Your most unusual Christmas

[GiraffesAtThePark]

Most of my Christmases have been very typical with family and turkey at one of our houses but one year in my twenties I was working in Japan and had a friend visit for Christmas. We spent Christmas Day in Disneyland Tokyo. It was so much fun going on rides and watching a Japanese Santa shouting ‘happy holidays’ in a Christmas parade with dancing snowmen. I had lunch in a little mermaid restaurant and dinner in the restaurant in the pirates of the Caribbean ride.

What unusual Christmases have you had?

Working in theatre Christmas day 1973.
Poor bloke, after carving the turkey, chopped off his penis.
After almost dying from blood loss, was stabilised, psych assessed and brought to theatre for urethral repair. Reattachment wasn't an option in those days.

What did i just read!!!!!! 🤣😲🤦

I have another healthcare one

Whilst working in AE many years ago , we were having a quiet Xmas day when a man came in asking calmly and politely to be sectioned , we sat him down with a tea and some Xmas chocolates just making gentle probing questions as to how he was and why he wanted to be sectioned when he opened a carrier bag to show us his wife's head .

I initially read that as you working in stage theatre and was trying to work out if it was part of the show. How awful!

The year my range cooker blew up on Christmas Eve and I ended up cooking dinner for 7 on a baby belling type mini oven with two rings (bought from Argos on the 24th) and a microwave. (Before air fryers).

would not recommend.

WTAF, this is horrific.

It was terrible , I've never met a more calm and collected person .. believe me I've met some evil in my career but nothing like this and I'll never forget it

Me too!

I recommend reading Adam Kay Twas the Nightshift before Christmas which is all about humourous and horrifying hospital events at Christmas time

@66babe You healthcare workers are made of stern stuff, that's absolutely horrendous. I hope the christmases since have been much happier for you.

a baby we were due to foster was discharged on Christmas Eve ( she’d been in SCBU) and it was that awful winter in around 2010? We had to borrow heaters from all the neighbours to keep it warm enough for her and dress her in doll’s clothes ( build a bear I think?) as we couldn’t get hold of preemie outfits. Christmas dinner was somewhat delayed and downscaled that year, but we had a lovely time.

Thank you @sugarplum33
Well I've worked in Prison healthcare for the last 9 years so it's ... different.

Some good some not so good 😊

I thought I’d get some unhappy Christmases but never thought such horrifying ones 😱 I too hope you’re doing ok and wish you happier ones for the future. I did once think of retraining to go into healthcare but like a PP said you have to be made of stern stuff to work in some posts.

Wow, this thread is not what I was expecting! A head in a carrier bag would've given me nightmares for years!

Some of the replies are on here!

Probably more in keeping with yours OP, I've been away for Christmas a few times and like to try and do something totally different to what I would be doing at home.
A couple of years ago we got up at 6am on Christmas morning and went on a full day whale watching trip. Dinner was soup and bread and we saw humpbacks and orca. Amazing but there was nothing festive about it!

Last year we were in Iceland and spent Christmas Day in a spa. Lunch was tomato soup in a giant greenhouse with tomato plants everywhere.

Both random and lovely

The year we all came down with a stomach bug now doesn't seem so bad...

Christmas in Munnar Kerala. It's a hill station town in the tea growing hills.

Kerala is 1/3 Christian. They hang those paper lampshades everywhere at Christmas.

There was a Christmas Eve service at the church. All the women in saris and fleeces. Really lovely to experience a very different Christmas.

Poor man. In a state of madness I suppose and not some kind of accident?

Off grid Christmas on a small island. I've had a few of those.

Christmas with friends across the country & packing presents for 2 small children into a vw polo without them seeing.

Grew up in a culture that doesnt celebrate xmas like traditional European countries do, we took xmas as a great opportunity to party with friends, go out had had lots of fun.

As a young adult I then spent years living in southern hemisphere so Christmas was always summer, lots of sunshine, bbqs, beach, camping, fishing etc.

I remember one particular Christmas I hiked with my mum in Steward Island, bearly saw any people the entire time. We had roasted mutton bird (a type of sea bird) as our main meal at the only restaurant on the island on boxing day.

When I was younger I always hosted Christmas. Grandparents, Children. Elderly aunt and uncle and brothers family plus kids. Generally 16 people for lunch and everyone had a great time. I might add have that I have a really small house.

One year on 21st December I got a call from my teenage son saying that due to a mix up the brother of his French exchange student had arrived. He invite had been for the the 27th to 31st.

My family are really loud cockneys. They spent the whole day teaching him rhyming slang, translating parlour games from my son’s poor French and his only slightly better English. It was the funniest Christmas ever. Watching a him trying to mime Marilyn Monroe is burnt into my brain, It is still spoken of 40 years later.

😱

Oh wow, I wasn’t expecting the first few replies.. how awful!

mine are very simple in comparison 🤣 just the ones spent in NZ. Living in workers accommodation with all sorts of characters from all sorts of countries and backgrounds, we just drank a lot of beer, went out on the jet skis and ate steak done on the bbq. When you’re very used to traditional English christmases, it just feels worlds apart! Such happy memories though. I used to find it so funny that they would put up various snow based decorations (snowmen etc) despite it being midsummer there!

I legit thought you meant like a musical theatre! 😂

My most unusual Christmas was spent on bondi beach in Australia. I got very drunk and remember very little of it 🤣

I think some posts on this thread need a TW!
I have fond memories of spending one Christmas with relatives in Florida when they were rejoicing that the temperature had gone down to 18 one day, so it was cold enough to wear their Xmas jumpers! Also they had a lovely Christmassy roaring log fire on Xmas day, but with the air con on