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
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! 😋
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.
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!!
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!
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 .
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).
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! :)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
@@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.
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 🤣🤣
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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).
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.
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!
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.
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.....
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Really intersting seeing what is the same and what the differences are. I'm a Brit (in England, if that makes any difference) Our Christmas Day goes like this: Stockings- like you, full of chocolate, socks, hair accessories etc etc. When the children were small, they also got one present from Father Christmas alongside their stocking (to sort of keep them going). Our stockings were not beside the fire, but laid across the foot of their beds. Breakfast would be fresh fuit salad, fancy muesli and yogurt. We used to go to church for an hour, but no longer do this. Home for snacks - crisps, nuts etc. Dinner - yes, at 2pm :P - of roast bird(s) of some kind - possibly goose, pheasant, guinea fowl - but not Turkey or chicken. Roast potatoes, brussels sprouts, carrots parsnips, gravy, 2 types of stuffing, breadsauce, cranberry sauce (but NOT from a tin! Christmas puddding (British fruit style) and here is our family signature dish: pudding is served with almond blancmange! I've never heard of anyone else doing that- but don't knock it till you've tried it! It's a perfct counterbalance to the rich pudding! After the dinner has been cleared away, and replaced with bowls of chocolates and mince pies, then- and only then- do we open our presents! We do like you, an organised 1-at-a-time session, where everyone is able to appreciate everyone else's gifts. The evening is slumped on the couch, watching a couple of shows on TV, possibly with a cheese board for anyone not too stuffed to ever eat again!
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.
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.
What a fun gift for your nephews!!! Very similiar vibes to your Christmas as a fellow Canadian. The only difference I think was we did with the whole family like, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. Christmas day was usually on my Dad's side of the family and then Boxing Day was my Mum's side of the family. Wild and tons of fun as a kid.
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!
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.
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 🇨🇦🤍
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. 🙂
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
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!
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.
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. 🎅👼
I lived in the UK, but now live in Canada. Our Christmas Day traditions in the UK (which we continue in Canada) were very similar to yours in Canada. Breakfast, Christmas dinner was dinner time, one present at a time etc. my mom is from Canada & I wonder if some of that was her Canadian influence hearing how ours were so similar. I can’t bare the thought of Christmas dinner at lunch time and it has never made sense to me haha! Awesome video Xx
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.
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.
I was waiting to see if you’d comment on the dinner times. Back in the UK, mum *REFUSED* to cook Christmas dinner before 5pm because of exactly what you mentioned. Also you have to worry about an evening meal. Whereas in Canada you’re full by 6pm and that’s you set for the night.
British. My Christmas dinner plate contains; Roast duck or goose (turkey is way too bland), roast potatoes, carrots, peas, beans, parsnips, pigs in blankets (sausages in bacon), gravy made with duck/goose stock and sour cherries, home-made chestnut and orange stuffing, home-made orange sauce or gooseberry sauce, Yorkshire pudding. (There will be some haters who say Yorkshires should not be served with Christmas dinner, but I say eat what you want - there's no rules!).
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).
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.
Christmas winter veg tastes sweeter once it has had a few frosts on it, so don't buy the Sprouts, Swede or Parsnips too early. Should be ok this year if the farmers can get on the fields to harvest through the snow. Avoid the prepacked or frozen ones as often harvested too early. I love Christmas Pud but cold sliced and in a sandwich. Also not too keen on Turkey Breast, prefer the thigh or leg, better still Goose or Duck. A nice Rib of Ancient Breed Beef or a Haunch of Venison is also a favourite. It is Christmas Lunch for me at 1.30 - 2pm so the Kings Speech can be watched over desert or the Port and Brandy at 3. The family arguments after before the making up over more booze.
Wow you’ve got me salivating over the beef and venison! We also eat around 1:30 ish, then for tea we have a large gammon ham roasted with cloves and a honey mustard glaze. If we have room later, a piece of my homemade Banoffee pie!
