It’s not Christmas without …

SpikeSpike Ecclesiantics & MW Host, Admin Emeritus
… Midnight Mass, pigs in blankets, twiglets, port, stilton, chocolate, sleeping all afternoon and not feeling guilty.

What else is essential for Christmas?

Comments

  • DardaDarda Shipmate
    A good single malt
  • The King's Speech.
  • NenyaNenya All Saints Host, Ecclesiantics & MW Host
    Turkey. It's not Christmas dinner without it - we never have roast turkey at any other time. Also, pigs in blankets, chocolate, Christmas pudding, port, paté on toast.
  • Mistletoe and Wine.
  • MMMMMM Shipmate
    All the old bits and bobs we’ve collected over the years to hang on the tree - particularly the cardboard-and-aluminium-foil star Macarius made the first year we were married and had little money to spare.

    Getting them out every year is like meeting old friends.

    MMM
  • Egg nog. Either with or without alcohol, but always with nutmeg on top.
  • The Christmas tree.
  • The Nativity set we collected over the years. A Mincemeat pie to replace the fresh coconut cake my mother always made, but it became too much work for me, as well as the problem of finding a fresh coconut for sale.
  • Mince pies!
  • DardaDarda Shipmate
    Mistletoe and Wine.

    Assume you don't mean listening to a 1988 Cliff Richard record!
  • Slade, brandy sauce, Christmas pudding, midnight mass, the King on the radio at 3pm, Call the Midwife, Quality Street, good ordinary claret, the village carol service, bringing the mistletoe in from the garden, the Boxing Day Meet, roast goose, mince pies, salmon and scrambled egg on toast with champagne on Christmas morning…..
  • Can’t believe I forgot both James Bond *and* Indiana Jones.
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    Carol service accompanied by a brass band. Bliss.
  • At least one new book. Or the wherewithal to buy it as soon as I can get to a bookshop after Christmas.
  • Telephone conversations with friends.
  • Darda wrote: »
    Mistletoe and Wine.

    Assume you don't mean listening to a 1988 Cliff Richard record!

    :naughty:

    O but I do...
    HarryCH wrote: »
    Telephone conversations with friends.

    Yes indeed - though in my case, it's usually a long chat with my sister in France.

  • The King's Speech.
    I managed for many many years without hearing one
    Mistletoe and Wine.
    Children singing Christian rhyme

  • Telford wrote: »
    The King's Speech.
    I managed for many many years without hearing one

    <snip>

    So did I, and I still do...
    :naughty:

    My Old Mum and My Old Dad set great store by it, though, and always listened in.

  • Telford wrote: »
    The King's Speech.
    I managed for many many years without hearing one

    <snip>

    So did I, and I still do...
    :naughty:

    My Old Mum and My Old Dad set great store by it, though, and always listened in.
    If I had given it a thought when we were able to record things off the tele, I would have recorded them all on the same tape or disc

  • I agree with a lot of the suggestions, but I would add incense cones. German smokers use these little cones and their scent has become indelibly linked to Christmas in my mind. I burned a couple of them tonight and it just feels right.
  • Here in the Antipodes it isn’t Xmas without 35C temperatures ( except Hobart which can be chilly), prawns, pavlova too much booze and sugar-loaded screaming kids. I’d guess that speech won’t get a look-in for 99.9% of us.

    As for church: fewer and fewer these days.
  • The Rogue wrote: »
    The Christmas tree.
    Interesting to me that this is the only thing anyone has listed that would make my list. Not sure what that says about me, other than that I’m not British.

    Stockings. They’ve always been fun in our family.

    And foods, particularly oysters. Oysters at Christmas is an old tradition in Eastern North Carolina, and one I was raised on. How the oysters are prepared (or not, they might be raw) varies from family to family: in my family they’re always scalloped. I’ll prepare them Tuesday, so they can sit in the fridge overnight before cooking on Wednesday. And there will be plenty for leftovers—there’re no leftovers I get more excited about.


  • Sending a round robin - there are 4 of us and we get one paragraph each. (Runs off to hide).

    Putting out all the Christmas decorations - we have many as we used to always decorate hospital rooms son was in over Christmas and now I use them at home. Kids generally don't help, but Cheery husband does the tree.

    Foodwise we have some prawns and always a leg of lamb and a BBQ chicken. My kids are not fans of turkey, so we don't bother. We'll have a combination of baked vegetables, but I always make a rice salad, from a recipe given to me by a church friend. I love it because on Boxing Day or afterwards, I turn the salad into a stir fry and if there's any chicken left we can add that to it.

    I made some gingerbread men for daughter to take to her work colleagues and I used to do the same for my own colleagues, rather than give a small silly gift. This year, mince pies done this morning, after chasing down some fruit mince, I'm too lazy to make my own!!

    Really looking forward to a quiet day with the husband and kids
  • SpikeSpike Ecclesiantics & MW Host, Admin Emeritus
    Carols from Kings
  • Stress and despair.
  • Wallis and Gromit.
  • Stress and despair.
    Indeed. Didn’t want to put this in this thread, but yes.
  • Cathscats wrote: »
    Stress and despair.
    Indeed. Didn’t want to put this in this thread, but yes.

    I'm glad I'm not the only one...
  • Sending a round robin - there are 4 of us and we get one paragraph each. (Runs off to hide).
    I’m going to admit I have absolutely no idea what this means, which I’m sure is a reflection of my shortcomings.


