Comparing British and American Christmas Traditions 

I hope someone gets him some vegetables

@@emberhermin52 Let's not get carried away with that health fad...

At our house Santa got chocolate covered cherries and a Bud Light. Dad had terrible taste in beer, lol. We also left carrots and apples for the reindeer.

He gets whisky and a deep fried Mars Bar in Scotland... I don't feel like we're helping 😂😂😂

I think of all the traditions that was the best. My family was large. The've all scattered to different states. This year we, being Mexican-American, i spent 3 days making beef tamales. They were wonderful!

This was delightful to read. May your mom's traditions be carried on. What a lovely lady 👩

@@s.v.2796 oh those sound delicious 😋

Bless your dear sweet mama's heart. I worked at a HUGE law firm in Los Angeles. Many of the staff were single and had NO family near L.A. The Personnel Director, actually invited ALL of them to her house for Thanksgiving and Christmas and Easter!!!

Wow, what an awesome tradition!

Mine too

@@michimelody4036 Me three. One present could be opened after midnight mass, all the rest were opened on Christmas day.

Same here. Pajamas or nightgown was one, and then a selected one - either a book or a quiet game. In the morning - everything else.

@@jeandiatasmith4512 As children it was a really cute Christmas nightgown or pajamas. As adults it's usually something we just can't wait to give another member in the family. Or funny pajamas.

My mom’s side did, my dad’s didn’t. So we ended up doing it some years-especially if we had pajamas to open-but not in others.

My Mom did that with the wrapping paper too. She said that to save time, Santa had given all our gifts to her directly and asked her to wrap them for him. I sort of believed her..

@@amydufresne5137 ?

Lovely. I love going to church at Christmas. Are you Lutheran?

My understanding is that the von Trapp family was very unpopular in Austria, because they basically ran out on their country when things started going downhill, while everybody else stuck it out.

@@goombabear Austria is mainly Catholic. The Lutherans are the majority in northern Germany.

@@JohnDoe-fu6zt If my memory serves me correctly, the reason why they fled was because Captain Von Trapp was going to be forced to serve the Nazis and he refused to do so on moral grounds, so they could not stay put in Austria or else they would be marked as traitors and then have to face the consequences. They were in a no-win situation, so they did the only thing that they could do, which was to flee. The average Austrian private citizen would not have been facing the same direct pressures from the high-ranking Nazi military leaders that Captain Von Trapp was facing and he was one of the few who opposed the Nazi Party.

@@susansparke3462 That's how Hollywood depicted it, anyway. It helps to look at it from a a post-war perspective, especially if you can't find Austria on a map. For Austrians of the time, it's not unreasonable to feel he refused to do his duty and ran out on his country and people.

You sound like you’re a wonderful mother! ♥️

My old mum used to put a generous slosh of either brandy or sherry into the custard for the pudding. (Hic!) By the way, what the 12th Doctor said about the last thing in a stocking. It's true, nobody likes the satsuma. 😁

_Days Gone By...._

Rih (Rest In Heaven)

Thanks, all, for the replies.

My mom made this too. I can make the hot sauce but don't have her plum pudding recipe.

Angela Bürkle , Some men are Baptist’s, others Catholics; my dad was an Oldsmobile man!! LOL

After I got married, my family watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and the 24 hours of "A Christmas Story" I live in Akron, Ohio which is about 30-35 miles south of Cleveland. The outside scenes of "A Christmas Story" were filmed here. Scenes like where he wins the leg lamp and where he goes outside to look at it. There were other scenes too. The shed and mailbox are still there. Someone stole the shed but eventually returned it 🤣 The parade and department store scenes were shot here too. The house is open for tours and has a gift shop. One year when my husband and I took our daughter and a friend, "Randy " was there signing autographs. The car in the movie is housed in a garage there and looks just like it did in the movie. Not cheap, but worth it.

"It's a major award!"

Still do!

YES!

I agree about White Christmas. Love watching it during the holiday season.

White Christmas and 34th Street.

I never liked White Christmas, but Holliday Inn is great. Unfortunately it can't be shown any more because of racially insensitive scenes.

Yes! My kids - 15 years and 5 year old twins - love that movie. We watch it several times around Christmas.

