Celebrating UK Christmas as an Immigrant (vs my Canadian Christmas)

Merry Christmas! It's early, I know! As a Canadian who's been celebrating Christmas in the UK for the last 8 years, how do they compare? Does one country do it better than the other? Let's find out!
Please subscribe here! kzbin.info...
Pigs in Blankets, Canada style: • 4 Levels of Pigs In A ...
UK Pigs in Blankets: • How to make the BEST P...
Want more? Check out:
8 Years in Britain: • 8 Years in Britain: th...
I can't believe these British stereotypes are TRUE: • I can't believe these ...
FOLLOW THE ADVENTURE
Patreon: / adventuresandnaps
Livestreams: / adventuresandnaps
FB: / adventuresandnaps
IG: / adventures.and.naps
Web: www.adventuresandnaps.com
Newsletter: adventuresandnaps.com/newslet...
You can donate to my channel here: www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr...
Music by Epidemic Sound, get 60 days free: share.epidemicsound.com/pna7us
Hey! I'm Alanna - a thirty-something documenting my life as a Canadian living in England.
I share the ups and downs of an expat living abroad and what it's really like living in the UK. It's not always easy, but there's been so many wonderful experiences, too. I post a KZbin video every Tuesday plus an additional video every Saturday on my Patreon account. I also livestream every Wednesday and Sunday at 5:30pm GMT/BST on Twitch.
Alanna x

[@atmosphere60]

This whole habit of eating dried fruits caked with spices in the winter goes back to medieval times. In the days before fridges people dried their fruit to store over winter, and brought it out for festive feasts along with their precious spices. It's the same on the continent with things like lebkuchen

[@loraleepooley3669]

I have tried to like fruitcake but I cannot 😂

[@davidroberts1816]

North Americans have no taste and are allergic to anything that’s not American

[@tomw2131]

Not only that, in mediaeval times they would cook meats (wild boar, deer, rabbit, etc) with root vegetables (not potatoes, as they hadn’t been discovered yet) with “rare & expensive” fruits, nuts and spices (nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon/canel); mash the meats and veg down and then bake in a pastry “coffin” with a pastry top or topped with little “birdies” (yes, garden birds, plucked and gutted!). I’ve followed a recipe and it tastes just like traditional “mince pies” but has meat in it! 😋

[@jenanization]

What's not to like? It's fruit and booze @@loraleepooley3669

[@sfjnet]

The look of pain on your face when you say "spiced fruit" is hilarious!

[@josephh16]

I've lived in Canada all my life and I love Christmas pudding, Fruit cake (dark and light), mince tarts, etc. MMMMM. My mom's family was English and she made all that stuff. But, of course, Cadbury chocolate is good too!!

[@suzannehawkins383]

I too am an older Canadian from Ontario. my grandparents were all from the UK. in 2019 I decided to check out how the Brits celebrate Christmas. So I spent two weeks in London doing traditional Christmas activities. I had a Christmas Dinner at The Crypt at St Martin's, saw A Christmas Carol live at The Old Vic. Checked out all the Christmas Markets, etc, etc. It was the best Christmas time of my life! And extremely similar to my family's traditional Christmas.

[@frankmitchell3594]

A Christmas thought, an Australian once told me that when he was a kid he wondered what British kids did during the school summer holidays because they did not have their Christmas toys to play with .

[@shanemjn]

As someone who also has two nephews, I very much agree with "I don't think they'll like them, I'm sending six"

[@SteveMikre44]

Every family has a crazy Aunt or Uncle. I guess Alanna is the crazy Aunt in her family...😂🇨🇦🇬🇧

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

😂

[@joannecunliffe8067]

I'd ♥ to have a crazy aunt like Alanna!

[@MarkARhodie]

lol

[@joegoss30]

I'll be making believe that Xmas doesn't exist as I usually spend it solo. At least there's footie on Boxing Day.

[@joannecunliffe8067]

@@joegoss30 I'm a Buddhist and have just spent Bodhi Day (Buddhist Christmas) alone. The first meal Siddartha Gautama is supposed to have eaten (because he was weak from meditating/fasting) after achieving enlightenment was rice and milk ... so I ate my home made rice pudding alone (it was yummy though). Both of us need to reach out to the community (local and online) and know there are friends out there. We aren't alone and don't need to be. Make 2024 the year you feel wanted again. I am. ♥ Jo.

[@BBKing1977]

0:24 "The couch is doing just fine... it's just lumpy." Me too, couch. Me too!

[@IRQ1Conflict]

Sooo. Christmas pudding is so offensive that you sent extra helpings to your nephews? Dear Lord I can't stop laughing. 🤣

[@rogerwitte]

I am English and 63 years old. For most of my life I would go to my Great Aunt Stella and do Christmas Dinner like you describe for England, except that at about 4 when we were all stuffed we would go for a walk to get over the comatose feeling. We would walk in the crisp cold for half an hour and then go back to the house and drink champagne. Then about 20years ago I married a Jamaican and, shortly after, Great Aunt Stella passed away. So now I have a Jamaican influenced dinner. We will jerk a fowl (sometimes turkey, sometimes duck, sometimes goose), roast some gammon, and curry some goat. We eat it with cole slaw, fried plantain and, in a nod to England, brussel sprouts. We will drink a toast with rum. We still end up very full and comatose. (PS I do like christmas pudding but only if it is drowning in custard. You can use cream or brandy sauce if custard is unavailable but custard is my preference).

