Christmas traditions

[wendymr]

Having lived in three different countries now, I'm becoming accustomed to seeing how Christmas traditions vary from one place to another. The differences aren't just transatlantic; growing up in Ireland, for example, traditional Christmas dinner was roast turkey and boiled ham with roast potatoes and vegetables. In England, from what I saw, it was

Comments

[dameruth]

So how do you get along with pumpkin pie, just out of curiosity? ;)

[wendymr]

Hate it!

I actually don't like any vegetables/fruits of the squash variety. It's the texture - I don't like it. Same goes for turnip and swede (which also go by different names in North America; I know one of them's a rudabaga). So anything like butternut squash, pumpkin etc is out for me :)

I've had friends tell me that when pumpkin's in a pie, with cinnamon and all the other flavourings, it's delicious and nothing like a squash; but the one bite I did take of a pumpkin pie was enough to keep me convinced that I can happily live without it ;)

The bun (what you call cupcake) with edible ballbearings is okay, though, as long as it's fresh from the oven and still warm :)

[dameruth]

I think that the "squishy orange vegetables" (as Robin McKinley just called them in a recent blog entry about trying to make pumpkin bread in the UK) are one of the true cultural divides. :D I, OTOH, adore pumpkin pie (and most of the other squishy orange veggies), as does pretty well everyone I know here in the US

[wendymr]

Sorry, sweet potatoes are another thing we just can't develop a taste for, and that's my vegetarian husband as well as me. Whether it's a pie, or mashed, or chipped, we just don't like 'em. Ick!

Squishy orange vegetables - you can keep them!

On the other hand, vegetables such as sprouts and celery and leeks are all traditional with Christmas dinner. As is grave - home-made from Bisto powder, not from a can ;) - and stuffing. In England you can get all sorts of fancy stuffings; I just make the traditional sort with breadcrumbs, parsley, thyme and onion. Home-made, from scratch. You mention cranberry sauce; that's another of the minor UK/Irish differences, as you'll almost never find that in Ireland yet it's customary in England.

Green beans... love 'em, but why do north Americans insist on mixing chopped bacon with them? Not only yuck, but it makes them inedible to my veggie husband.

[un_sedentary]

I thought a lot of families did make turkey at their Christmas dinner. I was just thinking the other day how Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas dinner seem to be almost identical. But maybe I'm jumping to conclusions; with my history and Jewishness I'm really not an authority on this. *g*

I did not know there were no candy canes in the UK, though. And what is a Christmas cake?

(I do like candy canes, but I'm in agreement on pumpkin pie.)

[neadods]

And what is a Christmas cake?

A fruitcake, which is pretty much nothing but the butt of jokes, at least in America. Don't know about Canada.

[wendymr]

Ah, Christmas cake is yummy :) It's a fruit cake, definitely, but much richer than your standard type. As well as sultanas, raisins, nuts and so on, you also get citrus peel and cherries, and lots of alcohol - usually sherry and/or brandy, but alternatives are whisky, rum or Guinness.

The cake is usually baked a few months before Christmas, then wrapped in greaseproof paper and sealed in a tin, to allow it to mature (ie allow the alcohol to mature ;) ). Then, a few days before Christmas, you coat the top with almond paste - you can use commercial marzipan, but real almond paste is so much nicer. I'm trying to remember now how it was made - my mother always made her own. Ground almonds, water and, I think, an egg, but don't hold me to it. That's put on the cake, at least half an inch thick. Then once it's set you coat it with white icing - that's made by adding water to icing-sugar and beating it into a very stiff paste. That needs a strong arm! My father always used to make that. You'd then put the white icing on top of the cake,

[neadods]

Now I've got one of the Revels songs - Miss Hoolihan's Cake - running through my head.

I've never met a fruitcake I liked, but then, I'm not that fond of alcohol and most of the ones I've been fed are those nasty storebought ones. Someday, I'm going to try Alton Brown's "in defense of fruitcake" recipes.

There were plums and prunes and cherries/nutmeg and raisins and cinnamon too...

I'm afraid I'm just too American to "get" plum pudding. I've tried.

[bulky_monster]

I can't tell the difference between a lot of the British and American festivities because my family mixed things up a lot. We got the mince pies, the turkey, the cookies, the egg nog. Lots of pie. Same music. We've always done Boxing Day here in my family, too. Plus living so close to Canada I didn't realize until I was older that we actually don't really have it in the U.S. :)

The only things that were new to me in England were just the sausages and the Christmas crackers. People said "Merry" to me often, probably because they were trying to make me feel at home or something knowing I was American, but I tried saying "Happy" Christmas back.

*shrugs* Half the time I don't notice which is which ;)

Anyway - I'm dawdling around on the internet but I think it's time to go wake everyone up for presents. Cheers, a Happy AND Merry Christmas to you!

[wendymr]

'Merry Christmas' has been around for a while in the UK now - yes, 'happy' is more traditional, but the printed cards usually said 'merry' and it's got to the point where they're seen as interchangeable :)

You don't get Christmas crackers in the US? They're definitely available in Canada, so I didn't realise they're not traditional in this part of the world.

Merry Christmas/25th December! :)

[neadods]

You don't get Christmas crackers in the US?

Not as a matter of course; you can find them in some of the more eclectic shops.

[bulky_monster]

Ah, I see. Most of the time when I overheard people it was "Happy Christmas." Here I just thought they were saying it especially for me ;)

Like Neadods said, you can find the crackers in some places, big cities mainly I suppose. I'm pretty sure I would've found some if I'd gone to the gourmet and import store, but I haven't had the time this year to do anything but finish kniting that massive blanket!

[chandramas]

Well all I can say is BUON NATALE!!!!!!!!!!!!

[wendymr]

Hope you had a great Christmas, Chi! :)

[adaliazandra]

My family is Polish-Sicilian, living in America (eastern coast). We used to do turkey for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, but the last few years we've been switching it up. Turkey for Thanksgiving, but for Christmas we have ham or leg of lamb stuffed with lots of garlic or just good old prime rib (yum). We do mashed potatoes, and usually a salad for vegetables. And there's usually some non-alcoholic egg nog around somewhere

[wendymr]

The use of turkey for Christmas in the UK actually came from America ;) Traditionally, at least for wealthy families, it would have been a goose:

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat,
Please put a penny in the old man's hat...And your desserts sound mostly very different from anything mentioned before. Fascinating! We all love our own traditions, of course; I had Christmas dinner with a Polish-Canadian family one year, and it was something of a culture-shock (cabbage roll as part of Christmas dinner? Shortbread and pumpkin pie for dessert?), but also interesting. I still prefer my own food traditions, though

[adaliazandra]

Most of the desserts my family does are traditional things my grandfather and his family used to do (that's part of the Sicilian side). The one that confuses most people is the fig cookies... folks expect a Fit Newton and that's not what it is at all! They're a cookie dough tube with with a pureed fig, nut, and date mix rolled inside it. The tube is cut and formed into traditional Christmas themed shapes that also have history in the family. It's a whole big production to make them and well all work on it together