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Post by juju on Dec 24, 2015 11:44:48 GMT
I just found out only the Brits do Christmas crackers (the things you pull at the table with gifts and stuff inside). Is this true? If so, how do yo get a party hat to wear at the table? en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_crackerI know Christmas pudding is a British thing too - so what do you guys traditionally have for dessert on Christmas day?
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Post by Miisa on Dec 24, 2015 12:34:17 GMT
Here Christmas day is "the day after"; people sleep in, eat leftovers from the big feast they had on the eve and generally have a lazy day. Then on the 26 it is a traditional visiting day. The 24th is, as said the big day. May have some rice porridge, some cleaning and other last-minute preparations or even work in the morning, then Christmas peace is declared at noon, all the shops close and society shuts down. People then decorate the tree, go to cemeteries to put candles on the graves of relatives, go to the sauna, and make the side dishes (the ham usually is in the oven the entire previous night) and then eat in the early evening. Many, if not most, families will younger children will have hired a Santa (the "Yule Goat") to come by after the meal (which I am sure used to be even more terrifying to children than it is today, as in addition to gift-giving to good children he would also supposedly dole out whippings to whose who had been bad). Silly hats would be just... silly. Dessert for the eve big meal is often something prune-based, to aid digestion, I guess, and because plums are traditionally sweet and exotic. But we often had chocolate mousse or fruit and cream, it varies.
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Post by Miisa on Dec 24, 2015 12:36:36 GMT
Some British people here manage to buy specially impoted crackers at the Anglican church bazaar, but they are not sold in the shops at all as far as I can tell.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2015 15:51:03 GMT
Neither are they sold in Germany. We will probably need to look if we can buy them online if we end up celebrating Christmas in Germany one day. I really like them.
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Post by JoeP on Dec 24, 2015 16:28:33 GMT
It's a major oversight. On the part of the rest of the world.
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Post by JoeP on Dec 24, 2015 16:30:18 GMT
Pretty sure (if my memory serves me correctly) Christmas crackers are generally available in South Africa, given all the British background there. But Christmas puddings, while available in miniature versions, just don't go down too well in the middle of summer.
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Post by Kye on Dec 24, 2015 16:30:57 GMT
Christmas crackers are easily available here. I have some for tomorrow's supper. They're more of an English Quebecker thing than a French Quebecker. The francophones tend to do the Reveillon on Christmas Eve while the anglophones gravitate to Christmas Day celebrations.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2015 16:42:40 GMT
Apparently, one Germany tradition is having potato salad and sausages on Christmas eve. I don't really like either and don't think my parents ever made it for Christmas Eve.
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Post by JoeP on Dec 24, 2015 17:07:15 GMT
I thought Germans ate sausages every day of the year
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Post by juju on Dec 24, 2015 19:41:15 GMT
Apparently crackers are a commonwealth thing, so Canada, South Africa and Australia will have them too. I never knew - I thought they were universal. Sorry, America.
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Post by jayme on Dec 24, 2015 20:00:47 GMT
I thought Christmas crackers were crackers, as in the one time that you Brits didn't use the term 'biscuit' incorrectly.
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Post by tangent on Dec 24, 2015 20:22:33 GMT
Pssht!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2015 23:48:32 GMT
I thought Germans ate sausages every day of the year Maybe I'm a bit odd, but I don't like sausages. A lot of Germans do, though. I think they do. I don't like the texture most of the time and the taste isn't that great either.
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Post by Moose on Dec 25, 2015 0:39:59 GMT
Sausages are great hot .. not as great cold. As for crackers, I'd not given it much thought but I assumed that they were universal too.
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Post by jayme on Dec 25, 2015 16:51:55 GMT
I thought Germans ate sausages every day of the year Maybe I'm a bit odd, but I don't like sausages. A lot of Germans do, though. I think they do. I don't like the texture most of the time and the taste isn't that great either. I don't like sausage, either. I never understood why anyone would want to eat chopped up lips and assholes that are stuffed into another asshole, when you could make dog food out of that stuff and eat a nice steak.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2015 21:27:24 GMT
Maybe I'm a bit odd, but I don't like sausages. A lot of Germans do, though. I think they do. I don't like the texture most of the time and the taste isn't that great either. I don't like sausage, either. I never understood why anyone would want to eat chopped up lips and assholes that are stuffed into another asshole, when you could make dog food out of that stuff and eat a nice steak. You expressed that quite well.
