General Chat

i noticed sue's post on the christmas diner thread, about how she celbrates in australia
and wondered if any of you have a traditional BRITISH dinner
or do you all go for a bbq, and salads ect,

and do you have a chrstmas tree and decs??

would be intrested to see the same questions for any other members from around the world, in spain america etc, too
xxx

Stray, I reckon they,ll be having a few tinnies,barbied Kangaroo with Koalas to follow, and they,ll decorate a Ucalyptus tree,then a few more Tinnies.**M**.pmsl.:o))>

Throw another Wallaby on the barby Marlin!! :>))

Oh stop it you lot:-))

Stray - we have a tree, decorations etc. My mum used to do the whole traditional hot Christmas dinner but we have a sit down cold ham, turkey, seafood and salads lunch. I set the table nicely and we have crackers and silly hats:-))

In the afternoon it's open house when friends and family drop in and if anyone's here in the evening then they get whatever's left over and bbq'd meat.

Some people do still have the traditional hot lunch but as it's usually hot on Christmas Day more and more people are going for the cold lunch and bbq's

S xx

Oh god Allan, you are soooo funny! PMSL!!! :>))))))))

Oh Merlin - where did you get your facts????

Tinnies - yes - but bbq Kangaroos and Koalas - NEVER!

AND - we don't decorate eucalyptus trees!

You forget that our ancestors were from the UK - so the traditions have been handed down and only changed a little to adapt to the weather. They didn't even do that in the earlier days of this country and I remember my mother 'sweating over a hot stove on a hot Christmas Day' until she woke up to herself. We couldn't eat that much hot food in the middle of the day.

Since WW2 we have immigrants from other countries too, and they now have Australian descendants, so they, too, have been adapting to the weather.

We definitely treat Christmas as a time for families to get together, even if they find it hard to do at other times of the year. Many families now have a late breakfast and one big meal later in the afternoon - with 'niblies' lying around all day and evening. It's all a matter of choice.

allen tut tut lol,

its nice to here some of the old traditions still stand,
xxx

As for trees - we use fir trees - NOT eucalyptus trees.
Trees are used more and more now because for the past sixty years or so, houses have been built without fireplaces/chimneys! Children are told that a door or window will be left unlocked for Santa Claus - where we used to say he came down the chimney.

Canada ... chopped liver. No, that's not what we eat for Christmas, it's what we are when Brits think of the rest of the world.

We all do the big turkey fest. Not many sprouts in evidence in most places, but stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash, sweet potatoes, peas and such. In my family, a long tradition is puke salad -- my gramma's concoction from jello, cottage cheese, mayonnaise, celery, radishes, green onions, probably a 1950s Kraft recipe, which my brother christened sometime in the 60s, and it stuck. My mum makes a really nice Christmas cake, light colour with no gritty things in it, just candied fruit.

We do it as an early supper, though. Not many people here have carried on the noon-time big meal tradition (holidays or Sundays) from England -- although my Italian neighbours do.

Our family also does the crackers and hats, and a lot of them are sold in department stores here, so I guess a lot of people do. For years, I gave boxes of them at Christmas to my Chinese and Italian neighbours.

My sister's partner's parents are Portuguese, so they do the big Christmas eve seafood family fest with his dad's siblings and families, and his mum bakes a lot. Then on Boxing Day, his parents join us at my sister's house for leftovers from both sides of the family. ;)

One thing that is gaining popularity over the years is the decorating of the outside of the house with lights. Some people have spectacular shows in their front garden with reindeer, Santas and elves. The children love it and it's started a new tradition of walking with the grandkids around the streets to see the wonderful displays.

S x

Hi Janey:-))

S x

i love the outsde decorations sue,

hi janey wow, sounds exciting, x

i cant wait to put my decs up, a fw round my area have theres up already,

Everybody decorates with lights here in Canada, always have! My own neighbourhood not quite so much, as many are fairly recent immigrants. But in the suburb where I grew up, and the newish one my sister lives in now, for instance, every house is ablaze.

We will only be able to buy LCD lights very soon, and they're really quite horrible. They just don't twinkle, and the effect of LCD lights on snow all around just isn't the same.

