johnnybrown532

England

scrubbedexpat097

Ahh...Florida

BubbleChog

We just got back from our traditional Christmas lunch of Dim Sum. We're going out for Sushi for dinner. It's a vast improvement to be back on track after spending last years Christmas day at JFK.

I agree Christmas seems to be less of a big deal here than in the UK. Probably because everyone just met up for Thanksgiving. Babychog is slightly confused by the gifts because she's not been allowed to touch the ones under the tree until today.

and Happy Christmas to everyone

Pulaski

The 51st State.

GeoffM

Everybody I know in the US does Christmas dinner. Considering the billions Americans spend on outdoor Christmas decorations, lights, sweaters, trees, and even Christmas-themed tea towels/doormats/towels etc, it would be rather strange not to have some sort of Christmas dinner!

Yorkieabroad

Everyone I know here does Christmas lunch/dinner. They may do it differently to how we do it in the UK, but they certainly still do something ( round here it mainly seems to be some sort of rib roast or steaks) and generally have family get-togethers and presents etc. We live in a 4 house cul-de-sac and 2 of the other families are out of town for the whole week, the other one has gone away for 2 days, all visiting family. The main differences I see apart from what is actually served, are the lights (UK seems to be catching on to this one), the religious service attendance (think that boat has sailed in the UK) and the sweaters (hope that will never cross the pond!). Oh, and those godawful family posed Christmas cards that are the card world equivalent of someone hacking your computer, making arsebook your permanent homepage and then forcing you to read about everybody else's perfect lives every day before you're allowed to move on to BE!

We do traditional English Christmas lunch (or what I grew up with as traditional)- turkey, pork, sausage, stuffing, mash and roasties, carrots, peas, turnip, sprouts, leeks, broccoli, gravy, cranberry, Christmas pud, mince pies and trifle. Brothers in law always complain about the turkey, but seing as neither of them have offered to do either thanksgiving or Christmas in 12 years()then they can FRO and eat what they are given. I brined TG Turkey for the first time this year and it came out really nice...the best I've ever cooked here I think. I will definitely do that again next year assuming we're not invited to family...........

lizzyq

We have had a very relaxed first Christmas here in the US. Dinner could happen when it was ready without fitting in around other family members (not that they were difficult) and all timed out just about right to sit down at about 2pm. Turkey (deep fried as we had done in the UK for 4 years), roast parnsips, stuffing balls, stuffing in a dish, sprouts, carrots, pommes dauphines, bacon rolls, bread sauce, gravy, cranberry sauce & a rather nice bottle of Chateauneuf du Papes, the only things missing were crackers and the dreadful Jones within.

Presents were opened in the morning and since dinner the boys have been playing with their new games on their PCs leaving steveq and myself to vegetate in peace :-)

Tomorrow we have friends over for the evening - returning the favour of them hosting steveq & the boys for Thanksgiving. We shall be cooking a piece of gammon to add to the cold turkey and reprising the side dishes. Dessert will be Christmas pud & mince pies with brandy butter.

Not missing English Christmas yet.

kins

*nods* My neighbours currently have 12 cars outside their house. They might all be partaking in ouija board antics, or perhaps playing strip poker, but I suspect they're having some kind of Christmas dinner.

Yorkieabroad

Is that posh for leftovers then?

Be interesting to see how the Americans take to the Christmas pud and Mince pies - ours normally take some to be polite, poke it round their plates for a while, then tuck into the pecan pie or sweet potato pie and leave the foreign muck on the side of their plates... At almost $50 for a store bought one, I wish they'd just admit they don't like it and leave it all for me!!

Yorkieabroad

Binoculars or even a well placed remote webcam could soon settle that. Go on, be a sport...

lizzyq

Nah, it means I'm cooking the same again

It's foreign muck or nowt for 'em

TheTokenBrit

The only thing I miss about Christmas in the UK is the Telly (Watching 'A Christmas Story' over and over and over and over again on TBS is not my idea of good viewing, I'd never even seen it before I came over here. How American Television hasn't figured out that Christmas Day is the optimal time to show NEW content as that is when the majority of Americans are home is baffling beyond belief), the Mince Pies ("Ewww Mince Pies sound gross!" is a chorus you hear most of the time here) and the Pulling of Crackers, I've managed to convert my wife to that but the rest of her family still frown a bit about it.

As for the rest. It's much the same as in the UK.

SultanOfSwing

I like Christmas out here actually. I always have since I moved here, even though we handle the celebrations slightly differently than we did 'back home', in that everyone descends upon our house on Christmas Eve for dinner and a present exchange, then it's just us on the day itself.

Dinner was lovely yesterday, we did a ham, my mother in law supplied a turkey and there was the obligatory lashings of mash, stuffing and other assorted gorging material.

Plus my wife made a batch of shortbread that'd have made you shit yourself, it was that good.

Actually, I quite like the fact that I can switch on the TV here on Christmas afternoon and watch something normal, like Mythbusters or Family Guy and not yet another ****ing East Enders Christmas cheese-fest

BubbleChog

Mince pies ARE gross.

SultanOfSwing

Fly's graveyards ...