First Christmas!
 

So we've been in Vancouver for almost 6 months and next week it'll be our first Christmas here! It's just me and my hubby and the first time we haven't spent Christmas with extended family. I'm actually looking forward to it, but I think it will be a bit strange!

I'm just curious what other people did their first Christmas here? Are there particular traditions you discovered? Any tips for a Canadian Xmas to remember?

Re: First Christmas!
 

My mum came over from England and the in-laws from Montreal for our first, then just the in-laws the next couple of times so other than being in Canada it wasn't hugely different. And snowy of course.

My Canadian family did present giving on xmas eve and no special meal as such. We've mixed things up a bit now...a bit of theirs and a bit of mine.

Take a walk or drive around your neighbourhood when it's dark and enjoy looking at the decorated houses. Some overdo it, but it's just nice to see glowing lights. :nod:

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Ice Fishing on boxing morning to get rid of the excesses of xmas day.

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If its not raining its a good day to walk around the city as most everything is closed so less traffic and people out and about.

If its raining, stay inside and stay dry.

For a number of years I used to go to Denny's on Christmas for breakfast, usually an interesting collection of people at Denny's.

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I find, in our part of the country, that the main differences are the choices at a Christmas dinner. Canadians are big fans of mashed potato, corn and dinner rolls. They tend to call stuffing dressing too. As we always have Christmas dinner with our friends who are Canadians we tend to have a hybrid meal which means we cover EVERYTHING.
We have two meats, including a ham, pigs in blankets, mashed and roast potato, corn and typically British veg, stuffing,fresh homemade cranberyy sauce and gravy (not made with Bisto) but I draw the absolute line at dinner rolls. What a waste of space in ones tummy!

Re: First Christmas!
 

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...f4e52d1a5a.jpg
Could be a hard sell, but that's what I like.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...9a7ca6c83.jpeg

Re: First Christmas!
 

Maybe where you are, but in my 40+ years in Canada it was roast potatoes and stuffing. I've only ever heard "dressing" from Americans. I can't ever remember corn or dinner rolls with a Christmas meal. Actually, I don't think I've ever had dinner rolls with any meal.

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The pubs close early on Christmas eve.

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If I am being totally honest, our first Christmas here was the most depressing Christmas we have ever had. We were all suffering from home sickness and the kids were really missing their grand parents. I think we all sat around the Christmas tree crying our eyes out once we had face timed the UK. That first Christmas was tough.

This year we are all getting stoned Christmas Day, and drunk on Boxing day. You have to mix it up a bit.

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No laughing gas?

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We spent our 1st Christmas with Canadian friends, roast turkey ( she pulled the legs off and threw them away) mash potatoes peas and salad, no dressing/stuffing, with dinner rolls and ice cream for pud. We have since always done our own dinners lol. As for Canada being the most Christmassy country, it isn't where I am, even the Filipinos think it's bland.

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Everyone I know and virtually all the Christmas meals I've had at Canadian's homes they have had mashed potato only - in fact the only ones that even knew what a roast potato was were the ones who have British parents or grandparents! Corn featured heavily, as did that monstrosity of green beans or sweet potato with marshmallow on top and broccoli or macaroni casserole and such abominations.. and yes they have called stuffing 'dressing' - and it's never stuffed into the turkey, always as a side dish.. and yes, dinner rolls were served too.

When they come to me it's a full traditional Christmas Dinner - but sadly this year there won't be a christmas pud nor sausage rolls or sherry trifle.. (but we do have christmas crackers complete with silly jokes and paper hats courtesy of Walmart :p )

First Christmas here my son and I sat on the deck in folding chairs drinking 'camping coffee' (that's coffee laced with a little something, i.e. brandy or whisky), my son smoked a cigar while we watched the snow falling around us :D

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I have only been to a handful of Christmas dinners, but the ones I have gone to always had corn, mashed potatoes, dinner rolls, and such, only time I ever hear dressing used for stuffing is from older people, my MIL calls it that and my grandmother did, but by and large people call it stuffing or just stove top since that seems to be the preferred brand.