We have our dinner at 1pm. Starters either prawn cocktail or tomato soup. Main course of turkey, roasties, Yorkshire puddings, pigs in blankets, parsnips, stuffing, gravy, bread sauce and cranberry sauce but instead of mash we have potato dauphinoise or gratin. For dessert it'll either be Christmas pudding, Christmas cake or chocolate log.
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).
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.
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.
UK person here… We have Christmas dinner at lunchtime, probably about 1pm, otherwise the kids will stuff themselves with sweets and chocolate and I’ll feel like I’m in the kitchen all day! We have turkey, roast potatoes (never mash!), Yorkshires, parsnips, carrots, peas, sprouts (I literally have one or two as they’re revolting, but everyone else loves them), cranberry sauce, red cabbage, pigs in blankets. Then Christmas pudding - you need lots of whipped cream and brandy butter!
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!!
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.
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.
For dinner here is Canada ours is pretty much the same as yours minus the sliceable cranberry sauce lol. My grand-nephews and grand-nieces will get to open one small present on Christmas Eve with the rest Christmas morning. Dinner is 3-4pm ish depending on how early the prep started. We usually go out to look at the Christmas lights as well. Not so much now but go out for the Boxing Day sales at the malls or downtown Toronto if you were brave to spend all your Christmas money. The major tv providers have a fireplace channel year round. They may also have an Aquarium channel and a sunset/sunrise channel
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!
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)
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.
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.
Christmas Breakfast 6:00 AM, The Full Monty. Open Pressies. Around noon Coffee, A selection of Cakes, Brandy Snaps, Nuts, Treats etc. 3:00 PM Drinks. Snowballs, Black Russians, Bloody Mary, Stella, etc. Christmas Dinner around 5:00 PM. Pork Chops, Pigs in Blankets, Mash, Sprouts & Chestnuts, Carrots, Peas, Pork & Chestnut Stuffing Balls, Thick, Rich Gravy. Served with Red Wine. Cheese & Crackers, Brandy and Cigars. Pretty normal really.
@@jenanization Absolutely. Love me some Chops. Haven't had Turkey in Donkeys. (It's bland), Chicken is everywhere these days, it was expensive when I was a kid. So chicken isn't "Special" anymore. What the heck, Pork Chops go with: Pork Sausages, Bacon, Stuffing Balls with Pork & Chestnuts. Why not go the whole hog.
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.
I live in the U.S. We usually have a huge pot of homemade vegetable soup and a baked ham that we make sandwiches with. And lots of desserts like chocolate cake, peanut butter balls, brownies, and chocolate chess pie. I enjoyed this video!!
You worry me sometimes - the North American palate must be pretty bland as it seems any treat - probably food in general - with spice in the mix is abhorent to you!
😮 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.
Australian here! You MUST watch Aunty Donna's Christmas Pud sketch. It is iconic. Look it up. I think because so many people here have recent UK ancestry we also eat pudding and fruit mince tarts at Christmas.
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 ❤
I’ve never been much of a fan of mince pies but my Mum used to make one that was lovely, it had a sweet pastry base the sweet mincemeat filling but topped with meringue, served fresh out of the oven with cream and it is more than palatable. I’m not keen on Christmas pudding either but as a young kid we always had either Strawberry or Black Forest Gateaux, then when I was a bit older my Mum started making a berry (sometimes with kiwi too) pavlova. I find the best way to get through Christmas is to remember that it’s never as good as you think it should be, so take the pressure off of it, go with the flow a little more and just find the joy and happiness where you can. I have spent a number of Christmases on my own (the first one being when I was twenty) and on the whole I don’t mind it at all. You watch what you want, you eat what and when you want and you don’t have to deal with family fall outs or annoying people…you can even spend the day in your pyjamas if you want.
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.
