The GirlAlive Blog

Merry Christmas

December 21, 2009 on 6:27 pm | In Life In General, Recipes and Food, Scotland, music | No Comments

This year my husband has been eating mince pies, but I can’t stomach them for some reason. They aren’t bad, but I’m just really not in the mood this year. We pretty much never do the usual British turkey dinner for Christmas because we did that at Thanksgiving. We also almost never have Christmas pudding. So we’ll be doing our own thing. Pork loin and sweet potatoes and bread pudding. Should be good. I’ve been watching the Christmas specials on the British food network, and on the American food network and noting some differences. I’ve also just been thinking in general about the things that are different here at Christmas.

Things I love about British Christmas:

Christmas crackers. Little thingies that pop and there is stuff inside. They’re pretty fun and I’m not even freaked out by the popping noise anymore.

Royal Institute Christmas specials. They do a week of science shows for kids, but they’re usually pretty fun and interesting.

Doctor Who. There’s usually a Christmas episode. It is usually awesome.

Extra days off. There’s Christmas, then there’s Boxing Day and the last place I worked made me take the entire week between Christmas and New Year’s off. And you get January 1st and 2nd off in Scotland.

No one has a big yard, so no one puts up obscene amounts of lights. Therefore, no one notices or cares when I refuse to hang lights on my house.

The outdoor temp is not too bad. I grew up in northern Minnesota, so I’m always into a December where the snot does not freeze inside my nose. But it’s still cold and snowy enough to feel like winter.

Things I hate about British Christmas:

Christmas music. They never seem to listen to any remotely traditional Christmas songs. It’s just the same 4 pop songs over and over again, and they’re all obnoxious. Christmas should be more Harry Connick Jr. and a LOT less Wham!.

Brussels sprouts. Who decided that the vegetable that everyone hates is “festive”? I don’t even hate brussels sprouts, but they are nowhere near tasty enough to deserve to be served for Christmas.

Stilton. They include this blue cheese in every cheeseboard. I mostly love British cheese. But I cannot stomach stilton. It tastes like really powerful moist sweatsock. Only worse. I’d rather eat earwax.

They don’t have hot apple cider here. They don’t have eggnog either, but I’ve never been a huge fan anyway.

My family and friends are not here. I miss my parents and my grandpa and my cousins and my brother and his wife and kids.