[@grahvis]

Since there is only me, this year I decided to break from tradition and make an individual fish pie. I will be using hake and prawns, broccoli, mashed potato and extra mature cheese.

[@dogglebird4430]

I am a Brit but I lived in Sweden for 11 years. I was raised to enjoy spiced fruit and so I love Christmas pudding, Christmas cake and mince pies. My wife and I tried to introduce the Swedes just didn't get it. Like you, they hated it and we didn't understand why.

[@AdventuresAndNaps]

What types of things to Swedes have around Christmas?

[@dogglebird4430]

@@AdventuresAndNaps They like herring in a huge range of different sauces including garlic and curry. Julskinka, which is a Christmas ham, meatballs (as you would expect), gravlax (cured salmon), and St. Lucia saffron buns. St Lucia is a saint and there is a festival in early December when children, usually but not exclusively girls, dress up as her with a long white dress and then wear real lit candles in their hair. Yup - that's as dangerous as it sounds!

[@gazelliott5659]

I have to say I have been living in Sweden for over 20 years and not been able to buy mince pies or ready made mince I started baking my own using local ingredients. The y are a great hit with our swedish friends .Every year I had to bake more with the demand starting in December .maybe they liked them as I spiced the mince with glögg.

[@dogglebird4430]

@@gazelliott5659 "They are a great hit with our swedish friends" Really, Gaz? I am amazed. I took a large plate full into the university where I worked and most of what my Swedish colleagues put in their mouths either elicited a grimace or was spat out - and my wife makes amazing mince pies. But yes, I could imagine they would work well with glögg.

[@MS-19]

I love herring, and funnily enough on the day this video came out I bought some kippers. I sense I'd enjoy a Swedish Christmas!

[@DidrickNamtvedt]

I'm from Norway and I've been following you for a long time, love your videos! I've always been fascinated by Canada but I also love the UK as I've been there many times myself and even lived there for half a year as an exchange student (in Southampton in 2015) so it's fun to see the UK from your point of view. My mom is half American so many things she grew up with that she's told me about are things that seem to be in common with things you grew up with in Canada as well, so my American roots through her can sort of relate. And I love all things Christmas, maybe except weather when it's too cold and when the ice makes the ground super slippery. But it's nice with all the decorations, Christmas music and the many Christmas movies out there that always put me in the holiday spirit. I'm spending Christmas with my family in our cabin in the mountains this year (about a three hour drive from my hometown Bergen on the west coast) and Christmas is always beautiful up there! We have our big celebration with dinner, dancing around the tree and presents on the evening of the 24th, and that's a day we all look forward to, kids and adults alike! :)

[@garycassidy8606]

You are such a nice person. The end bit about Twitch and keeping lonely people company, lovely. 👏 Have fabulous Christmases 🇬🇧

[@loraleepooley3669]

Alanna’s a gem❤️

[@Grandadflipsfurniture]

I'm in the UK and we'll have an early starter (prawn cocktail for me) followed by turkey and whay seems like 27 veg (spuds, sprouts, parsnips, carrot & swede, cauli, etc.), cranberry sauce, Yorkie pud, proper pigs in blankets (not sausage rolls), gravy and cheese sauce on the cauli. Then sit on the couch and fall asleep as the kids play with toys. Heaven!

[@thomaskjr4322]

Christmas in Denmark is celebrated the 24th. Dinner is usually Duck, Turkey or a Pork roast, caramelized potatoes, red cabbage and gravy. For dessert we have Ris a'lamande which is rice pudding with chopped almonds exept for one whole one. Whoever get the whole almond get a present. After dinner we sing a few christmas carrols before exchanging presents.

[@diceykitty2542]

Sorry 😉… but I grew up in “Trawna” (aka Toronto) and Christmas was fruitcake, mince meat tarts, Nanaimo bars, butter tarts and Yorkshire puddings. One side of my family, although many generations removed from Brit ancestry, kept certain food traditions and merged them with more traditional Canadian fare. In addition, my French Canadian side gave us tortiere on Christmas Eve. I still make my nan’s fruit cake recipe. My wife is from the prairies where there were many similarities with the UK food traditions but we incorporate her Icelandic heritage food traditions, as well. You are right to recognize it is family specific and ever evolving. Always enjoy the channel and your journey. By the by…. Snow is way better than rain at Christmas. Have a wonderful holiday season.

[@lottie2525]

You forgot the obligatory spouts for Christmas dinner. We have ours in the evening too, and actually, your Canadian Christmas routine sounds pretty similar to ours. The best thing about Christmas pudding is setting it on fire, best thing for it 🤣🤣

[@gamingtonight1526]

You can cut the top 6 inches of the tree off, so there's room for a Star or Angel, rather than be bent over!

[@timelord5920]

Your Christmas pudding tribulation sounds like a scene from the Vicar of Dibley! 😂

[@Kestrel1971]

I'm from Cambridgeshire in England, but I am living in Nova Scotia, Canada. Christmas dinner has always been turkey, roast potatoes, pigs in blankets, buttered brussel sprouts, chopped carrots, stuffing, gravy. Dessert has typically been figgy pudding. but occasionally apple and rhubarb pie, both with custard. Throughout the day, LOTS of chocolate and biscuits and sherry.