Hi Alana, i'm a Londoner (south east london) but can't stand mince pies, Christmas pudding or Christmas cake, yet my dad (r.i.p love you dad), both my brothers and my mum love it, and we don't have north american/canadian pigs in blankets, coz they are what we know as sausage rolls, it's the pastry coating they share, or do your version use a sweet pastry, where ours are savoury. My familys christmas dinner plate will be Turkey, pigs in blankets, roast pototoe's (done in goosefat) chestnut stuffing, normal stuffing, plus veg including disgusting brusell sprrouts (i hate brusell prouts with a passion) and loads of gravy, washed down with a few good size glasses of wine. And yep yorkshire puddings will be on the plate as well (they are a must have)
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
I have tried to like fruitcake but I cannot 😂
North Americans have no taste and are allergic to anything that’s not American
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! 😋
What's not to like? It's fruit and booze @@loraleepooley3669
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.
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!!
The look of pain on your face when you say "spiced fruit" is hilarious!
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!
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 .
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).
As someone who also has two nephews, I very much agree with "I don't think they'll like them, I'm sending six"
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! :)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Every family has a crazy Aunt or Uncle. I guess Alanna is the crazy Aunt in her family...😂🇨🇦🇬🇧
😂
I'd ♥ to have a crazy aunt like Alanna!
lol
I'll be making believe that Xmas doesn't exist as I usually spend it solo. At least there's footie on Boxing Day.
@@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.
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 🤣🤣
You are such a nice person. The end bit about Twitch and keeping lonely people company, lovely. 👏 Have fabulous Christmases 🇬🇧
Alanna’s a gem❤️
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
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👍
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.
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.
Your Christmas pudding tribulation sounds like a scene from the Vicar of Dibley! 😂
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.
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!
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
You fking legend 😂😂 👍 add some avokat and I'm sold
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
Glueing! 😆
@@clivebrealey6795 I meant to say gluhwein
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).
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.
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!
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.
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.....
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.
A hearty soup made from Christmas dinner leftovers does it for me... delicious!
My family is totally with you on this!
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Visit family the weekend before, exchanging gifts, then we spend Christmas alone. Wonderful
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.
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.
Really intersting seeing what is the same and what the differences are.
I'm a Brit (in England, if that makes any difference)
Our Christmas Day goes like this:
Stockings- like you, full of chocolate, socks, hair accessories etc etc. When the children were small, they also got one present from Father Christmas alongside their stocking (to sort of keep them going). Our stockings were not beside the fire, but laid across the foot of their beds.
Breakfast would be fresh fuit salad, fancy muesli and yogurt.
We used to go to church for an hour, but no longer do this.
Home for snacks - crisps, nuts etc.
Dinner - yes, at 2pm :P - of roast bird(s) of some kind - possibly goose, pheasant, guinea fowl - but not Turkey or chicken.
Roast potatoes, brussels sprouts, carrots parsnips, gravy, 2 types of stuffing, breadsauce, cranberry sauce (but NOT from a tin!
Christmas puddding (British fruit style) and here is our family signature dish: pudding is served with almond blancmange! I've never heard of anyone else doing that- but don't knock it till you've tried it! It's a perfct counterbalance to the rich pudding!
After the dinner has been cleared away, and replaced with bowls of chocolates and mince pies, then- and only then- do we open our presents! We do like you, an organised 1-at-a-time session, where everyone is able to appreciate everyone else's gifts.
The evening is slumped on the couch, watching a couple of shows on TV, possibly with a cheese board for anyone not too stuffed to ever eat again!
You need to get back to the hour at Church. Jesus gave you all that food✝️
@@cultfiction3865 You know nothing at all about my life and why that change happened. Rude!!!!
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.
The only good thing about Christmas its the Terry’s chocolate orange! 🧐
Yuk 🤮
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.
What a fun gift for your nephews!!! Very similiar vibes to your Christmas as a fellow Canadian. The only difference I think was we did with the whole family like, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. Christmas day was usually on my Dad's side of the family and then Boxing Day was my Mum's side of the family. Wild and tons of fun as a kid.
Boxing Day is the Best! Eases family tensions, relaxes the whole Holiday; it's great. (The Yanks don't have so it's humbug on them.)
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!
