Christmas - both sides of the Pond

[dandysmom]

Originally Posted by Tink

LOL..i tried googling and this is what someone's blog said who moved from the UK to USA about his take on christmas:

"They don't do Christmas Crackers. 'nuff said. And there are Americans out there right now reading this thinking 'What the he** are Christmas Crackers"? Brilliant. Oh, and don't expect a batter/yorkshire pudding either with your gravy. You're going to get a weird sweet potato and marshmellow combo mix instead, duh.

Father Christmas / Santa Claus

There's also no Boxing Day in the USA.

We have Fairy Lights, Americans just have Christmas Lights

Mince pies in the USA are called sweet pies

They don't use the word pantomine

The first time I went to a carol service at Christmas I was rather confused ... There are at two different major melodies for the song 'Away in a Manger' one, "Cradle Song"[1], more commonly encountered in the United Kingdom; the other, "Mueller"[2], more commonly found in the United States. The same goes for 'Oh Little Town of Bethlehem' which has a completely differen tune. "

That's all i could find

I didn't know that, Tink! Very interesting.

Five and tens were extremely popular in the Great Depression, and the prices were cents, not dollars! But the name stuck as the prices went up when prosperity returned.

[angieh]

Some very interesting facts there Tink - thanks for taking the trouble to look it up.

It seems there are at least a couple of origins of Boxing Day here in UK.

"Beginning in the Middle Ages, Boxing Day was known as St. Stephen's Day in honour of the first Christmas martyr. Although unknown in the United States, Boxing Day is still observed in Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. It's called "Boxing Day" because on the day after Christmas, the well-off boxed up gifts to give to their servants and trades people, while the churches opened their charity boxes to the poor."

So Boxing Day is the day Good King Wenseslas looked out .......

Evidently in Canada, Boxing Day is the equivalent of the USA's "Black Friday".

[Kazz]

So do you have pantomimes in USA?
Do you have carol services?
Do you have nativity plays? (school age children)

[Kazz]

And where do you get your funny hats from for wearing while eating Christmas dinner, if you don't have crackers????

[Tink]

Originally Posted by Kazz

And where do you get your funny hats from for wearing while eating Christmas dinner, if you don't have crackers????

*confuzzled*

[angieh]

I bet our transatlantic cousins think "crackers" are those dry salty biscuits that you eat with cheese!

Christmas crackers in UK are like these:-

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?im...icial%26sa%3DG

and contain your paper hat, a joke or motto and a small novelty or gift (more expensive ones are also available with more expensive gifts inside - even real jewellery!)

[Mags]

........... and we all wear our paper hats like this when we have our Christmas dinner!

[dandysmom]

Originally Posted by angieh

Some very interesting facts there Tink - thanks for taking the trouble to look it up.

It seems there are at least a couple of origins of Boxing Day here in UK.

"Beginning in the Middle Ages, Boxing Day was known as St. Stephen's Day in honour of the first Christmas martyr. Although unknown in the United States, Boxing Day is still observed in Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. It's called "Boxing Day" because on the day after Christmas, the well-off boxed up gifts to give to their servants and trades people, while the churches opened their charity boxes to the poor."

So Boxing Day is the day Good King Wenseslas looked out .......

Evidently in Canada, Boxing Day is the equivalent of the USA's "Black Friday".

One of my favorite carols, and didn't know the link to Boxing Day...thanks, Angie, very interesting!

[angieh]

Ah ........... a picture of the dreaded Brussels sprout!

[Mags]

Originally Posted by angieh

Ah ........... a picture of the dreaded Brussels sprout!

I love Brussels sprouts....