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That is actually really interesting to me. Something totally different.
If you think to , perhaps take some pics and post up in a dedicated thread .
I know nothing about this. Is it a day trip? Camp out?
Will you catch fish. If so what sort.
Will you see wild life?

Re: First Christmas!
 

A dressing is not stuffing. A dressing is something you spoon over or through food. Salad dressing is a prime example. A stuffing will be firm but moist & really should be baked within the meat as it is all about flavours. Neither are condiments, jus or sauces.

Mash and corn do not belong with roasts. They belong with sausages and pies.

Not sure what the dinner roll thing is. Dinner rolls to me are tiny fresh baked bread rolls that are served with a suitable dinner. Should be served warm. One each only.

Yeah :amen:

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Pretty much what they are... But most seem to buy them from the store bakery already made.

I've only been to 2 or 3 Christmas Dinners in Canada over the last 14 years, so I don't exactly have a wide range of experience outside of those few.

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I don't know what dinner rolls are but they sound like heaven. I bet they're good warmed, filled with slightly mushed roast potatoes, a little bit of stuffing and some gravy on them. That's about as likely to happen as my Dad wanting to meat Cindy Crawford in the 1980s. :(

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:ohmy:

NoNoNo. No filling or dunking the dinner rolls.
They get served first. Break Bread.

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Our first Christmas was pretty depressing as I'd just been made redundant. So we returned Christmas presents prior to Christmas to get the money back. To cap it off the Crappy Tire lights we'd put up on the house were subject to a safety recall so we had to take them all down & return them to the store. So all in all not a good Christmas.

Fortunately, subsequent Christmas's have been rather better. Aside from the one Christmas in 14 years we spent in England, every Christmas has involved going to one of the Mrs's relatives house as they host and cook the Christmas lunch. It is full Newfoundland style Christmas dinner so turkey yes but then carrot, turnip & cabbage boiled for many hours with salt beef riblets till they are a vaguely salty mush. Plus mashed potatoes & pease pudding. I've been suggesting for years that one Christmas I'd host & do a "proper" roast but to no avail. However, as I think I've posted before, now we have kids I am appreciative of the fact we can drop by for a couple of hours eat our fill, socialise and then leave before the washing up needs doing. ;)

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:rofl:

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No, dinner rolls are little rolls, of the bread kind, boring and served with dinner. Thats all they are. Waste of carbohydrate allowance.

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Couple of vids

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Ice fishing always looks fun, not an easy task around my parts so never done it, but looks fun.

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Could you freeze your aquarium? :ohmy:

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And use some Tinned/Frozen Lobster for bait!!

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I took them down, but you could if you found a big enough freezer but then the water as it frozen would crack the glass and all the fish would die, too small of water volume so would be one big chunk of ice.

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Our second Christmas here and yes, this is already our established tradition!

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Hah, Here we just head out into the woods and chop down a likely looking specimen. That's tomorrow afternoon's job.

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I miss having a real tree. When I was a kid we would go to the local tree farm and cut down a tree every year, was fun.

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Stuffing is the bread mixture that is stuffed into the bird, i.e. turkey or spread on a meat that is then rolled into a spiral and roasted. Dressing is when the bread mixture is baked in a casserole dish in the oven.

Americans and Canadians enjoy corn in all forms. It is, naturally, one of our major crops so it is eaten often. It is one of the veggies I serve when I have first time guests and don't know what they like or dislike. Not everyone likes sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, asparagus, squash, etc. So I will make one of those along with corn to be served.

We rarely eat beef but when we do serve it usually for guests, i.e. steak, we serve a baked potato (jacket potato), a roast will have roast potatoes, a pot roast will have mashed because the pot roast is cooked in a gravy to tenderize the meat. My sister-in-law in Kanawake, Quebec, always serves roast potatoes with the exception of Thanksgiving when she will make mashed. No dinner is complete until she sets the homemade cole slaw on the table. Could be part of her English/Irish heritage or her husband's 100% Native heritage.

As for dinner rolls, they are quite different than the Yorkshire pudding the English serve with the roast. The rolls or bread is served with the meal instead of placed on the table when you first sit down in a restaurant. They could be served to take some of the hunger off while you wait for your meal or at home added to the table with the meal because you didn't sit at the dinner table until the meal was served.

