Originally Posted by LeithAc (Post 9755151)

I'm such a sad act I have my family send me copies of the M & S, Boots and Radio Times Christmas magazines and sit and read them all with a glass of wine. Living in Boston there's a few British/Irish shops so it's easy to get the required crackers/tins of Roses and cocktail sausages that make for an enjoyable Christmas but I still miss being at home for all the reasons everyone else has mentioned. It's over far too quick here which makes me sad. It was a complete culture shock when I first arrived here a few years ago and colleagues were scheduling a meeting for Dec 26th and I realised I was going to be at work.

Originally Posted by tonrob (Post 9748982)

That lovely festive song by Slade - you know the one.

Originally Posted by Bradford Lass (Post 9756576)

I've realised that I miss Boxing Day but possibly because I miss paid holidays! I have decided to bring it to the US this year and am encouraging my friends to have the day off and eat leftovers with me ;) May even make them watch British TV on the Slingbox.

Originally Posted by SultanOfSwing (Post 9758133)

*sigh*

In no particular order:

- Christmas dinner. The one day of the year my ma arsed herself to cook more than sausages and chips, but well worth the wait.
- Christmas pudding
- M&S desserts. Mmmm.
- Christmas Eve piss-up with my mates down the local
- Getting more than one ****ing day off work
- Christmas songs that aren't that godawful 1950s rat pack shite
- Carolers (though you probably aren't allowed to hear Christmas Carols anymore, lest we make a Muslim cry ...)
- Work Christmas dinner/piss-up combo in mid December
- Christmas crackers
- TV Christmas specials and the double issue Radio Times
- Christmas tree spotting while driving around in December and not seeing bloody awful inflatable Santas, massive plastic raindeer or that kind of stuff.
- My old house
- Dandering over to my mate's house on Boxing Day to get pished
- Belfast City Centre all decorated and lit up.
- Selection boxes and 1kg bars of Dairy Milk :blink:

I shall stop now :(

Originally Posted by Uncle Ebenezer (Post 9758399)

Damn, but you're a miserable old sod.

Originally Posted by SultanOfSwing (Post 9758409)

I prefer disillusioned, and less of the old, please ;)

Originally Posted by Uncle Ebenezer (Post 9758430)

Meh ... semantics.

I miss stuffing, that's actually been cooked inside the turkey - that was always one of my favourite parts of Christmas dinner. My mum used to stuff our turkey with pork sausage meat - delicious.

Originally Posted by SultanOfSwing (Post 9758528)

One good thing about last (and this, I think) Christmas here, to be fair and balanced and all that, was that my mother in law surprised me with a turkey for our Christmas Eve dinner to accompany the ham we have every year :)

Obviously, my wife made her excellent stuffing to accompany it. My mum never made her own, unless she changed her name to Marks & Spencer somewhere in my youth ...