[@JoeeyTheeKangaroo]

Everyone: Christmas is the time of giving Alana: I want my family members to suffer!

[@WijaLE]

Christmas Dinner plate (main): Turkey (or goose) Braised red cabbage Honey roasted parsnips (and maybe carrots if bothered) Roast potatoes (Heston Blumenthal recipe on Waitrose yt comes in clutch) Pigs in blanket Stuffing Brussels Sprouts bread sauce Cranberry sauce Cumberland sauce Gravy

[@grumpyone5963]

Yes that’s the way, honey roasted parsnips are the best. I generally add salt and a little olive oil too before a decent drizzle of honey👍

[@dougbrowning82]

My uncle was Ukrainian Canadian. Every Christmas Eve, their family would do a full Ukrainian buffet, were we would exchange gifts. This was an opportunity to see people we didn't see all year. The Yule Log channel started in Calgary in the 1990s, where it was created by a Shaw TV technician. It became a holiday staple in all of Rogers/Shaw markets, where it runs as a one hour loop, and was reformatted in the 2000s for HD. Not to be undone, Bell has their own Yule Log, as well as an aquarium and a black screen.

[@philjameson292]

I have to say that the German influences into the UK over the last 20 years has been great Christmas markets, stollen, glueing etc. probably helped somewhat by the popularity of Lidl and Aldi

[@clivebrealey6795]

Glueing! 😆

[@philjameson292]

@@clivebrealey6795 I meant to say gluhwein

[@olienajh]

I’m from Kent too & my Christmas dinner will consist of turkey, sage & onion stuffing, sausage meat stuffing, pigs in blankets (bacon version) roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese, broccoli, carrots, sprouts, parsnips, gravy. I don’t eat parsnips, sausage meat stuffing or the bacon. We then have Christmas pudding, which again, I don’t eat so I’ll have ice cream or an alternative dessert. We eat early afternoon. Presents are opened mid morning. We usually have some sort of cooked breakfast too. In the evening we have snacks & nibbles, which usually consist of biscuits, shortbread, mince pies, crisps & dips, the obligatory Heroes & Celebrations plus any other chocolate we can muster up. We are having a quiet Christmas as we suffered a bereavement earlier this year so it’s our first one without our loved one. Normal service will resume next year!! I hope you enjoy however you celebrate it.

[@jackaylward-williams9064]

When I was 5, I was crazy about Big Cook, Little Cook, a show that used to be on CBeebies where two chefs get a customer in their restaurant who either has a distinctive occupation or is a character in a well known story, and have to come up with a dish which suits them (eg a bread basket for Little Red Riding Hood or a set of red, orange, and green jam tarts for a traffic warden.) Christmas Day also happens to be my birthday, so naturally, I got to choose what we had for dinner, and on the day that my mum asked me what I would like, I had watched an episode of Big Cook, Little Cook where a medieval knight comes to the restaurant and the characters serve him a pizza in the shape of a shield, so it was a pretty easy choice. My personal philosophy has always been “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, so 20 years later, “shield pizza” is still the centrepiece of my festive feast.

[@nolslifegren]

UK hands down . Starter : Prawn Cocktail , glass of fizz Mains : Turkey and roast pork + crackling . This means as well as adding cranberry and bread sauce you can add apple sauce : ) Roast taties and mash . Yorkie Puds Sprouts , carrots , broccoli , cauliflower cheese : ) Sage n onion Lotsa gravy Pud : Trifle Add lots of booze

[@elwolf8536]

You fking legend 😂😂 👍 add some avokat and I'm sold

[@mrpad0]

South coast Brit here, but I have been living in Ohio for over 20 years. When I moved here and married I just imported the traditional English Christmas with me. HA! My family here (all sides) just appear to love it. Some years after emigrating, my wife's daughter married a French man so we would alll do the French Christmas Eve, the English Christmas Day (and Boxing Day too). Everyone was keen because we'd all just have done the Thanksgiving thing that is so American! Most of our vegetables we use at Christmas are home grown (we freeze early crops especially for this part of the season) and I tend to make a lighter desert (fresh fruit trifles). OH! And pigs in blankets here are sausage meat wrapped in sauerkraut (so, more German). I STILL can't get over how early decorations go up here and try to resist whenever possible! Boxing Day is another formal roast type meal, but then immediately a party afterward. Mostly family, but friends too on that day. May your Christmas be extremely Christmassy for you and yours in all the best ways!

[@DavidJCane]

Kent in the UK. Christmas dinner (early afternoon): 1st course - smoked salmon; 2nd course - turkey, stuffing, roast potatoes, pigs in blankets, Yorkshire puddings, peas, green beans, Brussels sprouts (for those that like them), gravy; 3rd course - Christmas pudding or Christmas cake (depending on what one prefers), mince pies, brandy cream. Present opening: after Christmas dinner. Evening: cold cuts, more mince pies, more Christmas cake, mint chocolates, stollen, Quality Street.

[@Canalcoholic]

For me, Christmas dinner is only a starter for the main event. That’s Boxing Day dinner with all the cold cuts, pickles, re-heated roast potatoes, bubble and squeak, and all of the crisps, nuts, cheeses and biscuits (crackers), port and liqueurs.