@@DavidSmith-kd8mw DVD... we have it and watch it every year. This is one reason folks should not do away with physical media!

Yeah-they should be aired back to back! (😏...)

There will never be another Alan Rickman.

@@trace9657 (😔 😢 Yeah...)

Die Hard is NOT a Christmas movie, it's a movie that takes place in December.

@@davedetroit6475 You are entitled to your incorrect opinion.

She has her own vlog. Although I don't know the name. I think he lists it.

I agree. He is BETTER with her. Much better!!!

Old fashioned af is her xhannel

They are adorable together. It would be cute if they would start a channel together exploring the differences in the cultures that they were brought up in. I mean I know that kind of is what he's doing here- but I would love her perspective on things. My uncle did the opposite, and married a lovely British woman. He stayed over there for the last 10 years of his life. Every time she came over to visit it was so neat to hear what they had to say about the differences in the lifestyle that eats have lived prior to meeting each other. They were clearly meant for each other and it was wonderful to see how they worked through the cultural differences. Not that it would be as much of a culture shock as other different nationalities getting together - my brother Michael is on track to marry a lovely Indian woman named Deepali sometime this year.... I am wondering how different it's going to be for her here.... from what I understand she lived in a rather affluent area in the northern part of India.

Laurence should have more videos with Tara (his wife)and Kafka (the cat)

Add Emmett Otter’s Jug Band Christmas....also the muppet guys

We watch the muppets Christmas Carol every year in December! It is our favourite, alongside national lampoon's Christmas vacation 😊

That’s what we did!

Same in my family.

Same here! Loved getting gifts both days

Same at our house

Me too

My grandmother made a lot of lefse at Christmas for her children and grandchildren . It was a real treat.

Us too!!!

Because of our Spanish heritage, Noche Buena is also our Christmas tradition in the Philippines. However it's mostly done at midnight on Christmas Eve.

Ha ha that is funny, but what is it that dad always does the same joke over and over.

Ha ha. Once my mom insisted that we open one package on Christmas Eve before going to church. My dad and I hated the idea, so we handed her the dumbest wrapped thing under the tree: a pack of AA batteries. Then he and I did not open anything.

My brother-in-law used to give my sister a mystery gift wrapped up in an entire roll of masking tape with the proviso that she must unwrap it with her teeth. After they had been married for a few years and had 2 kids he changed it over to duct tape and gave her permission to start using 1 hand since the kids might need attention.

Gotta love dad jokes!

Sounds like my husband's sense of humor. It was funny while we were dating.

Oh that’s so delightfully twisted!

This is the kind of thing my big sisters traumatized me with when I was little!

ROFLOL 🤣😂

Interesting. Are you English or from the US?

We also had nuts in their shells.

Same here with nuts in shells. Deep South

That was a tradition for American pioneer families, too, I think. Especially oranges, a rare treat. I associate both apple and orange scents with this time of year, because my family always made a point to have them around at the holidays.

In Canada in the 1950s & 1960s : Mandarin Oranges, nuts and chocolate coins

I allways watch that too. No other version for me. Alistair simm all the way.

Definitely! Alastair Sim WAS Scrooge (in fact, the UK title is "Scrooge")…far outclasses any other version, much closer in spirit to Dickens' tale.

@@JamesVaughan You know about the face in the mirror of course?

Yes I agree! Alastair Sim is the perfect personification of Dickens character and the film itself SEEMS as if it was filmed in the 1840’s instead of the 1950’s.

Kevin McNeill What about the face in the mirror? I thought it was Jacob Marley’s?

We did candlelight service and breakfast casserole too!

What’s breakfast casarole? We have a fry up before opening presents, overwise everyone’s to hungry.

Jessica Watson The way I do breakfast casserole: I loaf bread torn into pieces 1 doz eggs 1cup heavy cream 1lb bacon , cooked, cut into pieces or 1 lb ham , chopped or 1 lb sausage , cooked and drained 1lb shredded cheese, cheddar or whatever Assemble casserole Night before . Grease or spray with nonstick spray a deep dish casserole . Alternate layers or bread , meat and cheese, total of six layers. Mix eggs and cream in a bowl, season vs with salt and pepper; pour over the casserole. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Heat oven to 350degrees F. Bake casserole for an hour until cheese is browned and bubbly. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 min. Serve. Garnish with salsa or ketchup if you wish.

