Last Christmas
Last Christmas was oh so very different than all other previous Holidays. I was engaged, and living in England and celebrating my very first Christmas away from home.
At US Christmas - we go to mass on Christmas eve. For UK Christmas we go to the bars. It’s the biggest bar night of the year. I suppose because they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, their bar night is around Christmas instead. The first bar we attended was called “The Firken”, which is a re purposed church. So… I was in Church..but drinking snakebites… and not listening to a sermon.I tried very hard to have a “when in Rome”attitude because I really wanted to experience Nick’s traditions.
I was so committed to the “when in Rome” ‘tude that although I had planned on going to mass Christmas morning, we partied so hard that I slept too late to go. I was absolutely mortified. After indulging in a full English (vegetarian) Breakfast I gamely tried to tame the unpleasant effects of last night’s “when in rome-ness”. Because no matter how much you think you can keep up with the English when it comes to drinking - you can’t, so just get that now.
All in all, it was a similar holiday, if a little reorganized on Christmas day. For US Christmas we have immediate family presents in the morning, followed by a gathering of the full family for appetizers, then a full Christmas dinner. For UK Christmas we had immediate family presents int he morning, then everyone came over for Christmas Lunch (also called Dinner, confusing I know), everyone else took a walk (I took a nap) and then we had appetizers (called a buffet) for Dinner.
I tried to skype with my family for their morning present opening - but because I wasn’t there they tossed the tradition out all together! There were no Cinnabons, no small intimate family gathering to open presents - not even Christmas Eve mass! This year, I’m here and I intend to revive all traditions with my presence. I even plan on incorporating a few British style surprises to make Nick feel more at home.
Have you ever tried someone else’s Holiday on for size?