[@marcelwiszowaty1751]

A hearty soup made from Christmas dinner leftovers does it for me... delicious!

[@linpulver2106]

My family is totally with you on this!

[@ElliotDooleysmith]

For me growing up we would have "stocking" at the end of our beds, they were just pillowcases. Then in the morning we would go into our parents room and open all that stuff. Then we would have to get up and go down for breakfast, usually this would consist of my parents trying to work out how long the turkey needs in the oven and when it should be put in. We werent alloeed to go into the lounge until we haf all finished breakfast. Thrn we had yo wait gor my granny to come over, she was usually always late. On occasion, my other grandparents would come over, but that meant my dad had to pick them up. I always volunteered to with him. Back in the 90s i remember the roads being completely empty on Christmas day, it was fun being the only car on the road. Then once everyone was there we would be allowed in the lounge, we would usually hand out all the presents first, them it was a bit of a frenzy of paper everywhere. There was no order or civility. Over the last 10 years that has changed and its a bit more of a dignified affair. Then it would be food about 2-3pm.

[@nordwestbeiwest1899]

If you want the real Christmas spirit then come to Germany where this tradition comes from to celebrate Christmas with a tree and Advent. The most beautiful Christmas markets in Europe are there, and the food is soooo good, unforgettable and definitely a repeat visit! The Germans brought the Christmas tree to Britain and North America, yes yes the Germans.....

[@SarahHalina]

In Canada: I'm Canadian born, but my grandparents are from Poland and very Catholic so a lot of our Christmas traditions came from that. Christmas is truly a 2 day event (Christmas Eve & Christmas Day). Christmas Eve usually starts at around 6:00pm. First we take a wafer that was bought at the church and we give our wishes for the people in our house (usually good health, happiness that type of stuff), then we pray (again the very Catholic family) and then we eat our fish, pierogi (usually mushroom and potato) and white borscht. Then we would wait for the first star (it was a lot more fun as kids sitting in my grandparents house just staring out the window waiting until we saw that star) and then we would open the presents from our family. It was usually whatever present was pulled out from under the tree first got opened first. There was really no system to it. Sometimes the adults would try to alternate for the kids so one kid wasn't sitting there waiting forever to get their present while another kid kept getting presents. Then we would have some dessert (usually cookies that grandma made) and watch whatever Christmas movie happened to be on. Then we would go to church for 11:30pm to sing Christmas carols and do the midnight mass. Then Christmas Day we would go through the stocking to see what chocolates Santa brought and then we would open the Santa gift we got. Then around 2:00pm we would have our Christmas dinner which is usually a turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy (literally Campbell's mushroom soup with a whole bunch of stuff added to it to make it thicker and more like a gravy), pierogi (yes again. we are Polish after all) and whatever vegetables everyone feels like having (usually peas, carrots and corn).

[@johndownie7030]

A little bit of trivia: Pigs in blankets are also known as kilted soldiers in Scotland and if you take a pig in blankets/kilted soldier and then wrap them in flaky pastry you get quilted pig/soldier You can also make quilted toads which are a pig in blanket incorporated into a Yorkshire pudding At my step daughter’s house Christmas dinner is something like this Starter: Prawn and melon ball cocktail Soup: Homemade Lentil Soup with warm bread rolls Main Course: Corn fed chicken (we’re not really into turkey), gammon joint, roast beef joint and pigs in blankets Sage and onion stuffing, pork and apple stuffing, bacon and cranberry stuffing Boiled Potatoes, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes Garden peas and baby carrots brussel sprouts (maybe some broccoli ) Cranberry sauce/red currant sauce (cranberry sauce is dangerous for those who are on blood thinners) Sweet; Some kind of gateau (usually Black Forest) Christmas pudding and maybe a mandarin cheesecake All served with a choice of ice cream, whipped cream, pouring cream or brandy sauce

[@NealB123]

Johnny Carson once said, “There is only one fruitcake in the entire world, and people keep sending it to each other.” Totally accurate.

[@ben________3156]

No. Fruit cake rules. Christmas cake is different, not as nice. Deeper flavours and not as sweet.

[@yllienverdes]

I was wondering if someone would mention Carson. Well done, @NealB123 👍🏻

[@janiceturton7756]

My daughter lives in Paris she is travelling over for a week at xmas then going to meet up with her partner who is Irish at his family home near Dublin . Im currently receiving a lot of Amazon and on line parcel deliveries, as she is ordering her presents and sending here to wrap up when she arrives lol

[@BruceLinderDPT]

Christmas Markets in Europe!!! Long, slow moving lines and every third booth is selling warm mulled wine by the glass (fairly inexpensively). Expect to walk home...with difficulty.

[@robertpearson8798]

I’m an older Canadian (from your area I think) and I still make quite a number of fruitcakes every year for myself and the few people I know who genuinely like it. A liberal application of rum after it’s made is a big plus. I love Christmas pudding but rarely have it because I’m usually too stuffed with Turkey and dressing to have room. I also make my own mincemeat (an all fruit version without suet) and my Wife makes me tarts and pies even though she doesn’t care for it.

[@sheilalowery6226]

A little late here from the Midwest US. This year is pork chops, mashed potatoes, cream gravy, candied carrots, Mac and cheese, deviled eggs and crescent rolls. And a birthday cake for dessert! Merry Christmas everyone!