That is a great idea (going out to look at lights and then coming home to presents) it saves xmas morning for sleeping in a bit and a nice family breakfast.

We always opened the gifts and after breakfast we opened the stockings

Brian Gourley we do it the other way around. Open the stockings in bed then, open the gifts after breakfast.

Poor American, we'd do gifts only on Christmas Day, and no stockings. When I was a teen we were less poor and started the stocking thing, but none of us knew how we were supposed to do it. So... we did the stockings on Christmas eve. By that point none of us were confused about the legitimacy of Santa so reason was purely logistical.

No Christmas eve opening? I'll get the coffee started at 400am.

@@briangourley9572 Big dinner on Christmas Eve then Christmas Day brunch, then opening the gifts

Do you watch it’s a wonderful life and home alone good movies

We got to pick either end of bed or our pillow case could be left labeled with our name on it in the front room!

I'm from Philadelphia, On Christmas eve we go around and look at the lights in the neighborhood I also remember snow suits that were impossible to move in. When it came to presents, the toys were open under the tree when we came down in the morning. The wrapped ones we opened after dinner with extended family and guests.

Hello fellow Baltimore MD area alumnus. :0) Yes, downtown shopping with mom (is seemed like we were going to a foreign country driving into the center of the city from the suburbs). We always went to the Hecht Company store in Northwood to see Santa. Driving there provided viewing the Christmas light adorned house along Loch Raven Boulevard, always trying to be the first to spot particular houses along the route that always had the biggest and best decorations and lights (there was always the one house with blue lights that looked heavenly). And oh yes, we had the heavy quilted snow suits, our mittens safety pinned to the sleeves so we didn't lose them, and the pants legs pulled down over the tops of our boots with a cord tied around them to keep the snow out of them. Sledding out in Cockeysville on the long hillside between the old County Home (at the top of the hill) all the way down to York Road ..... and then the long trek back to the top for another trip down ....... yeah, these are winter memories, but the are part of my Christmas memories as well ...... because, when we would get home, there was the tree waiting for Santa. We hung our stockings Christmas Eve, and we kids put the gifts we got for each other under the tree Christmas eve ........ Christmas morning, we would get up before the sun and quietly go down to the living room to find the stockings were filled (more about those) and piles and piles of wrapped presents in and stocked under and around the tree .......we were permitted to empty our stocking which were filled with packs of gum, rolls of Life Savers, a perfectly polished apple and an orange, Christmas hard candies and chocolates, a pack of No.2 pencils, a new eraser, a special gift or two and ........ the requisite candy cane. We were not permitted to open anything else until our parents came down, and we were not permitted to wake them until the sun was up (they probably didn't fall into bed until around 3 am)...... then we had to wait for them to have their coffee and comfortably seated, and then the festivities began ...... paper ripping, boxes pried open, squeals of delight, hugs and thank you's, ........ and hen breakfast, back to our gifts, all the while daddy was playing christmas music on the record player ........ sometimes christmas dinner would be at my grandparent's house on the farm, with about 3 or 4 other families there as well (lots of grownups, lots of cousins)....... noisy and wonderful food (all the families pitched in and brought food so grandma didn't do all the cooking for all those people) ....... but the Christmases and thanksgivings that I liked best were the ones when we stayed home and had our dinner the way we like it to be cooked ....... the way my mom would cook it, the way she would let us help her cook it, and set a fancy table, with the best china, the good silver, the fancy glasses and fancy serving dishes........ all memories now, our parents and grandparents are all long gone, we had our own special traditions for our own families with our children, and those times are past now as our children are all grown with their own families, and the kids are either in college or out on their own making their own holiday traditions ....... or not

haha good one

Great idea.

Same here

Same

My family never thought about doing it any other way.

Same. It was either a gift or gifts from family at a get together, or a single gift on Xmas eve.

Us too

My family did the same.

Same. We kids would be able to open one gift on Christmas eve, Christmas day would be the big payoff.

@@greetswithfire1868 I'm a Brit, and I grew up with us allowed to take one of the smaller gifts from under the tree on Xmas Eve and open them together after dinner.

