Blogmas Day 17: A Typical British Christmas

As many of you probably know, I live in England meaning I celebrate British Christmas traditions. Quite a few of my readers live abroad, so I thought it would be fun to do a little post about the way we celebrate Christmas. We can compare the similarities and differences between countries, but here are some typical ways us Brits celebrate the holidays:

1. Christmas Crackers- I'm not sure if this is a "thing" everywhere, but I couldn't imagine Christmas without them. Essentially, they are little decorated cardboard tubes, with a tiny explosive (but not a dangerous one) that makes a bang when you pull them apart. They contain a little gift inside, and two people pull the cracker apart and whoever is left with the biggest end of the cracker keeps the gift. 

2. Crowns & Cracker Jokes- This links on to the Christmas cracker because each of them contain a cheesy joke inside. For example: 

"Why Did Santa's helper see the doctor?"
"Because he had low elf esteem"

The jokes are never funny, but that's kinda what adds to their charm. Also inside each cracker is a little paper hat. Usually by the end of the Christmas dinner, everyone has pulled their crackers apart and is sitting there with their paper hats on their heads. 

3. The Queen's Speech- I must confess to something, I've never watched the Queen's speech. But it's still a part of my traditions because I have family members who always love and watch her speech, and I know many people who's Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without it. So yeah, sitting down and watching the speech is another "typical British" thing do do on the 25th of December. 

4. The John Lewis Advert- John Lewis is a department store here in the UK, and their Christmas adverts always grip the nation. They are known for having the sweetest, most heartwarming adverts that do make you emotional to watch. You know it's Christmas when their adverts come on TV. 

5. Christmas Dinner Midday- So in the UK it's traditional to have a late-ish lunch for Christmas Dinner as opposed to an evening meal. In my family, we all go round to the host's house at midday, and eat around 1-2pm and stay until the evening. Needless to say, we're all pretty full by the time evening comes!

I've hoped you've liked learning about the things we do here in the UK. The song of the day is Baby Please Come Home by Darlene Love because it's been in my head so much this year. Do you do any of these things too, or do you have any of your own traditions? Let me know in the comments,

Izzy K xxx