charleygirl

Aw JJ so happy to read this......."Content" what a lovely word, Have a wonderful Christmas! Pub Crawl, what more can a Brit want!

PoppetUK

Wow it's great to here the positive feelings. I have to say since I posted the question we've all be hit with flu which absolutely sucks so xmas is far from our minds until we feel better now although a good supply of films on sky is keeping the eldest two entertained and the Xmas theme runs in many of them

callé

Aww, I could have said all that. Its the way I feel also. Its lovely. Had a brilliant Christmas works do, shopping done, all here is familiar now. I also enjoyed a pub crawl, carol service, snow, snuggly warm house, in fact husbands work do was brilliant as well, oh, and extra works do because some people coudnt make the first one. Brilliant!! Merry Christmas!!!

fific

The snow looks beautiful, the cold bearable with the right gear ( brilliant boots, double layer coat and hats scarves gloves). but we're feeling a little lonely as no-one can really get out or in. Planned a big reunion on sunday for all family and friends from far and wide - not a single person could make it as completely snowed/frozen in. We planned just a quiet family christmas thinking we would have seen extended family and friends just close to xmas. Now we're getting sick of each other before we've even got there. Anyway on a lighter note managed to get to gorgeous Waitrose today bought the most lovely range of food and titbits and a big bottle of gin - so I reckon I'll be alright. Kids all home - laughing, chatting, sharing music - all good.

Beedubya

Sounds just perfect, and loving all those works do's, got any jobs going??

obewan

Loving it really
Never liked the cold, but I really don't mind it even if it is freezing. It's snowing! Before Christmas! It's going to be a white Christmas, and yes, they don't know how to deal with it, but I don't care. It feels great to be here, to feel a proper Christmas, to feel like there is some Christmas spirit & atmosphere, and not feel like it's the dullest holiday ever.

Loving the cosiness, the fire roaring, the mulled wine, brisk walks & nip in the air. Loving the snow fights, building a snowman, then warming up inside with hot chocolate, Christmas movies on the telly, and twinkling Christmas lights everywhere.

Yeh, it'll be a long winter, and it is dark early. But this is one of the things that makes winter enjoyable, and I don't mind this winter one bit. Plus the snow actually makes it worthwhile in its own way

obewan

Sory beedub, that's how Christmas felt for us in Aus as well. Just complete dull blah
It got to me that it was a non-event. I don't need it to be overhyped, but I don't want it to just pass me by as 'another Sunday' if you know what I mean.

BEVS

OOo. That's beautiful.

Bevm

I'm wondering if it's mostly the returnees from Australia who are so entranced. There's no shortage of Christmasy snow in Canada. Even in Victoria we had a few years with Christmas snow.

My ideal English Christmas is crisp in the morning, but well above freezing most of the day. In fact, I remember when we moved to Victoria from the frigid parts of Canada I had a moment of delight when I was Christmas shopping. Lights reflected in roads and pavements wet with rain. How wonderful! Sweet memories of England.

Bev

HelenTD

Hi Poppet, it's great to hear how you're going back in the UK. Spare a thought for those of us in Perth, forecast 38 degrees (yes, Celsius) and humid for Christmas Day. I'll be dreaming of a bit of snow and ice.

Beedubya

Oh yes I certainly do know what you mean Obewan!! It is Christmas Eve here in Sunny Sydney and I can see the presents I have wrapped for my grand-kids for tomorrow but other than I am of course happy to see their faces tomorrow when they unwrap them, that is about all I am feeling. With Christmas Day and Boxing Day falling over the weekend it really does feel like just "another weekend."

This will be my last hot Aussie Christmas, I really can't do another one.

Lothianlad

Absolutely no chance of either roads and pavements wet with rain or crisp in the morning and no chance of it being well above freezing most of the day in any part of the UK this Christmastide - Christmas Eve - it certainly will be crisp in the morning, but it will also be crisp by elevenses, crisp when having lunch, crisp when its time for tea and toasted teacakes, even crisper by dinner time and crisper still for Midnight Mass and then beddy byes.

Christmas Day - ditto, plus risk of further snow. Boxing Day - same old story, most of us now snow and ice weary and being prosecuted for forgetting to clear the snow off the top of your car because it is illegal in the UK to not do so before driving.

Monday and Tuesday 27 and 28 December are public holidays (Bank Holidays) in the UK in lieu of a weekend Christmas Day and Boxing Day - still crisp.

New Year (Hogmanay here in Scotland) forecast to be crisp. Hae a guid one!

sallysimmons

I was looking at where my mum lives in the Lake District and it seems forecast to warm up in a few more days. Meantime here, the temperatures have been the same as yours - but that was a mild spell. They're going down more over the next week or so. Her town will be about 15 degrees warmer than mine - and yet still she will complain more than me


Same here. It's extremely dangerous.

Lothianlad

This December has turned out to be the coldest ever recorded in the UK with many areas registering a mean temperature below zero*, but a brief thaw is likely in many areas later this week - especially in western areas - but further snowfalls are likely to affect eastern districts of England overnight Monday/Tuesday 27/28 Dec and the very cold conditions look set to return right across the country by the coming weekend (Hogmanay/New Year) according to the guys in control of the seaweed and the glass balls at the Met Office in Exeter, Devon, England.

*Mean temperature for December 2010 in Edinburgh so far is -1.7C. The thermometers in many part of the UK have continuously remained below freezing point since 16 December and night time temperatures over the past few nights have been as low -18C in places as far apart as Pershore, Worcestershire and Shawbury, Shropshire all the way up to Braemar, up here in Scotland and as low as -22C in other parts of Scotland.

Maybe it isn't really fair to concentrate on UK airports and UK road and rail services for seizing up because of the severe snow and icing conditions which have been with us much of the time since the third week of November - various Continental European countries, such as France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and even the normally super efficient Germany (think Frankfort airport!) have experienced holdups and delays and general chaos.

Many places in the UK have had their second White Christmas in succession but only if you take into account a lying snow cover. Technically, in strict meteorological terms, a true White Christmas is such only when snow actually falls on 25 December and only a few places in the north east of the UK saw that this year, but to most of us it's a White Christmas when there is snow on the ground, as there certainly was this year, and last year as well for that matter. Maybe a trend is now being set here! I've never seen so many sledges as I have this winter - some of them laden with shopping bags being dragged along by elderly ladies on their way home from Tesco or Sainsburys or the Co-op or wherever.

sallysimmons

Our snow has just started and we'll have 16 inches by tomorrow lunchtime. I'm so looking forward to digging out the driveway