Same

My family does pajamas on Christmas Eve and open stockings. On Christmas Day we opened all the other presents.

Yes. Candlelight services can be nice!

Love candlelight services but am usually so tired that night and then the next day too.

Agreed!!!

Same. Minus the eggnog part lol. Don't like either one.

@@michimelody4036 Yeah, I'm not a fan of either!

Ah, you never had my old mum's traditional boozy fruity Christmas cake. I have never tasted a more beautiful moist and light cake with the apricot jam as glue for the marzipan layer over the top and side, the white royal icing over the top and side of the marzipan layer, the decorations and ribbons making a wonderful Christmas snow scene. She also put the same fed fruit cake at the core of her other special occasion cakes. My mum made my lovely wedding cake. She passed on early this year at the grand old age of 100, almost making it to her 101. I miss her Christmas spirit. I bet she's baking up a storm up there.😊

S. Michael DeHart aka WVUmounties8 I live in eastern Canada. We have the same tradition in our family, presents from Santa are unwrapped, all other presents are wrapped.

Love nog xnay on the fruit cake. Can't stand that dried fruit

Our Christmas eve gift was always brand new and washed so they were soft and clean. Sometimes new stuff was stiff (well flannel our house was cold 🥶 in mornings and nights) Sometimes we got games too. So we'd eat and change into the jammies and play board games and eat fresh popcorn and Sometimes string popcorn for the tree once it went outside.

All our Christmas traditions changed when our mom passed, too. My (adult) grand nieces and nephews have no idea what they're missing.

That sounds like a wonderful christmas.

My mother's family were immigrants from Eastern Europe. They were nominally 'Polish' but there was no Poland when they immigrated. We would have a Christmas Eve Supper often with 2 kinds of fish and pierogi.

because that's the Indian way, don't spill the beans, fool

We also opened one gift on Christmas Eve.

In Maine one pres on C Eve

we would open all the gifts from each other on Christmas eve, and then the next morning we would open the gifts from Santa and eat the candy from our stocking after breakfast on Christmas morning. As an adult I asked my mom why we did it that way and was told that as kids, her family had such a tiny house and such a big family that there wasn't room for gifts from each other AND the gifts from Santa at the same time. We still do it that way tho

In Indiana we opened all ours around 5 or 6 in the morning and our stockings are filled with goodys candy nuts fruit candy canes but my mother and fathetwere actually born in Chicago dad was born in1907 and his parents were polish and my mom was born in 1918 and her father was Scottish and her mother was Norwegian and in truth all my brothers and sisters were born in Chicago we lived on a farm animals are taken care of in the evening and morning

And then there is the movie with Ralphie and his BB gun, and the original Home Alone movies (I & II).

@Ch'iidii Yep, That's a good version!

Probably because it was written by Charles Dickens, who was a quintessentially British author, and the story takes place in Victorian England, don’t you think?

@@SongOfEire Yes, Obviously. That's why I said "even Americanized version". There's no need to "Americanize" a story written by an American, Don't ya think.

My favorite version of A Christmas Carol was the one with George C. Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge.

AbozTheUntidy Yep! We always do Eve with my husbands side and Christmas with mine.

this is exactly what we do!

That sounds lovely 🎄❄️

You need to get married and make your own loving family and make your own traditions.

I did the same at Christmas as far as food went. Spiral sliced ham, rolls, deviled eggs & baked beans. I never knew when family were going to pop in. Of course, Christmas cookies galore.👍

We don't necessarily have a tradition or do the exact same thing each year in my family but one tradition we do have that I love is pyjamas on Christmas eve. I don't mind doing something different each year so long as I get my pyjamas and my whole family together.

Yeah but Santa comes on Christmas

Muppet Christmas Carol - but make sure to stop it before Michael Caine sings!

Turkey? Odd. Turkey is exclusively reserved for Thanksgiving for my family and then we ate Ham for Christmas.

@@landon3573 We did ham when I was a kid, but when I hit my teenage years and took over the cooking, it emerged that my dad was the only one in the entire family, nuclear or extended, who actually *liked* ham... so when he lit out for greener pastures we decided we'd never do ham again. It probably helps that I make a damn good turkey - there have been minor fisticuffs over the leftovers.

In England, most meat eaters eat turkey for their Christmas Dinner.