Despite my own problems, my family has always been relatively close, with the exception of my mom. We had the idyllic Christmases as kids with the presents etc. When my brother was sick my family (aside from my mom) rallied around him. My oldest brother flew down from Michigan to Tampa, my sister from Denver to Tampa. I count myself lucky that my immediate family is relatively close. I know that if I ever really needed them, they'd be there. So to bring a little Christmas cheer, here's a hot Jewish girl.
We do hot dogs and chili on Christmas eve for some reason. Done it every since I can remember, probably just easy to fix after getting out of church. Christmas on the other hand has become a de-facto reunion of my high school buddies. My house was the one we always were at so my family is pretty close to all of them, and they're indifferent at best to their parents. This year we've got a beef tenderloin, a turkey, and whatever cuts we want out of the 3 deer we've gotten this season. My parent's patio is going to look interesting to the neighbors, half dozen odd guys drinking heavily and arguing over how to cook. Tis the season.
If it makes either of you feel better, my family celebrated Christmas until I was like 10 or 11. Trees, lights, the whole thing. Then they stopped all of a sudden based on "principles" and "research", which were not subject to debate (I tried). So now I don't really have an Xmas plan of any sort, though I have since often spent it in the company of Jews.
That R. Kelly house is still there. I have no idea what's going on with it, but that is pretty awesome. Oh Robert. Now that whole damn expose has come out about all the stuff he's done, but I'm still in on R. Kelly We also do chili on Christmas Eve at my dad's sister's house. My mom's side of the family comes over to "our" house and she cooks a full meal. I'm upset that now I'm an adult and the only thing I'll get now is socks, a hat and maybe a giftcard. Fuckers kept popping out children so they're the focus.
More people need to be working today. You guys with your cooking an drinking. Me , I'm acting as the Santa Clause of antibiotics. Normally I'm stingy because they aren't useful for a cold, but today people get what they want. I'm only half heartedly telling people they probably aren't going to be miraculously better with their magic pills. Ive been consumed with the holiday spirit
Just gave my wife her Xmas gift. Going to NYC over Valentine's day. It's amazing what it takes to get sex around here.
It's like you were there. Actually, for my mother it was some combination of it being a bastardization of pagan holidays, her not being christian, something about a culture of consumerism that she felt uncomfortable with, the forcedness of it all, etc. etc. I'm pretty sure my father was mostly happy to save money. I laid out the many counterarguments, but it turns out that my impression of familial democracy were...admirable, but mistaken.
I'm going to the local casino for Christmas. Donating money to the Native American people makes me more Christmas than any of you greedy bastards.
Returning to the topic of what people are eating; do the English/British actually have cuisine? I mean you think about nearly any culture and you can identify a cuisine with it, but not British. Is that why they tried to colonize the world back in the day? Because their hometown recipes sucked?
I disagree. Tomorrow morning I'm going down to the local orphanage to read to the children, then later in the day I'm going to dress up as Santa Claus and give them all presents. I win.
Yeah, because a cool guy who shows up once a year and then jets does wonders for their abandonment issues. In other news, my dad's boss invited us over to their Christmas Day lunch tomorrow. If much rather be balls deep in Netflix than making awkward conversation. I hope some other pity cases will be there.
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.valerietanswell.co.uk/2011/12/10-ways-brits-do-christmas-differently.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.valerietanswell.co.uk/2011/1 ... ently.html</a> <a class="postlink" href="http://www.quora.com/British-American-Differences/How-do-Christmas-celebrations-differ-between-the-US-and-UK" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.quora.com/British-American-D ... -US-and-UK</a>
Well everyone else has left and I am soon to follow. Then it's off to the Christmas party at the bar. It's invite only and the doors are locked at 3pm. After 3pm, OPEN BAR AND FREE FOOD. I'll be in fine form for family! Merry Christmas TiB. Be good and most of all, be safe.
God, yes. Don't let the fish and chip, artery clogging, fry-o-lated crap speak for the rest. They have a lovely tradition of game, sausages, breads, pies, mashes, and beer. It's not as nuanced, or necessarily vegetable oriented, as the Italian or French, but it's a cold, heavily wooded, island nation of celts, what do you expect? Traditional Christmas dinner of popover, roast, etc. is what I think of as English style. The Irish have a far better grasp of what to do with vegetables. I think most of the problem stemmed from post-war rationing which went into the 50's. A lot of that quick, processed fried shit popped up. It stuck out of laziness and convenience; just like it did here. I find it funny the European country most like our culture is experiencing the same obesity issues. The one gift the English gave us: popovers. A cross between a muffin and an omelette.