Christmas??

[Deleted User]

I have compromised!!!

Cottages are quite pricy for christmas week and I would still have to shop etc
Hotels can be too formal and boozy and I don`t want to be formal with a load of strangers
My newly-pregnant dd asked me about christmas as she isn`t feeling that good, so being the mum I am I said `come to our house`

Ok so I have decided to make life easy over christmas. I have just ordered a big, lovely organic hamper that contains all the basics from pud to cheeses to chutneys etc. I ordered the meat and trimmings at the same time. I will buy disposable foil cooking dishes and I will get all my veg, fruit and dairy delivered by riverford and prepared by the rest of the family

I think I will also have two veggie guests so have made a trial order from this place http://www.cookfood.net/about/
I found it by accident and have my fingers crossed as it could be a life saver. Anyway we are going to enjoy a selection of meals from them over the next few weeks. I will be getting the veggie meals frozen from them if they taste good and I think they will

Just got to order the chocolates now and I have FINISHED

PHEW!!! wasn`t too bad this year

margaretclare

Hi Kittie, glad you're all sorted.

In the end we decided not to go anywhere. We've booked Christmas Day lunch at our favourite local hostelry, the 'Bull' Inn at Hockley (mentioned it before). Of course it's expensive, they have to pay people 3 times as much to work Christmas Day - but it will be nice. We'll go to church first and then go on for lunch. We're going to get several DVDs in just so that we don't have to watch Christmas TV, and we'll have a nice quiet time.

I'll do the same as the last few years, get flowers delivered for all the women in the family. My eldest GD is hoping to have the kitchen and bathroom in her 30-year old council flat re-done before Christmas, and she'll appreciate some money to spend on paint etc.

I'm all in favour of making it as stress-free as possible.

Margaret

seven-day-weekend

For the three Christmases we have been in Spain we have gone out to Christmas dinner on December 25th with some other expats (Spanish don't celebrate it till January 6th). We go to La Ladera, run by John and Mary; Mary is an excellent cook with a big personality and John is a suave meinhost.

We have traditional Christmas dinner (about twenty people in all) and then my husband and I book one of La Ladera's apartments and spend the night there (although it's only five minutes drive away). This is my Christmas present.

We spend Boxing morning eating breakfast on the terrace and then go home mid-morning.

Meal 20 euros, drinks about the same, apartment 30 euros - about £50-£60 overall.

Just the type of Christmas I love.

I hated it in the UK! Far too commercialised and we couldn't afford to go out anywhere.

Even when we're back resident in the UK, we'll still try to come to Mary and John's for Christmas.

margaretclare

Hi 7DWE

You are right about Christmas being too commercialised. It has got worse and worse over the years. We now have Hallowe'en imposed on us, and trick-or-treating, which was never a tradition of ours. We were in a supermarket yesterday and people were buying pumpkins with 'Hallowe'en Pumpkin' labels stuck on them, others with a special box containing pumpkin and 'Hallowe'en Pumpkin' on the box. I thought, a pumpkin, is a pumpkin, is a pumpkin...

There are also displays of tatty cheap-looking 'costumes' to 'go trick-or-treating in' which apparently the kids 'have to have' nowadays.

This evening we shall not be answering any rings at the doorbell.

Margaret

chesky369

A couple of years ago my son and his partner weren't going to be able to join in our normal Christmas, so my daughter and I - with her children - went to Egypt. We stayed in Luxor at a wonderful hotel, did the Valley of the Kings, the temple at Karnak, all those things. Plus it was fantastic weather, so the girls were able to swim every day in the hotel's pool. The hotel threw a great party for the New Year.

I'd thoroughly recommend it - but it sure ain't a traditional christmas.

Edinburghlass_2

A pumpkin may be just a pumpkin but its far easier to carve than a neep :j

Trick or treating may well be an American import but guising has always been popular in Scotland and in fact Halloween originated in Ireland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trick-or-treating

margaretclare

Edinburghlass wrote: »

A pumpkin may be just a pumpkin but its far easier to carve than a neep.

Trick or treating may well be an American import but guising has always been popular in Scotland and in fact Halloween originated in Ireland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trick-or-treating

Yes, I know that. My point is that it has never been a tradition for us here in England. I never heard of trick-or-treating even when my daughters were growing up, in the 1960s/1970s, and in fact the first time I ever heard of it was in the film 'ET'.

Hallowe'en was originally the day before All Saints' Day which was more of a Catholic festival than for us. I've no idea where it acquired the vampires etc and scary connotations.

My point about the pumpkins being sold labelled 'Hallowe'en Pumpkins' as if they were somehow different was not whether they are easier to carve or not. It was simply to wonder why on earth they had to be so labelled? It was pretty obvious what they were, and they'll still be pumpkins when Hallowe'en has come and gone!

When I was a child we had Mischief Night which was 4th November and then, of course, the big festival was Guy Fawkes Night on 5th November. Mischief Night was about playing silly tricks on people, but not for reward.

Hallowe'en seems to be very much a means of getting people to spend money through children who are led to think it's what they should do.

I am all in favour of keeping traditional festivals, but not having them imposed on us by commercial interests.

Margaret

EdInvestor

margaretclare wrote: »

Yes, I know that. My point is that it has never been a tradition for us here in England. Hallowe'en was originally the day before All Saints' Day which was more of a Catholic festival than for us.

Well never say never! After all England was Catholic only a few hundred years ago and the feast of All Saints is still part of the Church of England calendar ( Hallowe'en meaning the eve of all Hallows = All Saints)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints

I guess the scary bit originally arose because they used to keep vigil in the churchyard by the graves of the saints long gone - and then the next week for the non-saints at the festival of All Souls.

So a much older festival than Guy Fawkes, and possibly even with Celtic origins which would make it a truly ancient - and very English - event.

I am all in favour of keeping traditional festivals, but not having them imposed on us by commercial interests.

Indeed it would be very sensible IMHO if the church 'reclaimed' Hallowe'en and put it in its proper context. I must say I like the idea of a festival which celebrates the lives of the saints among us, closely followed by a festival which celebrates the lives of everyone else

margaretclare

EdInvestor wrote: »

Well never say never! After all England was Catholic only a few hundred years ago and the feast of All Saints is still part of the Church of England calendar ( Hallowe'en meaning the eve of all Hallows = All Saints)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints

I guess the scary bit originally arose because they used to keep vigil in the churchyard by the graves of the saints long gone - and then the next week for the non-saints at the festival of All Souls.

So a much older festival than Guy Fawkes, and possibly even with Celtic origins which would make it a truly ancient - and very English - event.

Indeed it would be very sensible IMHO if the church 'reclaimed' Hallowe'en and put it in its proper context. I must say I like the idea of a festival which celebrates the lives of the saints among us, closely followed by a festival which celebrates the lives of everyone else

Which church should reclaim it, Ed? I'm a Methodist, and it never gets a mention in our church. I do like the idea of remembering those who died who were near and dear to us. 'Saints' don't need to have been officially canonised. I have known a few saints in my lifetime.

But all this is a very far cry from what it has become.

We've just had the obligatory ring at the doorbell, followed by more insistent ringing, followed by banging at the door, followed by banging of the letter-box. We were having a meal and we ignored the lot.

Margaret

EdInvestor

margaretclare wrote: »

Which church should reclaim it, Ed? I'm a Methodist, and it never gets a mention in our church.

Why not yours? All Saints is definitely on your calendar, Nov 1 and celebrated on the following Sunday.

http://www.gbod.org/worship/2007-2pagercl.pdf

I'd have thought all the Christian churches would recognise it, as it goes back such a long way, though some denominations might emphasis it more than others.