Here, we drive to look at the lights. It's just too &%$#ed cold to walk!

Parliament Hill Christmas lights:

http://images.travelpod.com/users/cankiwi/canada_-_2007.1196812320.christmas-lights-on-parliament-hill.jpg

The floodlights are a recent innovation, and I don't like 'em.

And you can't drive right up on the Hill anymore to admire, if you're in Ottawa. Security and all ...

Yes, many people decorate their windows at least. Some have elaborate displays - and some join their neighbours and have three or four homes in a row with displays which draw crowds of people to walk or drive past them.

Even though a lot of people have barbecues, there is usually turkey, ham , duck (or all three) added to the chicken, seafood and chops which may be bbq'd and whether served hot or cold at first, there is plenty left for salads for the next few days!

My Christmas dinners when I was young, and actually right up until I left the UK in 1967, was actually chicken ..... we never had turkey.

I've actually had christmas dinner in 4 countries, including England


We spent Christmas 1975 in Australia ............... and my cousins put on the whole traditional English Christmas dinner, at about 4 pm in the afternoon.

It was over 40C ....... and OH and I nearly melted!

They had emigrated from England during the late 50s and 60s. I think they have changed by now ..... especially as the "kids" have taken over doing the dinner!

The funniest part about that dinner was that the food was put on the plates in the kitchen and then delivered to the table .... we got HUGE helpings, much larger than we would normally have taken. But as OH looked at his plate in dismay, one of the cousins' husband said in a loud voice "He's got MY dinner"

He was quickly hushed by his wife ........ but we gather that Charlie normally got the drumstick that OH had been given!


We live on the West Coast of Canada, and Vancouver is wet rather than snowy most of the winter ............... it's also quite a bit warmer than the rest of Canada. A lot of houses here put up lights outside, but not, I think, as many as in the colder regions.

We have Christmas dinner at about 2 pm in the afternoon .......... traditional turkey, bacon strips, sausage and forced meat stuffing, brussels sprouts, and carrots. But we have also added elements from other countries, such as a candied sweet potato casserole.

Sweet potatoes are commonly part of Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners in both the US and Canada .......... our first example of sweet potatoes was at Thanksgiving in Texas and it was mashed sweet potatoes put in a casserole, topped with marshmallows and baked in the oven. Horribly ,horribly sweet!

The Caribbean version we do is our attempt to incorporate sweet potatoes!

We've also been known to serve blue potatoes, either boiled or mashed!

OH makes a Christmas pudding, and we always serve that. I also used to make little mincmeat tarts. He also used to make a Christmas cake, and I used to ice it ....... but it lasted for so long! Now we buy a commercial version, which we actually prefer.


Now that there are just the 2 of us, we find that we don't actually have many Christmases at home ................. we go to our daughter's (more or less traditional dinner), to OH's sister (same thing) or to our very close friends .... who usually do anything BUT turkey!!



One thing we did used to do when we had Christmas dinners, was to make sure that none of our friends would be alone ........... and OH used to do a check just before Christmas to make sure that there were no graduate students in the university department who were going to be alone.

At one point, we were a family of 3, but we had 4 or 5 regulars at Christmas, plus as many as 6 "pick-ups"!

Our very first Christmas after we married was in Texas ......... we ended up with 7 guests for Christmas dinner, all graduate students or post docs like ourselves, and from all over the world. Two from Australia, 3 from South Africa, 1 from Switzerland, 1 from Finland. They had to bring their own chairs because our rented apartment only had 4 dining chairs!! And then we squished around the table.


The fourth country was New Zealand in 1992 ........... but there were just the 3 of us, and we were going away 2 days later. So we bought a chicken, and had the kind of christmas dinner I had as a child ....... stuffing, brussels sprouts etc etc



sylvia

The true Spanish christmas meal is eaten on Xmas Eve or "La Noche Buena," Usually extended families are together. This meal can consist of 7 or 8 courses and last several hours even up to midnight. the courses are tapas ,sea food, fish , poultry , meat (often lamb) and sweet. Almond Candy is a must. Many still eating around midnight. After the meal the villages gather in the streets dancing and drinking.usually for most of the night.
Xmas day is a quiet day
They do have decorations as for many fiestas although I'm not sure of the 'christmas tree' as we know it but will string lights around all trees.
The main present giving for the Spanish is the 6th Jan 'The Three Kings' On the evening of the 5th there are parades through the streets with floats and bands who throw sweets amongst the revellers. and much partying to follow.