[@betagombar9022]

Fruit cake and a nice cuppa ☕ you can't beat it, especially on a dull, grey winters day.

[@bleepmaster23]

One of the biggest differences between UK and Canada is Canadian food shopping is way more expensive and you guys love egg nog more. I rarely see egg nog here, but in Canada there were so many types.

[@janr2133]

I’m having my 4 sons, 1 daughter in law, 1 granddaughter and 1 grandson here for Christmas Eve finger foods dinner, games and presents then on the 26th drive down to San Antonio to attend my oldest grandson’s Air Force boot camp graduation! Merry Christmas y’all!

[@steveberwick4417]

From about the 1950s the British Christmas dinner was timed to end at around 3pm to coincide with the start of the Queen's Christmas TV broadcast.

[@dafyddrhobert2414]

I always work through Christmas as bank holidays are a waste of time. I won't be with clients but at least I can prepare things in the greenhouses ready for the growing season. I have started a tradition where my Christmas meals are very alternative. It started when I decided to redecorate my kitchen and dining room over the festive period. I remember being up a ladder painting the kitchen ceiling on Christmas morning. So, this year my main Christmas meal will consist of baked beans, chopped tomatoes, fried onions and bacon. This will be followed by a slice of Christmas cake.

[@sas949]

Get up early, open presents in turn ( double goes for the kids ) while drinking Buck’s Fizz. Bacon and egg sandwich for breakfast. Men go to the pub for a couple of pints while the ladies are finishing off the Christmas dinner, ( it was all prepped earlier) Back before 3 pm, open the wine and some bubbly, have a feast, Christmas pudding with white sauce, rum on it for some. Wash up, chat, maybe watch a film. Have a cold meat buffet at about 8pm Eat, sleep, repeat with another branch of the family.

[@MS-19]

Your childhood Christmas experience accords very vaguely with my own, but with a notable exception: dinner would be even earlier. One year, my younger sister (then aged about 7 or 8) insisted on us getting up at the crack of dawn so we could open our presents. Having done so, we asked Mum to get going with the Christmas dinner - we were always very enthusiastic to help, for instance by prepping prawns for the prawn cocktail starter or soaking sponge fingers in sherry for the trifle - and she went along with it even though it was still only 8am. We sat down to the finished meal at around 11.30am and when our grandparents came knocking at 2pm to wish us Merry Christmas and drop off presents, they found us ... comatose on the sofa! Fast forward to the here and now, and you'll find my Christmas Day plans are geared around my job. Having been at work from 4pm to 12.45am, I'll be up at around 8am, leaving the house by 8.40, restarting work at 9 and finishing at around 12.30pm, after which it's back to make Christmas dinner. Visiting family has to wait until Boxing Day at the earliest, but as there's normally no work required, that feels like the proper Christmas rest day!

[@tsrgoinc]

The only good thing about Christmas its the Terry’s chocolate orange! 🧐

[@phoenix-xu9xj]

Yuk 🤮

[@robertpearson8798]

My Christmas dinner plate; Turkey Stuffing Mashed potatoes Gravy Butternut squash Broccoli casserole Peas Cranberry sauce (made from fresh cranberries, no canned gelatine in our house) Homemade pie with ice cream for dessert. Maybe later on some brown sugar shortbreads. I’m in Hamilton, Ontario.

[@MarkARhodie]

You sitting in front of the couch, takes me back to an earlier Adventure and Naps. lol

[@vtbn53]

Australian here, this year will be a seafood platter for Christmas dinner. Yum!

[@robineniffer5578]

I miss my childrens little faces on Christmas morning when they open there presents there really is nothing that replaces that

[@cadifan]

In NZ growing up we had all the usual mince pies, Christmas cakes, roast Christmas chicken ('cause turkey sucks), cold ham, yorkshire puds, etc. but that was then. Nowadays it's a lot more bbq in the backyard or on the back deck. Everybody does Christmas differently. Many go to their bach (beach/holiday house) for Christmas, some stay home. I go to my brother's who has a lifestyle block and plenty of room for our family and his in-laws and we all have a big bbq cooking up whatever meat you bring and there's potato salads and green salads and cold ham, and then desserts, usually my other brothers trifle plus what others bring. Then we all sit around drinking beers getting sunburned and wishing we didn't eat that last mouthful. It's often early to mid afternoon as it's only a week or so after the longest day so it doesn't get dark 'til really late and doesn't cool down at all.

[@RatKindler]

My family is Chinese-Jamaican-Canadian and so our Christmas dinner had elements of all three cultures. My Chinese work colleague once invited me for Christmas dinner and served food similar to regular Canadian Christmas dinner except that they had steamed rice instead of any potatoes. I was looking all over for the Jamaican rice and peas until I realized that this was the first non-Jamaican Christmas dinner I'd ever had and it didn't include rice and peas. It didn't seem like Christmas dinner to me.

[@white_clover767]

09:58 Im a South African living in The Faroe Islands (Nordic country just below the Arctic Circle). We have 2 Christmases, the Scandinavian one on 24th and South African one on the 25th. A Faroese Christmas plate has duck or goose, red sweet pickled cabbage, apple stuffing, candied potatoes and gravy. After we have Danish rice pudding with cherry sauce. Our South African plate has cold chicken pie, Cold gammon/ham, three bean salad, devilled eggs, loaded potato salad, pasta salad, then Christmas pudding and custard after.

