As the years go by, I am noticing more and more how my family’s Christmas celebration is not very “traditional”, whatever that means. This is partly because I have moved countries so much and have taken traditions from other countries on to the next place I go. Another reason is that I grew up in a British-German household and so “traditions” ended up being cobbled together with us picking the best ones out if the bunch.
The way I celebrate Christmas now is definitely not what you would think a traditional German Christmas celebration looks like. How so? Well, for example, a big tradition in my household growing up was me and my mum baking mince pies together. The Brits in the house will know what I’m talking about. Every year we’d put on the radio – back then when we still had radios HA, I’m old 😅 – and bake together. Mostly mince pies, then my mum would also bake a Dundee cake. But she’s kind of given that up as the years have gone by because my parents both think it’s too heavy and I can see why.
To Christmas Tree or not to Christmas Tree?
One of the Christmas things that is an absolute must for my family is having a Christmas tree. We used to have a freshly felled Christmas tree that at the end of the holiday would then be chucked away, which is definitely not very environmentally friendly. It’s good their starting to offer Christmas trees🎄to rent.
This year was actually the first year in my entire existence, that my mom said she does not want a Christmas tree. That’s 3.5 decades! That felt very monumental in a way.
However, I’ve actually never had my own real Christmas tree. I’ve always had just plastic versions. When I was in Austria I didn’t really decorate at all. And in England neither because we would just go to my parents for the holidays but once we were in China, I finally started getting decorations together and so especially in Beijing, I got a plastic Christmas tree and now in Vienna as well. Just a small one.
Another tradition in our household was that on our Christmas tree there would be a bell made of glass with white glitter dusting and a white glitter motive. And we had to ring the bell, so everyone could go and get their presents. This is something that we always used to do at my parents place but that I have not taken over. Mainly because I haven’t really yet found a little glass bell like the one that they have.
One of the German things we do is we celebrate our main holiday on the 24th of December in the evening rather than Christmas Day the 25th.
What Christmas Food we eat
In terms of food on the 24th Germans traditionally have sausage and potato salad or fish. But we never did that. We always just picked one dish that we liked from the past year or so or just general dishes we liked and then my mom would make those, later on with some assistance from myself. So this year, she asked me what I wanted and I said I want a Shepherd’s Pie, yumm!
Another interesting item is mulled wine because I never really liked mulled wine growing up; the main problem being that it’s red wine and I do not like red wine at all. So a few years back in Beijing, I somehow stumbled upon a mulled wine recipe with white wine. At that time in Germany, it was unheard of but now more and more places actually have mulled white wine. Now when I have get-togethers in the Christmas season I’ve just started to make mulled white wine. That’s definitely my new Christmas tradition.
Wearing Silly Christmas Sweaters
One tradition that I have absolutely embraced but which my parents cannot understand is silly Christmas sweaters. I started realising that this was a thing watching Bridget Jones. Of course two years in the UK, I did hear about it a bit.
But it wasn’t until I was in Beijing at some point, that I kept thinking I would like to get a Christmas sweater because I heard that some of the expats there were doing silly Christmas sweater parties or ugly sweater parties. And then I stumbled upon a post in a second-hand WeChat group: somebody was selling a Christmas sweater for like 30 Kuai. Just 4 euros. And I was like “That’s great. I’ll try that.” It fit perfectly and it was my first of many, many, many Christmas sweaters to come, including Disney motives and reindeers and the craziest one that I have so far that I bought this year with penguins on it.
My parents cannot understand this at all – and don’t even get me started on the antlers… but I love it and I think it’s definitely a more English-speaking nations tradition. Germanic peoples are just too serious for this type of fun, I guess 😂 Although I was recently in a pub in Vienna and saw a lot of men wearing Christmas sweaters as well. I was very pleased by that. (Might have been a skewed sample though, as the blokes that go to the Irish pub often tend to be Irish or British…
Window Stickers for Festive Cheer
One thing that I started doing that my parents never did was to buy stickers to stick on the windows, such as snowflakes, santas and reindeers and such. That was never really a thing in my household but for some reason I really just love having a window with snowflakes and Christmas characters on them. So that’s something that I started and continued this year as well.