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.
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 🇨🇦🤍
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. 🙂
Great video! Wishing you good weather for your moms' visit!
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
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!
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.
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. 🎅👼
Where are your brussel sprouts and sausage and sage and onion stuffing balls, hi Alana from the ROI entertaining as always cheers 😊.
I lived in the UK, but now live in Canada. Our Christmas Day traditions in the UK (which we continue in Canada) were very similar to yours in Canada. Breakfast, Christmas dinner was dinner time, one present at a time etc. my mom is from Canada & I wonder if some of that was her Canadian influence hearing how ours were so similar. I can’t bare the thought of Christmas dinner at lunch time and it has never made sense to me haha! Awesome video Xx
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.
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.
Everyone: Christmas is the time of giving
Alana: I want my family members to suffer!
I was waiting to see if you’d comment on the dinner times.
Back in the UK, mum *REFUSED* to cook Christmas dinner before 5pm because of exactly what you mentioned. Also you have to worry about an evening meal. Whereas in Canada you’re full by 6pm and that’s you set for the night.
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.
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.
British. My Christmas dinner plate contains; Roast duck or goose (turkey is way too bland), roast potatoes, carrots, peas, beans, parsnips, pigs in blankets (sausages in bacon), gravy made with duck/goose stock and sour cherries, home-made chestnut and orange stuffing, home-made orange sauce or gooseberry sauce, Yorkshire pudding. (There will be some haters who say Yorkshires should not be served with Christmas dinner, but I say eat what you want - there's no rules!).
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).
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.
Christmas winter veg tastes sweeter once it has had a few frosts on it, so don't buy the Sprouts, Swede or Parsnips too early. Should be ok this year if the farmers can get on the fields to harvest through the snow. Avoid the prepacked or frozen ones as often harvested too early.
I love Christmas Pud but cold sliced and in a sandwich. Also not too keen on Turkey Breast, prefer the thigh or leg, better still Goose or Duck. A nice Rib of Ancient Breed Beef or a Haunch of Venison is also a favourite.
It is Christmas Lunch for me at 1.30 - 2pm so the Kings Speech can be watched over desert or the Port and Brandy at 3. The family arguments after before the making up over more booze.
Wow you’ve got me salivating over the beef and venison! We also eat around 1:30 ish, then for tea we have a large gammon ham roasted with cloves and a honey mustard glaze. If we have room later, a piece of my homemade Banoffee pie!
We have our dinner at 1pm. Starters either prawn cocktail or tomato soup.
Main course of turkey, roasties, Yorkshire puddings, pigs in blankets, parsnips, stuffing, gravy, bread sauce and cranberry sauce but instead of mash we have potato dauphinoise or gratin.
For dessert it'll either be Christmas pudding, Christmas cake or chocolate log.
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).
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.
You got them the best mince pies. Had these the other day. Amazing.
You’re helping to keep me sane right now. Something happy to watch. Thank you.
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.
UK person here… We have Christmas dinner at lunchtime, probably about 1pm, otherwise the kids will stuff themselves with sweets and chocolate and I’ll feel like I’m in the kitchen all day! We have turkey, roast potatoes (never mash!), Yorkshires, parsnips, carrots, peas, sprouts (I literally have one or two as they’re revolting, but everyone else loves them), cranberry sauce, red cabbage, pigs in blankets. Then Christmas pudding - you need lots of whipped cream and brandy butter!
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!!
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.
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.
Christmas dinner in UK was always about.4 or 5 pm as we left the pub about 3.
Merry Christmas from the UK
For dinner here is Canada ours is pretty much the same as yours minus the sliceable cranberry sauce lol. My grand-nephews and grand-nieces will get to open one small present on Christmas Eve with the rest Christmas morning. Dinner is 3-4pm ish depending on how early the prep started. We usually go out to look at the Christmas lights as well. Not so much now but go out for the Boxing Day sales at the malls or downtown Toronto if you were brave to spend all your Christmas money. The major tv providers have a fireplace channel year round. They may also have an Aquarium channel and a sunset/sunrise channel
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!
