You might not think it but there's actually a fair few differences when it comes to celebrating Christmas between the UK and the US. Whereas the US is more for sticking up your tree and decorating your home in November for the festive season, there's big differences in the little things that you come to associate with Christmas in the UK. So I thought I'd share a few, things that even with this being my third Christmas in the US I'm still getting use to, it's mostly the things that don't appear over this side of the pond;
Christmas Crackers
Central to the British Christmas, crackers have never really made it over the ocean (although I hear you can occasionally find them). Why is beyond me, why wouldn't you want to wear a silly paper hat and read a crazily cheesy joke over your sprouts?!
Mince Pies
Mince meat for such pies is oddly different in the US alone - often coming in a box that's hard as a rock when you can find it for $7 a jar. Recipes upon the reverse of said jars are always for actual mince pies - yes a pie sized mince pie. In the US it's more about the Christmas cookie, in fact everything is about the cookie, year around.
Christmas Cake and Christmas Pudding
Both are somewhat a little old fashioned in the UK, both are pretty much vacant from the US Christmas scene especially the Christmas Pudding. A lot of my vintage cookbooks do have recipes for Christmas Cakes but this is certainly missing from more contemporary book yet along supermarket selves.
Tins of Sweets
Walk into any supermarket in the UK and you'd be greeted with mountains of Quality Street tins, not so here. Quality Streets are non existent but so are similar kinds of sweets, or even tins of sweets. Your're lucky if you still find a bag of Twizzlers from Halloween.
Eggnog
Aside from your spiced and hard cider, Eggnog is a big drink of choice around the Christmas season. Admittedly it's not only I like, I tried it for the first time last year and really didn't like - one I happy give a miss.Boxing Day
That special day of eating the Christmas leftovers or of visiting the other side of the family otheriwse known as Boxing Day in the UK and Canada just doesn't exisit in the US. December 26th to many is straight back to the work grind and Christmas is done and over for the year. While there are post Christmas sales, there's nothing compared to the Boxing Day sales you'd find in the UK. It's certainly a way of getting over Christmas, a little too quickly for my liking.
What would you miss about your countries traditions at Christmas time?
What would you miss about your countries traditions at Christmas time?
Image sources - Christmas crackers, Christmas pudding, Tinsel, Quality Street Tin, Mince Pies