Which Christmas Songs I listen to
One Christmas tradition that is definitely very individual to our family is that we listened to a very particular album called SalSoul Christmas. It features Caribbean music mixed with a traditional Christmas songs and is just the best! I grew up with this track. Nowadays I tend to just put on a YouTube playlist best UK Christmas songs but every now and then I’ll also give the SalSoul a listen because it definitely reminds me of growing up.
Speaking of favorite Christmas songs; two of mine are actually newly acquired. My favorite one at the moment is Ed Sheeran and Elton John’s Merry Christmas that was launched last year. I may have heard it once or twice last year, but this year I really got into it. I love how the videos spoofs other Christmas songs and I just love the lyrics and so that’s my favorite Christmas song at the moment.
My second favorite one dare I say it is actually Fairy Tale of New York. I actually played that when I was learning the drums ; it was one of the first songs I played. Sadly, it’s a bit problematic, isn’t it? Includes that very bad slur for gay men. I have heard versions now where they just replace that word with a similar sounding one. So that’s a good thing. And then you can kind of enjoy it a bit more. But I mean once you listen to the lyrics, you’re like, why is this holiday cheer again? It’s pretty depressing. But I just like it, couldn’t explain why.
As it’s the Holidays – more Food!
Another tradition for my British-German household happens on the 25th of December. We have a massive English breakfast and then in the late afternoon, we have British High tea with sandwiches. Although my mum doesn’t actually drink tea – it’s like high treask – she is the only British person in the world who doesn’t drink tea. Anyway, digressing – we have sandwiches (egg mayonnaise, tuna cucumber and plain cucumber) and mince pies. Sometimes we’d have scones as well.
What Christmas Movies do I watch?
I was thinking back to my childhood and the Christmas movies that I watched growing up versus the Christmas movies that I simply must watch now.
When I was growing up the two that I remember most werr the Last Unicorn – this is some German kind of thing. I do not know why. But every year at Christmas, they show the Last Unicorn. If you’ve ever seen it go check it out. It is surreal but also really fun.
I actually painted the unicorn and the flaming bull adversary as part of my art course. The other staple was Home Alone, classic. So those were really big while I was growing up.
However, now in 2022 my classic Christmas films have changed. You probably won’t be surprised that at the very top of the list is Love Actually. Yes, we all love it. Or at least most of us do. Although, I recently found a YouTube account called Cinema Therapy and they look at the relationships in Love Actually from a psychological perspective and they were like all of these relationships are incredibly unhealthy except for the one between Liam Neeson and his son. Whoopee.
But Mr. Lee absolutely loves Love Actually. He will watch it multiple times over the year, even in the middle of August. He does not care. He just loves it to bits. So you know it’s nice for us to have a movie that we share the love for.
Then, for me, Muppets Christmas Carol, this was something that I saw at my family’s place in the UK when I would stay with them. Even today, I just love the Muppets Christmas Carol. It’s so good. Especially since I like oh god the actor. What’s his name? I’ll have to look it up. Ah, Michael Caine.
Some fairly recent ones on my list are The Holiday with Kate Winslet. I really liked that it’s got a bit of a Bridget Jones feel to it. And actually Bridget Jones is also a Christmas classic for me, all three parts. I just binge them. I think a week or two ago. I finished all three of them in one day.
But one full-on American production that I’ve really grown to like is Bad Mom’s Christmas. There are so many amazing actresses in this and it is fun and quirky and interesting. And nice to see a movie that is all about women and their relationships with their mothers rather than being about women and their love for one man or another. You passed the Bechdel Test, congratulations!
I also quite like the Grinch. When I have some spare time, I will watch that as well.
Okay, phew. I think that’s it. Those are all the different customs that I’ve incorporated into my life over the years.
What about you lovely people? Is your Christmas international or is it super traditional? Would love to hear your thoughts and experiences.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Bye