[@Nikki7B]

Im Canadian from Ontario. I know one thing we have in Canada (again family to family) and also the southern states, is ambrosia salad (marshmallow salad) and also mashmellow topped sweet potatoes. I have learned that this is very much a Canadian and Southern US states dish, that is common for Holiday get together. My parents always made both, and i love them.

[@robertpearson8798]

We did our own fire log video on DVD a few years ago while having a particularly good fire when camping in a provincial park.

[@deckard6_634]

dinner happens at dinner time which is around midday, pushed back to around 2pm at Christmas as it takes time to make a big feast, and at tea time we have our tea (evening meal).

[@sagewillowLisa]

I’m from the southern U.S. For Christmas this year - ham, Mac and cheese, green beans, corn, sweet potato soufflé, rolls, deviled eggs, and probably a chantilly cake for dessert (sponge cake with a berry filling, mascarpone frosting and fresh berries on top).

[@piggymito]

To be fair as a Mancunian, I'd have to say that Christmas day is the one day that the entire country uses the word "dinner" in the correct context. Breakfast when you way up Dinner in the middle of the day Tea in the evening Supper is a piece of toast or a crumpet before bedtime! 😂😂😂

[@davebetch9918]

Oh, moved to France for a bit and spent my first Christmas Eve in the back of my car and cried. Then lots of stuff happened and subsequently I spent too many Christmases on my own in a flat. I got white a white Christmas, but I missed my family.

[@lynn9931]

I love watching your interpretation of Britain, I'm British living in Canada and let me tell you, cranberry sauce in a can/tin is very much a British thing BUT, I would say more a Northern than a Southern food lol. Never had bread sauce in my life, most people I know here and in Britain have more than one meat on xmas day, turkey and ham for example and yes, I do both mash and roast potatoes lol. I think because I've spent half of my life in Canada I get confused as to what my British memories of food are and what is Canadian. Love watching and I wish you and your family a Happy New Year.

[@LoisPallisterCIY]

I'm in London and I used to make my own cranberry sauce before I went keto at any time of the year. Never seen it in a tin! Why mash and roast potatoes Lynn? I'm baffled! Hope the New Year is treating you well.

[@joshbrailsford]

😮 fruit cake is best cake. Especially with a chunk of cheese on the side. My English Christmas dinner plate typically includes: - Turkey - Pigs in blankets - Stuffing - Cranberry sauce - Roast potatoes - Roast parsnips - Braised red cabbage (the best!) - Brussels sprouts - Yorkshire pudding Followed by Christmas pudding with double (heavy) cream 👌 On a complete side note, I wanted to suggest that you tune in to BBC Radio 2 on a Saturday, 6-8pm for Liza Tarbuck's show. I find it hilarious and uniquely British.

[@cruachan1191]

In Scotland here, my family tend to do Christmas Dinner kind of like a Sunday "lunch" but that nowadays means about 4pm earliest. Older relatives no longer with us wanted lunch at lunchtime and also the Queen's Speech was a big thing to them. Dinner itself quite traditional with turkey, roast potatoes and veg, pigs in blankets etc but starters are usually more varied. Seafood platters for those that like such things, maybe chicken satay or potstickers or spring rolls for those who don't like me. More traditional starters like soup (which would probably be Scotch Broth in the past) can be quite heavy just as a starter. Also IME, Christmas cakes and pudding and even to an extent mince pies are something that the older generation preferred. I find them over sweet and very heavy, which they are meant to be but if you like light moist cakes like carrot cake for example then it might not be for you. I have to make Nutella Cheesecake every year for my nieces and nephews as they all love it, the adults will probably have a trifle with some alcohol in it or maybe a Yule Log.

[@peterjackson4763]

When you lived in a house with no central heating then you appreciate heavier meals. My parents got central heating installed when I was 6 but tried to use it as little as possible.

[@IMBlakeley]

I was living in Asia, if I was able to or I'd been in the UK in time I'd bring back multiple Christmas pudding, then I could freeze it.

[@suzannehawkins383]

christmas day routine must be Canadian, just like our traditional day! we had to wait for 8am to wake our parents, then stockings, then a good breakfast. followed by presents which were handed out one at a time, then opened taking turns. Then it was to start preparing the dressing for the turkey, and dinner around 6pm. usually too full for dessert, so dessert, typically mince tarts with ice cream, was later in the evening.

[@racheltaylor6578]

I love that Baileys double cream you get in Sainsbury’s .It goes well with a mince pie.

[@shed66215]

We have croissants for breakfast on Xmas morning, shop bought but warmed up with a generous helping of butter on them, have done for a number of years now. Christmas dinner is done with meat on one side and vegie on the other but will have mash, baked tatties, Yorkshire pudding, broccoli, spouts and white sauce and parsnips on both. Xmas pudding, yes with warm brandy sauce. Then of course anything that might be left over for later in the evening...Am having my first of the year with a group of friends on Saturday, yes at 1.30.