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Post by jayme on Dec 25, 2015 21:57:25 GMT
Aw, thanks!
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Post by Moose on Dec 26, 2015 1:23:43 GMT
Sausages can be very good quality it varies.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2015 22:10:14 GMT
Sausages can be very good quality it varies. I have had good ones, but that was rare.
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Post by tangent on Dec 27, 2015 0:32:31 GMT
Cumberland sausages are very good.
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Post by Miisa on Dec 27, 2015 11:53:38 GMT
The Finnish tradition of putting candles on the graves of loved ones on Christmas eve was brought up in an 'odd Christmas traditions from around the world' type-episode of a podcast, I had thought that was just the done thing everywhere.
Also, there seems to be a growing tradition out there of watching the Finnish film Rare Exports this time of year. Like most Christmas-themed films it is a comedy, but with a horror/dark slant. Only saw it for the first time myself a week or so ago. I may add it to my future Christmas watchlists if I can find a copy (preferably with English subtitles for the linguistically challenged).
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Post by juju on Dec 27, 2015 12:30:20 GMT
The candles thing is a lovely tradition. I wish we had it here, although I think people probably do put flowers and things on people's graves this time of year.
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Post by JoeP on Dec 27, 2015 12:32:39 GMT
(preferably with English subtitles for the linguistically challenged). Oi!
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Post by Miisa on Dec 27, 2015 12:39:05 GMT
I named no names!
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Post by Fr. Gruesome on Dec 27, 2015 17:42:07 GMT
What about the Twelve Days of Christmas Song? Anybody use that?
My neighbour had a tree cut down just before Christmas Eve, Chinese Tree of Heaven, and I have acquired the logs they have to be stored dry for a year before use otherwise the resin produces toxic fumes when burnt. I now have to split all the logs and am thinking of renaming the season Logmas.
* sings *
On the first day of Logmas, my true love gave to me a pile of logs to split
On the second day of Logmas, my true love gave to me another pile of logs to split.
Etc.
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Post by Moose on Dec 27, 2015 18:00:36 GMT
Toxic logs that you have to split yourself? There's a truly thoughtful CHristmas gift.
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Post by Kye on Dec 27, 2015 18:05:29 GMT
Yeah, he wouldn't be MY true love...
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Post by Fr. Gruesome on Dec 28, 2015 11:16:05 GMT
But in two years time they will be fine, dry and inert: just right for the log burner.
* sings *
On the fourth day of Logmas ...
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Post by raspberrybullets on Jan 1, 2016 11:25:14 GMT
Here in Oz we have crackers and christmas pudding - though personally I don't like it at all. Even our dog didn't like it when we used to give it to him, back when my dad used to get a christmas pud from work every year. Here it's more traditional to have a pav for xmas dessert.
On christmas eve in Slovakia we'd traditionally have potato salad and fish - no sausages. You're not supposed to eat meat. Here in Oz xmas eve is the last chance to get your shopping done - shopping centres are open til midnight. Yay for commercialism! This year, my for xmas day my dad made a ham rather than turkey, and we had that with lots of salad and ate outside because it was hot!!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2016 11:32:50 GMT
Shops are open till midnight on Christmas Eve? Wow. In Germany they are open till 2 pm or 4 pm the latest. And having to do any shopping on Christmas Eve is a nightmare because everyone seems to do that. My dad once wrote a short story after one Christmas Eve when they had to go to Kaufland (a large German supermarket) in the town to get a few things. That supermarket is part of a tiny mall so there are a few other shops there as well, but the shops are closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. It was almost impossible to get to the parking spaces and then back out on the road because there were horrible traffic jams.
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