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.

OMG I love sprouts. Delicious cold and sliced in granary bed with mayonnaise - so long as not overcooked.

Are there people who identify as both?

Yes of course! If you are English and British.

If you are Scottish you are Scottish and British

It can be a bit confusing for the uninitiated, but it goes like this:

Great Britain = Scotland, England and Wales

The United Kingdom = Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland

The British Isles is a geographical reference not a political one so it includes Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Foreigners often use English interchangeably with British (as do some English people to be fair) but it’s a very quick way to annoy anyone from one of the other countries...

Great chart PinkCalluna. It actually does look like the cross-section of a brussel's sprout albeit a little blue in the middle. The Falkland Islands should be in there somewhere also but it is not clear how you would do that.

I’ll bet we do have other traditions though even if not at Christmas. I love we still have some different foods (welsh cakes, haggis). I love my welsh friends singing happy birthday in both Welsh and English. Across the UK we have some of the most beautiful accents.

I have lived abroad and I’d consider the following as fairly British traditions:

Crackers
Mince pies
Christmas pudding (I’m Scottish and we light it with whiskey at the dinner tables but I think in England they might use brandy?)
Christmas cake
Watching the Queen’s speech (although my republican leaning family have never watched it)

I’m British but Welsh not English. I think wearing paper hats whilst you eat and telling the silly jokes that come in the crackers is a very British thing to do.

We eat pork pie for breakfast on Christmas Day

That's petty British!

I can’t claim credit for it Lady but have found it useful for explaining to foreign friends in the past.

You are right I’m not quite sure where you’d fit the Falkands or Gibraltar for that matter...

Here in Cornwall it’s tradition to go for a swim in the sea without a wetsuit

www.saltycornwall.co.uk/christmas-swims-dips-sea-cornwall/

On Christmas Eve in our town there is a huge group of carol singers that go from pub to pub. That’s one of my favourite traditions down here - impromptu pub singing. They do it at other times of the year too but sing shanties.

I spend a good portion of the day wondering whether I should have been a bit more persistent, or less persistent, in inviting various relatives to join us for Christmas.

I like my many in-laws. I would be very happy to have any of them. But equally, I don't want them to feel they have to come: I don't want to be overbearing.

Several of them have been feeling rather down. They declined my invitation. Did I word it wrong? Should I have urged them more forcefully so they understood they were truly welcome? Or would they actually prefer to be home on their own, in which case I did the right thing by saying straightaway, "Of course we understand that you'd rather stay home. You just do whatever is best for you"?

What's worse for them when they're feeling low: a relative who doesn't seem to care and is happy to leave them alone after making a token attempt to invite them, or a relative who's pushy and causes them stress by the implication that they won't have a proper Christmas if they choose to spend it alone? Either way, I've done it wrong.

So yes, guilt combined with poor communication.

(I'm not English, but I think I have a very English personality, so I've felt very much at home here since arriving as a young adult. People from my country of birth wouldn't bother themselves over this sort of thing!)

We go walk with the dog to the pub at midday.

Scottish - Santa is left a generous measure of single malt.

I am Scottish, most of what is called English here I would consider British - we certainly do all the usual sprouts, selection box, queuing, crackers, mince pies etc.

Actually, can anyone name a quintessentially English tradition that is not British? Do you take communion on Christmas day because obviously that doesn't happen in the Church of Scotland, but I can't think of anything else?

Leftover sherry trifle for breakfast on Boxing Day. That’s why we have Boxing Day walks, obvs...

English? Probably the language spoken in our house

Christmas crackers are probably the most widespread Christmas tradition of English origin.

Nine lessons and carols by candlelight in village church.
Carol singing around villages.
Stockings.
Drinks parties
Listen to the QUeen.

I'm English living in Wales and I'll probably eat buffet food I really don't like or need to eat because I'm too polite to refuse.

@ConfusedWife1234 of course people identify as both, I'm English but British first.

Yorkshire puddings on Christmas dinner.

Can't be without them or it's a let down.

We Google the weather and complain whatever the result unless there is snow forecast (but there never is - South England).

Can't open any presents until we've had a cup of tea.

Crumpets and tea first thing in the morning.

Are there people who identify as both?
Yeah I'm nationality-fluid.

Pull crackers at dinner
Watch Queens Speech and
Festival of 9 Lessons and Carols
Feel the magic...