  • AIUI, it's a sort of family news-letter, with contributions from various people, sent round to other family members and friends at this time of year.

    It does seem to be a thing on this side of the Pond, and can be either a printed sheet enclosed with the Christmas card, or an email with Word document or PDF attached - O! the wonders of modern technology!
  • Stress and despair.

    For my sister this year -or, on alternate years, for me: hosting elderly mother who is always hard work for some unfathomable reason.
  • TrudyTrudy Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Husband and I both have Covid this year on the lead-up to Christmas, so we are seriously focused on what is absolutely essential (and possible!) for Christmas. We had already decided that our daughter, who has just bought her first house, would be taking over the extended-family Christmas-Eve dinner (even as I took it over from my mother 30 years ago when we moved into this house), so hosting that has been removed from our to-do list. Sadly, my husband won't be able to attend, as I'll be out of the contagious period by Christmas Eve but he'll still be in it, and we have some elderly and vulnerable relatives who'll be there. Cooking the turkey for Christmas day, as we normally do for our immediate family, will be postponed to a later date between Christmas and New Years, since He Who Cooks the Turkey will also be He Who is Contagious.

    However, it still feels like Christmas -- we have presents for each other and for our kids and a few other loved ones, everything is decorated, and we are enjoying long quiet evenings by the tree re-watching the Lord of the Rings extended editions. I would say the tree, gifts, and each other are our absolute Christmas essentials. Everything else can be modified or rescheduled!
  • Stollen from M&S, calling in on friends we haven’t seen all year, sending and receiving cards from friends we haven’t spoken to all year.
    It used to be the Christmas tree and the associated baubles, some of which are over 50 years old, that’s now at Lord and Lady P’s house.
  • Phone call with family. Aged Aunt lives far from us - I only have her and my sister left in my family of origin. So the three of us will chat during the day at various times.

    I am not sure if my husband plans to ring his family at all, but if he doesn't I will phone his mother and text my sister in law.

    It sounds as though my grocery delivery has arrived so I had better hop off the ship and get my skates on!!
  • Stress and despair.
    Cathscats wrote: »
    Stress and despair.
    Indeed. Didn’t want to put this in this thread, but yes.
    kingsfold wrote: »
    Cathscats wrote: »
    Stress and despair.
    Indeed. Didn’t want to put this in this thread, but yes.

    I'm glad I'm not the only one...
    Merry Vole wrote: »
    Stress and despair.

    For my sister this year -or, on alternate years, for me: hosting elderly mother who is always hard work for some unfathomable reason.

    Sending love and hugs to everyone dealing with this at this time of year. And prayers!

    ❤️🕯
  • Amen to that! @ChastMastr, you've said it perfectly!
  • Carols, singing them, listening to them well sung.
    Cards, especially those with messages.
    Tree
    Family and Food
    Board games, especially those with words, not those which focus on numbers or pictures and not Monopoly with Grandson W.
    A good balance between time together and quiet time alone.
  • Shortbread and WHISKEY (or WHISKY).
  • Amen @ChastMastr , Bless you all
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Spike wrote: »
    Carols from Kings

    I was just about to say that! Especially That Chord! ❤
  • An old fashioned Christmas Eve service at our adopted church this evening. Last year we both had covid for Christmas, and for most recent years Christmas Eve has been at the in-laws' church in New York state, a place that manages to make a mausoleum look jolly. This evening was wonderful - phenomenal soloists, good congregational singing, good readers, strong prayers and a good sermon. It felt good to be there, and now Christmas (and our wedding anniversary!) can begin.
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Congratulations to you and your partner on your wedding anniversary Stercus Tauri.
  • It's not Christmas without my late father-in-law reading The Tailor of Gloucester aloud on Christmas Eve. I mean, we try to do the cat noises for Simpkin and all his other interjections, but it isn't the same...
  • That reminds me - I usually read one of M R James' wonderfully understated ghost stories on Christmas Day.

    I think today's will be Lost Hearts...nothing like a touch of necromancy and murder to liven up a dull Yule...
  • The King's Speech.
    I was quite impressed with His Majesty's speech.

  • Telford wrote: »
    The King's Speech.
    I was quite impressed with His Majesty's speech.

    Ditto. Although I must admit that for many years I suspected that he was going to be quite good at kinging when his go came so it hasn’t been a surprise.

    His words were quite thought provoking at this address.
  • Telford wrote: »
    The King's Speech.
    I was quite impressed with His Majesty's speech.

    Ditto. Although I must admit that for many years I suspected that he was going to be quite good at kinging when his go came so it hasn’t been a surprise.

    His words were quite thought provoking at this address.

    I admit that I didn't have your confidence and for many years I dreaded the day when Her Majesty would no longer be with us. I am pleased that I was wrong.
  • I must check out His Majesty's speech. <3
  • The new Wallace & Gromit film - Vengeance Most Fowl - might be rather more entertaining. I think it's on BBC iPlayer now, having had its first outing earlier this evening.
  • NenyaNenya All Saints Host, Ecclesiantics & MW Host
    edited December 2024
    The new Wallace & Gromit film - Vengeance Most Fowl
    Watched and enjoyed that yesterday. Haven't seen His Majesty's speech yet.

    I guess Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the sad feeling when it's over and the family start packing up and heading off. I'm currently trying to keep busy so that I don't start blubbering all over them. :cry: .
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