[@SusanneMBarrett]

I live in San Diego, California, and for the past few years, we've moved away from the traditional turkey or ham and instead made chicken enchiladas for Christmas dinner with Spanish rice on the side and a HUGE apple pie with whipped cream, homemade English toffee, and my (secretly easy-peasy) peppermint fudge for dessert. This year we decided on tortilla soup (a tomato-based soup with Anaheim chiles, white onions, tomatoes, and corn, topped with freshly fried tortilla strips and cheddar cheese) and the usual apple pie and peppermint fudge. We will also make some frosted sugar cookies between Christmas Day and New Year's Day. YUM!!! I would like to try an English Christmas Pudding after it's been lit on fire, just to see whether I'd like it. Perhaps I'll stop by a British shop and pick one up to try during Christmastide.

[@MrFlazz99]

The trick with christmas pudding is what you put on it - good custard, maybe with a good alcoholic dosing, makes the treat.

[@grahammeaton4598]

Merry Christmas from the UK

[@CYNC33]

Christmas dinner in my family has always just looked a whole lot like a standard Sunday Roast, plus a few extra things. We've never done Turkey, so it's usually just roast beef or chicken with the standard roast potatoes, veg, Yorkie puds and gravy but with some stuffing, sprouts and parsnip added.

[@Dan-zb7vn]

Where are your brussel sprouts and sausage and sage and onion stuffing balls, hi Alana from the ROI entertaining as always cheers 😊.

[@maryannbower9706]

I'm from southwestern Ontario, so my dinner is similar to yours. We have fresh cranberry sauce. My family is Scottish and English heritage. I've been exposed to mince pie ,Christmas pudding, etc. I've now acquired a taste/tolerance for both. I'm 40 years older than you. My advice to you dear is to give it time . They will grow on you.

[@michaelayling8855]

Christmas dinner in UK was always about.4 or 5 pm as we left the pub about 3.

[@johnd6487]

We have to be comatose after lunch so we can't get up and change the channel when the Kings speech comes on 😂

[@PaulMGleeson]

Brit here. Our Christmas day sounds s bit like yours. Midnight mass Up around 8 Stockings Coffee light breakfast Ooen presents. Presents distributed by youngest. Open one at a time, in turn, starting with oldest, then in order of age. Walk the dogs Back to mulled wine, sherry, Madeira etc and sweet nibbles, short bread, mince pies, stollen. We used to have rum and shrub, but you cant get shrub any more. Sometime after 5 Christmas dinner. Always a rib of beef with horseradish sauce and either goose and apple sauce or Turkey with Cranberry sauce. Roast potatoes and parsnips, Brussels sprouts, peas, carrots, sweet corn, creamed spinach, Yorkshire pudd, gravy. Trifle for dessert. Later on a cheese board, always a stilton and a Brie so ripe it can walk off the board, crackers, toast with Elesenham's Patum Pepurium.

[@jamesg163]

We make our Christmas puddings homemade, from my grandmas recipe, only Christmas pudding I’ll eat and it is genuinely delicious! Recipe is different to most others, some ingredients changed. Makes it softer and more moist.

[@CRINOTH]

Everyone in my family adores Christmas pudding and Christmas cake (both homemade by my mum). We usually have the Christmas pudding on Boxing Day though - preferring a lighter dessert (such as trifle) on Christmas Day itself after such a heavy main course. :) You didn't mention the most iconic element of British Christmas dinner - Brussels sprouts. Love them or hate them (and my family is divided on that) they add a nice pop of colour to the dinner plate. :)

[@indecisivegirl9983]

I’m in South Texas and this years Christmas dinner is homemade tamales, fajitas, spanish rice, a fresh pot of pinto beans, and tortillas 😋dessert will probably be pie but I don’t know which I’ll make yet.

[@peterjackson4763]

I am English and 64 years old. One of my sisters and her husband are going on a cruise and will be away over Christmas. So they hosted Christmas dinner last Saturday. They have just move house so took some shortcuts. The starters were bought from M&S - arancini, cheese and cranberry bites. Then there was the traditional roast turkey, mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, disgusting green balls (sprouts) with chestnuts, two types of stuffing, apple sauce, bread sauce, cranberry sauce, Yorkshire pudding, gravy. No traditional Christmas pudding or cake :( but bought in deserts. My other sister and I will be having a smaller one on Christmas day with chicken instead of turkey. When I was a child we would open our presents before having breakfast which would be light. Then we would go to my gran's and bring her back to have lunch with us. My father would disappear off to his golf club for a while. We would eat when he got back and watch the Queen's broadcast. Dinner refers to the main meal of the day which tradtionaly used to be eaten around midday. but around 250 years a tradition of eating later started, so dinner in much of the country is now the evening meal, except for Christmas and Sundays.

[@wonhung]

Most people have their Christmas Dinner early so the can listen to the Queens/Kings Christmas Speach at 14:45 which they watch while washing down their Christmas dinner with either Tea, or alcohol and in my parents house the men would smoke cigars & my maternal grandmother would smoke a Charoot (short thin cigar, flat at both ends not tappered like a proper Cigar)

[@PeleRana-pp6zc]

I will be spending time with my family this year. We have decided that for 3 days we will just eat, sleep, play games and watch tv. Looking forward to it😊

[@angiebolton-cox1490]

We do things a little differently in our family. We have our Christmas dinner on the 24th. Then on Christmas Day we fast. We serve meals for others who can’t afford to eat. Then we eat lots on the 26th ❤

[@klondikechris]

Born in England, but grew up in Canada. Christmas is all about the food! l LOVE mincemeat pies, and tarts, plum pudding (fired, of course), fruitcake, shortbread, and all the good Canadian stuff too - chocolate! 'Dinner' means supper in the USA, and much of Canada, but not all of it. ln Newfoundland, and parts of the Maritimes, dinner is lunch. In military messes, lunch is still the main meal of the day. Last year, l found mince tartes, but not pie. Here is hoping they have it this year. There is eggnog already! One year I had won a Christmas hamper at the grocery store, and l was trying to decide on the ham, or the turkey. My daughter came up to Yukon to visit for Christmas, and she asked for a moose roast! Which we did, and it was good!