My thoughts on that is for example when growing up, dad came home from WWII and the factory he worked for closed up and moved south for cheaper labor. Without a job, he caddied to bring in money. Bread was served to help fill your stomach because food was expensive and not much of it was served at dinner time. So a tradition, at least in our home, was that bread was served with dinner. I'm sure this happened in a majority of homes in the US and Canada during the late 40's and 50's.

Re: First Christmas!
 

Agreed. Stuffing comes in all manner of ....stuffings'.

I might do that but not with a bread based stuffing. It would be another moist mix. I would call that a roulade. On the outside it is a crust.

Nopes. Nah. At best I would call that a side dish. :p If I wasn't stuffing the bird with the stuffing, I would roll it into balls and bake as a side dish to serve.
Dressing to me are spoonable or pourable.

Agree in a way. Love corn but it is not for a roast.
Gravy on the other hand. :eek:

Yup. Steak, salad and a jacket is rather good . So is steak chips and light veg perhaps with a sauce. It is not a cut that would do for roast beef.

Yup.
Not sure what that is. Is that a slow cooked braised dish ? A casserole /stew type of thing , in which case mash would be more appropriate or a quality type of bread . Roast potatoes would not.
Cole slaw ? Is there salad ? I can see a roasted turkey served with salad , new potatoes or mash and corn working. Cole slaw though = not for a roast.

My Irish mother nor my English dad would not put coleslaw with a roast. Neither would I.

Yorkshire puddings are nothing to do with bread . Yorky puds are only served with roast beef. Not any other sort of roast. ------> although those that love yorkshire puds might eat them with any roast and will also eat them cold with jam. Only other dish I can think of for yorky pud batter is for a toad-in-the-hole.

Agree. No restaurant should put down bread rolls before a main. They appear with a main. However they may appear for a soup starter although I would not feel that to be the ticket.

Yup. That is exactamonte the case & was the same for many UK and European homes. Food was rather scarce & expensive. My family was poor . Bread was a fill up staple but as you note, was served with decorum. In other words, it had its place as a part of a meal.

In far older terms, bread being offered was a break bread . An invitation to eat with family. That would have been the offering , the bread being broken as one sat for the meal.

We love these types of chats don't we Rete. :starsmile:

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My Mother was from Yorkshire and when visiting relatives there we were always served Yorkshire Puddings as a 'starter' with a good beef gravy - then we would have the roast beef, roast potatoes and vegetables, followed by Yorkshire Pudding with jam and custard for dessert! The idea being that you would fill up on the Yorkshire Pudding as Beef was expensive.. and the leftover Yorkshire was used for dessert... waste not, want not.

My Mother made the best Yorkies - they rose inches above the pan, were succulent in the middle and crispy and light brown on the edges... and her toad-in-the-hole (served with sage and onion gravy) sublime.
:)

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Both dressing and stuffing are common terms for a bread stuffing in Canada, sometimes regardless of whether it's cooked in the bird or in foil.
"Don't get hung up on whether it's labeled stuffing or dressing, it's all basically the same beast."
What's the Difference Between Stuffing and Dressing? Allrecipes
Legend has it my paternal grandfather insisted on making oyster stuffing for his Christmas goose or turkey.

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I had my best (the only good one in Canada) fish and chips since around 2003-04 last week. Proper cod and in batter.
It came with tartare sauce - which I understand for fish, but not fish as in fish and chips - and coleslaw which I understand even less. :confused:

Our family Boxing Day dinner was always cold turkey and bubble and squeak. In later years, cold turkey, potatoes, whatever other veg and leftover stuffing, cranberry sauce and crisps.

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You've made me want fish and chips now, and I'm not usually a huge fan. Tartare sauce and salad is perfectly 'normal' in Oz.

Had a lovely dinner tonight - bubble and squeak with the leftover veggies from the roast Christmas dinner. I think I enjoyed it even more than the actual dinner.

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I love Mint sauce on my turkey, does that make me a bad person?