Can anyone tell me about an American (USA) Christmas

[paddlingwhenIshouldbeworking]

Inspired by the British thread but I'm intrigued by American Christmases. They seem such over the top celebrations in films and TV but then I hear it's only a one day holiday (no Boxing Day) and the British thread referred to it being 'more casual'. Am having trouble reconciling this with the films. They don't have crackers or mince pies or pantos..what do they have instead? (other than eggnog and shopping!) Do they eat another turkey dinner after Thanksgiving, or something else?

Any Americans on here or anyone joined family for a Christmas over there?

There’s no Christmas music 😞 no Slade or Shaking Stevens, no Pogues or even Maria ‘tis sad.

Eh? Yes there bloody well is Christmas music. It's everywhere. And most companies have Christmas parties. And people go carolling and do big family dinners (though not necessarily turkey because they will have just finished the last of the thanksgiving bird), and the decorations are amazing, and there are special Christmas programmes that are shown only once a year (like The Year Without a Santa Claus), and Santa is in nearly every mall with huge queues, and there's often a Messiah singalong in a big concert hall in cities, and there's lots more but mostly, thankfully, no one is expected to dine while wearing stupid fucking paper hats.

In some ways I think their short but sweet thing is healthier. We do tend to drag it out from Halloween to new year. 😂However I would have prefered more reverence for the actual day. Nobody dressed up,there was very little on TV,no tins of Quality Street etc,no Xmas pudding,no Xmas cake,no crackers,no ringing all the relations just to say Merry Christmas,no Queens Speech or big film,no afternoon games,no evening leftover feast.......

It felt like everybody had forgot it was Christmas.

That is bunkers, Ironing. What you have described is literally the exact opposite of every one of my American Christmases growing up, with the exception of Quality Street and the Queen’s speech.

Sorry, I meant bonkers.

I thought it was just our experience too but there do seem to be similar experiences going by this thread.

I guess everyone has different ways of doing things. I find my in laws’ celebration of Christmas to be far less festive and cheery than my own family’s. My mom was Jewish, but she loved Christmas and made a massive deal of it for my enjoyment.

Do you think it varies in different states?

People here go to the ballet to see the nutcracker, and the symphony put on special Christmas performances. Most families will hold a Christmas open house on a weekend in December, basically an all afternoon and early evening party where they invite everyone they know and you turn up whenever and stay for as long as you want. You have to party hop to fit them all in. There is skiing and lots of cold outdoor fun and roaring fires. Most houses are decorated with lights and you can drive around after dark with the dc to oooh and ahhh at them. There is a huge amount of gift buying, wrapping and posting to family that cant get together on the day. There are Christmas cards and stockings and Christmas craft fairs. On the day, most people cook a big meal, go for a walk, play with the gifts and watch tv. But unless you are British, there are not usually crackers, pudding or cake. Mince pies are replaced with home made cookies that there is a big tradition around baking in the run up (even parties called cookie swaps)
Hope this helps with your procrastinating!

I don't want to suggest that we in the US are a bunch of scrooges. There are Christmas songs, Christmas decorations in the shops, present buying, etc etc. But it is just not on the scale that it is in the UK. And there are not as many expectations around it as there are in the UK. And yes, there is a great deal of variation in how families celebrate Christmas.

I think it's also important to point out that there are a lot more believing church-going Christians in the US than in the UK. This means that there more people focusing on the religious significance of the holiday and so downplay the all-pervasive commercial aspects of it.

I also think it likely that there are far fewer office Christmas parties in the US. I know that many businesses stop having parties during the recession which really hit hard beginning in 2009 and many of them have not resumed having parties.

And yes movie theaters are open on Christmas Day. It's one of the biggest days of the year for going to the movies. It's one of the traditions at my family. We get up, open presents, have Christmas dinner, and then go to the movies in the late afternoon.

Ironing I’m sure it does vary between states. I’m not sure where Seatoski is (though it sounds lovely) but opportunities for “skiing and cold outdoor fun and roaring fires” are rather limited here in Texas!

We do sometimes get in the outdoor pool on Christmas day though.

We spent a Christmas living in a the US. Christmas wasn't really mentioned until after Thanksgiving, and that definitely felt like a more important festival for most of the people we knew. Many of my husband's colleagues literally had the day off on the 25th, and very few spent time with family, compared to everyone seeming to do so for Thanksgiving. Overall, Christmas felt far more like a thing for children, without many traditions, and not overly commercialised - at least, in comparison to the UK.

but opportunities for “skiing and cold outdoor fun and roaring fires” are rather limited here in Texas!

Same here in Florida. We often have Christmas dinner on our back porch, especially if we have guests because there is room for a much bigger table there. And anyone from up North who says "oh, it just doesn't feel like Christmas because it's so warm" gets to wash the dishes.

In Maine it’s law to take down your decorations be Jan 12,

Christmas here is fairly similar to he UK really, schools have a week off over Christmas. Boxing Day isn’t a named day but quite a few people have the day off.

Seneca