[@fredsas12]

Wait, what are you talking about comatose? After "dinner", you have Christmas "tea" at around 5 to 6 PM. That's chocolates, biscuits and pastries!, then later on after 8PM, some Irish Liqueur i.e.; Baileys, whisky or mulled wine etc. Merry Christmas!!

[@swingswang9214]

Figs, you need figs, and fig jellies, and fig rolls, and dates, and Turkish delight - your nephews will love them !

[@t.a.k.palfrey3882]

Your Christmas dinner is very different to the one my family has enjoyed just about each year since I can remember, or about 70 yrs, whether in UK, Canada, or US. Roast goose with apple sauce and cider gravy, thyme & sage stuffing, roast & boiled spuds, bruxelles sprouts with lardons, chippolatas, and julienne carrots/swede/parsnips. White Christmas pudding with brandy butter. Stilton w grapes. Lots of decent Pinot Noir, and port with coffee later. Then sleep while pretending to watch some twee film on the tv. Merry Christmas everyone, and have the Rennies close at hand. 🎅👼

[@ermintrudechanticleer2261]

Living in Yorkshire dinner is the midday meal, typically we have Christmas dinner at about 1pm so there is enough daylight to go for a little walk afterwards,even when we lived in a city we would have a little walk after Christmas dinner it stops you feeling bloated and blah for the rest of the day.

[@nicholasjones7312]

Xmas dessert in Wales has to include TRIFLE!!

[@Dionysos640]

North American pigs in blankets are mini sausage rolls and are readily available in supermarkets all over the UK. What are you talking about?

[@paulhill1665]

I have just purchased a Christmas pudding, 24 months matured, its all about what you have with it. custard of course, clotted cream and brandy butter, home made, not purchased, unsalted butter, icing sugar and lots of brandy. Forgot to add, purchased a small bottle of ice wine (from Canada ), to have with it.

[@RalphWigg1]

Christmases since my wife passed is quiet, just me & my son. However, we'll have a tree & decorations. Hope yours goes well x

[@Phiyedough]

We never ate huge amounts at Christmas, the emphasis was on quality and variety rather than quantity. We had the roast type meal at lunch time then a cold buffet in the evening. This included mince pies and Christmas cake. The cake and mincemeat were always home made but the Christmas pudding was usually shop bought. There was usually also trifle as part of the buffet meal. The crackers and paper hats were at the buffet meal rather than the lunch. That is a good idea about opening presents one at a time, although as a kid I would not have enjoyed being the centre of attention when my turn came up.

[@patjackson8649]

It must depend on your family background regarding the Christmas cake/pudding in Canada; my grandparents were from Northumberland and Nottinghamshire and we had ‘stir up Sunday’ near the end of November when we made the cakes and mincemeat and they were stored in a cold cupboard and ‘fed’ with brandy for the month. I still love all those old traditional treats. I’m in Winnipeg and this year we’re doing Italian Christmas for my brother in law but I’ll likely do a roast dinner with roasties and Yorkshire pudding at some point during the holidays

[@Dionysos640]

I love mince pies, Christmas pudding and Christmas Cake, but I am the only person in my large family who does. They all taste much better by the way when they are generously laced with alcohol, usually Brandy. I guess it's just one of those flavours like marmite (yuk) or Brussels Sprouts (yum) that is not for everybody.

[@barriehull7076]

The fire thing had it's own channel 24/7 back in the day on satellite tele. We are near neighbours Alanna, Kent/East Sussex border. My sister in Cornwall never has Turkey we have pork and beef, my nephew has never liked Xmas Pud, he has peaches and clotted cream and custard.

[@user-kv3zu9xu5c]

Hey Alanna! Fellow Canadian from Grimsby, Ontario, who's been over in the UK 8 years as well. Spiced fruit ... I feel SEEN! Haha. I vom everytime I'm offered Christmas pudding or mince pies and some of my British friends can't understand why. It's just not for me and what I'm used to. Thanks for making me laugh (I love the jelly cran as well!). Happy Christmas to you x 🇨🇦🤍

[@Elwaves2925]

As a lifelong UK person, I can't stand Xmas cake or pudding either. The fruit part is okay, same for the icing and marzipan, it's that sticky, treacle like substance that tastes awful. In the past I used to have Dundee cake with icing and marzipan, it's much nicer. 🙂

[@boomshanka8743]

Hi, another Canadian in the UK here. I miss a really good apple pie. It must have cheddar in the crust and more cheddar on the side, and must be made with three types of apple.

[@kabukimax1]

dinner plate.. roast potatoes, carrots , peas, apple sauce , cranberry sauce, pork or turkey, stuffing etc.