I love Christmas crackers, but not the "pop". The silly riddles are fun. And I love the hats. And when we were younger, the scramble under the table for the token that went flying out of the cracker.
Do you still put a sixpence in the Christmas pudding for good luck to whom finds it?
i watch a lot of lost in the pond ……. you guys work great together in this episode
We have a lot of People from Puerto Rico here in South Florida and they have a Christmas drink called coquito (pronounced cokito). As with a lot of these things there are various recipes, but the one i love is made with 1 can of coconut cream, 1 can of coconut milk, 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, and as much rum as you want, plus cinnamon or nutmeg if you so desire.
6:30 You don't actually eat the fruitcake, you use it as a doorstop all year long and then give it as a gift to someone else next Christmas. The then use it as a doorstop all year and repeat the process, so over the course of your lifetime you may get your fruitcake back several times.
I'm from New Mexico. We set out luminarias (candles sitting in sand inside a brown paper bag) on Christmas Eve to outline our sidewalks and house walls.
I’m catching this video 3 years later. Our family accidentally created a new family tradition of eating at a Mexican restaurant on Christmas Eve. It’s important to know that we are Scottish/Irish/Polish. When our kids were about 4, I loaded them in the car while my husband brought the gifts up from the basement. We went out to eat and the only place open and not crowded was a Mexican restaurant we had never eaten at. We enjoyed our meal and returned home to find that Santa had brought our gifts early! Amazing! A year later it’s Christmas Eve and our now 5 year old asks when we are going out for Mexican dinner. When the younger of the two turned 3 the following year she started asking when we’d be going out for Mexican dinner. So here we are, my girls are 13 and 15 and yes, we still eat at the same restaurant on Christmas Eve. But now, the kids put the gifts under the tree while I wait in the car.
Die Hard is NOT a Christmas movie. Is any movie made near a tree an Arbor Day movie? Think about it.
One of the many traditions our family had was Mom made a Raisin pie for Dad . He discovered this pie at the New York Central Railroad kitchen. One time I heard time I heard him say he didn't want anyone eating HIS pie.. one year when
I was given the responsibility tof baking all pies(pumpkin,cherry apple and the Raisin Pie.) I made sure Dad saw me put HIS Raisin Pie in the oven . But when it came out I showed him a tiny pie.. I sad
"Oh dear it shrunk!" Had him ina Rile for a minute!😂
My maiden name is Nowell. I understand it's British?
Grew up on East Coast, and like Tara, we got ONE gift to open Christmas Eve. Christmas morning we could get our stockings and open them on their beds, and when parents got up, the rest was opened. Christmas Eve was cookie making, decorating the tree so it was brand new the next morning, hot cocoa, and pigs in the blankets to snack on with cookies whilst tree trimming. And for the reindeer we put out carrots and oats. Then when I was 7, my parents divorced and she got snared into a religious cult Jehovah's Witnesses, so from 7-17 NO holidays OR birthdays were ever celebrated, per their rules. I left home after 10 years of that and started celebrating my butt off ever since.
We had a nice dinner on Christmas eve and then opened up our presents. We also went to midnight church. CHRISTMAS DAY was for enjoying Santa gifts. Then enjoying a 13:15 huge mid-afternoon dinner with relatives.
Is she taller than your 6'1" self?
Our Christmas Eve evening was spent at our Christmas Eve candle service which ended with a beautiful candle dance, and the congregation singing Silent Night when the whole congregation held up individual candles on each chorus. It is so incredibly beautiful!! At some time on Christmas Eve, we also made sure to watch the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” When the kids were little we left out cookies for Santa, but we usually didn’t open any gifts on Christmas Eve. We did that on Christmas morning. We used to have a formal Christmas dinner on Christmas Day, but changed to a more relaxed Christmas buffet, which was definitely a positive change for all.
I love your sweaters 😍 💕 We need to see your wife more often 😃
My wife is from VA so once we had kids it was pjs and a Christmas story book
We would open one gift or an out of town gift Christmas Eve. We did pretty much what Tara did, always got pajamas (Christmas theme).
on the crackers, you normally have to pull the little brown tag hidden in the ends
For one reason we usually have to go back to work the day after Christmas which is just crazy. In WI we put brandy in our egg nog it's delicious. We also had Tom and Jerry's which was a hot water drink with brandy or whiskey and a dairy mix similar to egg nog but I think it was frozen. Can't remember since it's been so long since I've had it?
Lethal Weapon and Die Hard 2 are also great Christmas movies. Die Hard is my favorite Christmas movie.
Yup we could open 1 gift on Christmas Eve, but not every year it depended on if mom was in a good mood. We did not watch TV, we went to an evening church service then went to grandma's for a cold supper, talk, have some cookies then go home and go to bed.
Tarah you hair is quite lovely. I feel like I know you from something else but I can't remember what? Where you a performer when you were younger?
The BEST eggnog is Braum's. Very creamy and very rich, but truly the best tasting, with or without booze.
My mom made preserved mincemeat. She would make some with meat and some without. She made pies.delicious.
My mom was Italian and she always made minced pies (mince meat – not sure that’s how you spell it) which I recall having lots of dried fruit, raisins, currents, nuts. I make pecan pie at Christmas instead.
My Mother made a mincemeat pie every Christmas and ended up eating it all by herself because none of us (8 kids) would eat it after the first time having it. Yuck! Sorry Lawrence.
We also opened one gift on Christmas Eve, Christmas movies, Church. Christmas morning open presents at least 3 a piece, Christmas dinner.
The kids in my family are long grown up but my parents still stuff stockings for each other and for my sister and I when we're there. The cats also get stockings. I've never known a cat to turn down treats or cat toys because it's not traditional.
the wife is wonderful,
Still do mince pies for Thanksgiving and mince meat cookies for Christmas