To ask you what is the most English thing you do on Christmas?

[ConfusedWife1234]

As somebody who is not English I’d like to know.

Watch Carols from Kings on Christmas Eve whilst prepping veg. We are a family of sprout eaters so I have a small mountain of them to deal with!

Unfinishedkitchen

Start drinking Buck’s Fizz within an hour of waking up.

Brilliant! 😂 you are the most English person on here!! Love it! Now have images of loads of families with Jim Royles in their saggy Santa printed boxes shouting “come in Barbara! Let’s crack open the Bucks Fizz (beer), it’s Chrrrrrriiiiiiistmaaaaas!”

Playing charades

OP did you mean British?

Have a massive Christmas dinner with All the trimmings.

Playing charades

On Mock the Week last night they had 'Things you won' hear at Xmas', one was lets play charades, first one 'This marriage'

Funny but sad at the same time.

English or British OP?

I have never done anything English per se. Not knowingly anyway! 😂 OP you should just say British as many are British on here but are not English 😊

Any how Merry Christmas/Nadolig Llawen 🎄🎄🎄

@SexnotJenga* Why do you cook sprouts if everybody hates them?

It’s a joke - we don’t really cook food no one likes. It’s a food that is traditional at Christmas (and with a roast dinner) but lots people don’t like brussel sprouts so we always make a big joke out of making lots of them anyway

What do you do with the sprouts everybody hates after you cooked them then? Throw them away?

@GiantBanger Do you identify as English or British? Are there people who identify as both?

1. Watch carols from Kings while prepping food on Christmas Eve
2. Make homemade crackers
3. Go to midnight mass in a Church of England church
4. Have a cup of tea while kids open their stockings
5. Have our main meal on 25th
6. Have at least two boxes of Quality street on the day
7. Go for a big walk before lunch

Oh and I should have started with 1a. Get inappropriately drunk at the office party

Church on christmas day. Christmas pudding which I will set fire to. Mince pies, christmas cake and trifle; no where else seems to do these.

Send cards and give them to neighbours . I don't think other countries do this

I think the English question is fine as there will be plenty of traditional things that the English do that Scots, Irish and Welsh don’t. Maybe we could pose the question what traditional things do the 4 different counties within the UK do because we lucky enough to be are 4 different united counties with so many different traditions. I’d like to know what traditions Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland have at Christmas that England don’t

Nothing mentioned on this thread, yet, has English origins. Except a selection box for breakfast.

Which should remind us how connected we've always been with the rest of the World and how happy we've been to introduce their traditions into our lives.

This year to celebrate being British, I'll force myself to drink Sloe Gin and Sloe Cider.

• different countries

I don't think I do anything different to England;I just assume our traditions are mainly British to be honest.
I can't think of any that are typically Welsh to be honest.

I’m Scottish and British. Definitely not English.

My husband and children are English and we live here.

Probably our celebrations on Twelfth Night (starts at sunset on the 5th Jan). Wassail! (Drinc Hail!), King's Cake, a Lord of Misrule, singing and throwing bread soaked in cider at our apple tree.

@pinkstripeycat That’s a great questionnaire I would love to know the answer.

The big meal on 25th.

Opening presents on 25th.

Father Christmas.

Crackers.

Advent calendars.

Christmas cake.

Mince pies.

Carols.

Christmas cards.

Stockings.

Christmas tree (many, many of my friends don't have one).

But we will be doing:

Big St Stephen's lunch with many people (we're hosting).

Shitting Log on 24th in the evening (he poos presents).

Going to see the 3 Kings parade on the 5th January where they all wave and throw boiled sweets into the crowd. Then we go home and open one last present. The natives open all their gifts that night and have a big family meal.

Sales here don't start until 7th January.

It is weird but after 18 years i'm starting to get used to it.

I queue. A lot. Christmas is great if you enjoy queueing. Unfortunately, I hate it but it's about as English/British as fish and chips

Listen to /sing carols with a descant (?). This is a truly unique musical tradition I had not encountered anywhere else and have sung a lot of carols... Happy to be corrected by somebody more informed though.

Without having lived abroad, it's hard to know whether the things we do are typically British or a fairly universal Christmas traditions. We always have crackers at Christmas dinner, but I didn't know they were British before reading this thread.

I try to avoid some traditions:
Have never watched the Queen's speech.
Won't have sprouts in the house let alone cook them.
Don't go to church.
Haven't been on a Christmas morning walk since I left (my parents') home.
Leap over to the radio to change stations when carols from Kings comes on.

But I do eat loads of chocolates and mince pies, and it's about the only time of year that I can force dp and teenage dd away from their screens and make them play board games with me.

Pantomime.