Love the clip from epicurious. I frequently watch those videos alongside this channel right here.
Fruit cake and a nice cuppa ☕ you can't beat it, especially on a dull, grey winters day.
I miss my childrens little faces on Christmas morning when they open there presents there really is nothing that replaces that
Australian here, this year will be a seafood platter for Christmas dinner. Yum!
How could you not send each of your nephews a Terrys Chocolate Orange……🤷🏼♂️🤦🏼♂️
Christmas cake is lovely as are mince pies.
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)
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.
I love that Baileys double cream you get in Sainsbury’s .It goes well with a mince pie.
0:24 "The couch is doing just fine... it's just lumpy."
Me too, couch. Me too!
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.
The trick with christmas pudding is what you put on it - good custard, maybe with a good alcoholic dosing, makes the treat.
Christmas Breakfast 6:00 AM, The Full Monty. Open Pressies. Around noon Coffee, A selection of Cakes, Brandy Snaps, Nuts, Treats etc. 3:00 PM Drinks. Snowballs, Black Russians, Bloody Mary, Stella, etc. Christmas Dinner around 5:00 PM. Pork Chops, Pigs in Blankets, Mash, Sprouts & Chestnuts, Carrots, Peas, Pork & Chestnut Stuffing Balls, Thick, Rich Gravy. Served with Red Wine. Cheese & Crackers, Brandy and Cigars. Pretty normal really.
Pork chops?
@@jenanization Absolutely. Love me some Chops. Haven't had Turkey in Donkeys. (It's bland), Chicken is everywhere these days, it was expensive when I was a kid. So chicken isn't "Special" anymore. What the heck, Pork Chops go with: Pork Sausages, Bacon, Stuffing Balls with Pork & Chestnuts. Why not go the whole hog.
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.
I live in the U.S. We usually have a huge pot of homemade vegetable soup and a baked ham that we make sandwiches with. And lots of desserts like chocolate cake, peanut butter balls, brownies, and chocolate chess pie. I enjoyed this video!!
You worry me sometimes - the North American palate must be pretty bland as it seems any treat - probably food in general - with spice in the mix is abhorent to you!
Yes very odd indeed!
😮 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.
Australian here! You MUST watch Aunty Donna's Christmas Pud sketch. It is iconic. Look it up. I think because so many people here have recent UK ancestry we also eat pudding and fruit mince tarts at Christmas.
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 ❤
I’ve never been much of a fan of mince pies but my Mum used to make one that was lovely, it had a sweet pastry base the sweet mincemeat filling but topped with meringue, served fresh out of the oven with cream and it is more than palatable.
I’m not keen on Christmas pudding either but as a young kid we always had either Strawberry or Black Forest Gateaux, then when I was a bit older my Mum started making a berry (sometimes with kiwi too) pavlova.
I find the best way to get through Christmas is to remember that it’s never as good as you think it should be, so take the pressure off of it, go with the flow a little more and just find the joy and happiness where you can. I have spent a number of Christmases on my own (the first one being when I was twenty) and on the whole I don’t mind it at all. You watch what you want, you eat what and when you want and you don’t have to deal with family fall outs or annoying people…you can even spend the day in your pyjamas if you want.
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.
Hi Alana, i'm a Londoner (south east london) but can't stand mince pies, Christmas pudding or Christmas cake, yet my dad (r.i.p love you dad), both my brothers and my mum love it, and we don't have north american/canadian pigs in blankets, coz they are what we know as sausage rolls, it's the pastry coating they share, or do your version use a sweet pastry, where ours are savoury. My familys christmas dinner plate will be Turkey, pigs in blankets, roast pototoe's (done in goosefat) chestnut stuffing, normal stuffing, plus veg including disgusting brusell sprrouts (i hate brusell prouts with a passion) and loads of gravy, washed down with a few good size glasses of wine. And yep yorkshire puddings will be on the plate as well (they are a must have)