Spanish children tradtionally put out shoes with offerings to the Kings on the doorstep or window sills of their homes.

Spain do not start their christmas decorating until mid december when the xmas markets become 'the place to be' but they do party all the way through !

A slab of VB wrapped in tinsel....:>))

Dashing through the bush,
in a rusty Holden Ute,
Kicking up the dust,
esky in the boot,
Kelpie by my side,
singing Christmas songs,
It's Summer time and I am in
my singlet, shorts and thongs ( aka flip flops )

Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,
Christmas in Australia
on a scorching summers day, Hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!,
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden Ute.

Engine's getting hot;
we dodge the kangaroos,
The swaggie climbs aboard,
he is welcome too.
All the family's there,
sitting by the pool,
Christmas Day the Aussie way,
by the barbecue.

Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,
Christmas in Australia
on a scorching summers day, Hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden Ute.

Come the afternoon,
Grandpa has a doze,
The kids and Uncle Bruce,
are swimming in their clothes.
The time comes 'round to go,
we take the family snap,
Pack the car and all shoot through,
before the washing up.

Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,
Christmas in Australia
on a scorching summers day, Hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden Ute....O'i

Dinkum though.......If its stinkin hot,and if your as dry as dead dingo's donga,an Aussie christmas bar-bie on the deck is the way to go mate.Jump on the bush telegraph and av a bit of a chinwag with the relos that own esky's and do a quick invo,then belt outside and chuck alf a jumbuck and a few chooks on the gorilla.A quick scratch of the wedding tackle,knock off a few ambers,and if the blowie's dont attack the tucker, its open slather for everyone.
After din-dins, the blokes do a quick scratch of the freckle, clear out the bush oyster's, grab the grog,and go walkabout up to the local water hole for a yabber, and let the sheila's wash up before a barney starts.
Shee'l be right mate....;>))

Too right i reckon,and hassle free!!

Tony in Oz....;>))

sylvia how lovely to share your day with others, i no we have on many occastions had others for christmas dinner, our latest is my nephews best friend, his mam doesnt do a dinner so he come to us, then to my sister for tea,

we dont have dinner till around 2/3 as we dont do chrstmas tea, well we have to muh chocolate to get through haha,

sounds different uzzi, so will you be doing traditional panish or english??

Tony, i did lol, at your post, mmm i think i got most of it, but a translater would be helpful, if anyone wants to offer haha, xxx

What an interesting thread. We need Val from SA to tell us what they have. Trouble is, because of the title many people won't read the thread stray, can you alter it to 'non UK members?'

We used to have the traditional English Christmas at my daughters. She used to do turkey the Delia way with bacon rolls and chipolatas and cranberry sauce , seasonal veges, no brussel sprouts as it is summer with a baked ham and a christmas pud. with a slice of ice cream instead of sauce or custard. Crackers paper hats nice wine. Hot pudding with cold ice cream is very nice in case you haven't tried it. We always have mince pies, shortbread, and a christmas cake but no icing as hot weather doesn't suit it and West Aussies don't have very sweet tooths we have found. We were originally from N.Z. but have been in W.A. forty seven years. For many years we had an Italian Christmas dinner all cold meat and salads, nothing like an English dinner but very nice with plenty of booze and jolly company.
We are gradually getting into more cold meat and salad for Christmas but still have to have some hot Pork loin and veges for daughter's in laws who like hot dinners. Every Christmas day seems to be getting hotter than the last but at least there is a pool to fall into after a decent interval after lunch. The grandkids always decorate their tree with lights and it is in front of a window and the table is decorated with a blue and silver theme and the best china and silver. We are all glad when it is all over for another year.