no matter where in the world we are, I try to make sure that the kids get the following...
1. advent calendar with chocs
2. Terry's choc orange in their stocking
3Cadbury's selection box in their stocking.

Mincepies ( I think I've yet again bought up the stock in wholefoods austin)
Granny's mincemeat tart for dessert
after eight mints - honestly I think they're disgusting most of the year but somehow after a good few glasses of wine at Christmas, they taste much better!

This year, my son has persuaded me to cook my own foie gras. I did it once in France and it's really not difficult to do. Might have trouble finding fresh duck's liver in Texas though. That'll be a nod to the french part of our existence.

This will be my second Christmas in the US (first as a resident, and first full Christmas Day) so I'm embracing my new surroundings and mostly sticking to my husband's traditions this year. His mother was Italian and the big meal on Christmas Day was always lasagne, so we're honouring her (it's our first Christmas without her) and cooking a lasagne. She never used white sauce! WHAT IS THIS.

The only British thing I've made an effort to include this year is mince pies. We were told that our local Wegmans stocked mincemeat in their British section, but they had none when we looked on Saturday. I was content to leave it be, but my husband ordered me some on Amazon (for over $8 per 350g jar! ) so I'll be making some to share with the rest of my American family, none of whom have never tried a mince pie.

Next year, I'll be importing a Christmas pudding. (I don't dare try to make one.) I flippin' love Christmas pudding! With clotted cream... yum. We're going to introduce Boxing Day to the USA as of next year so that we can honour both our American/Italian and British traditions in the years to come - Christmas Day will always be lasagne, and Boxing Day will be a full, British Christmas dinner. Other essentials will thereon include:

Chocolate orange, of course
Christmas crackers (husband says he's never even seen one)
Tia Maria for coffee at breakfast
Cheeeeeeese

You can buy really good crackers in Costco at the moment. Nice pressies inside but still crap jokes!

Tia maria? Hmmm

The missus makes mince pies and we've got the filling she made aging a bit.

Crackers, we've got a box and do a few each Sunday, for some reason.

Normally get a rub of Quality Streets, but after last year, seeing how cheap they were come Boxing Day at BJ's, I'll just wait.

There's a Brit store around here that sells the choc liquors, which I used to always love, but they're silly expensive, so haven't done that, nor the choc hanging decorations.

Got a Stollen cake from World Market for $3, same one in Wegmans was $8, so not bad.

I brought advent calendars and a ton of chocolate back from England last week. My Ryanair weight allowance wouldn't allow me to bring Christmas cake and pudding though. I've done my usual Betty's splurge, iced cake, none iced cake and huge Christmas pudding, stuffed in a load of other goodies to make the shipping cost a little more bare able.

I’m back from the UK next weekend...our luggage allowance is 2 suitcases each. 1 each will be filled with UK goodies for Christmas + other UK stuff.

Nice! If we'd have flown direct into England we'd have had a spare case too. But having to fly from Dublin to Manchester on Ryan Air meant I was already paying more for my luggage than I was for the flights. We did pack a duffel on the way out though, that we filled with goodies and carried on on the way home

My essentials for surviving the next four weeks? Simple.

A good set of headphones (my Bose QuietComfort 35 noise-cancelling wireless headphones should do the trick), a couple of different streaming services and anything non-christmas to watch, listen to and/or eat!

Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry- 1 litre.
Thornton's chocolates
Bacon butties for breakfast on Christmas morning
Those teeny sausages wrapped in bacon for nibbles after breakfast
Fairy lights
A large marzipan pig
M&S Christmas room spray
A sprinkling of snow on the landscape

We will be hosting Christmas for the family at our new place. I'll be cooking a traditional English turkey recipe and brown gravy. For the rest it's pot luck. Will try and acquire some mince pies too.

Quality Street, one large tin.


And we have already demolished it. That's it for us this year

Hmmm, Christmas in an aerosol, interesting concept!

1. Beer

Glad to see the ancient Pagan traditions still manifest themselves in sins of the flesh (a personal favourite)! I like booze, (a very Chrismassy Goldschlager as I type), some rich food, and to carry on a family thing kippers on Christmas morning.

It gives you the sensation of Christmas ( I am a perfume addict with 27 bottles stashed away) and makes one feel rather jolly & festive.