Christmas times.

This last week, I had the pleasure of attending my first British Christmas Dinner.  In many senses, it was strikingly similar to an American Thanksgiving dinner.  But yet somehow it was completely different in many ways.


After the success of Thanksgiving dinner in November, a friend of mine who attended, Joe, thought it would be just as fun to have a British Christmas dinner so that I might see how Christmas is done over here.  So this last weekend, I went over to Joe's house early in the day to help and watch the preparations for a Christmas dinner.  Similar to what we had done for the Thanksgiving dinner, Joe had a turkey crown and a full chicken already roasting in the oven. Billy, one of Joe's housemates, was also helping in the baking.  One of the first things I partook in was the peeling of turnips, which I personally don't think I had ever interacted with before. Once this was done, we peeled potatoes--half of which would be made into mashed potatoes and the other half of which would become roasted potatoes.

Joe, the host, is the one in the purple hoodie

Soon, some of the other guests started arriving, bring food, drink, and Christmas decorations.  In fact one girl called Grace brought her entire Christmas tree--decorated and all!
Within no time at all, the sweet aroma of roasting meat and veggies filled the entire house, and with the Christmas tree and Christmas music playing, it was beginning to feel quite festive indeed.
The plates were set and we were ready to eat.  Before doing to, however, it is customary to pull Christmas crackers before the meal starts.  Christmas crackers are non-existent in the States, much to the sorrow of my British companions.  Because of this fact, I feel that I must explain what these mysterious yuletide items are.

Camilla the Italian in a Christmas cracker hat

Christmas crackers are small "tootsie roll" shaped items.  When you are seated at the table, everyone crosses their arms, and grabs a cracker between the person next to them.  In this way, everyone should have a cracker in each hand.  On the count of 3, everyone pulls their end of the "tootsie roll," much like how people pull the wishbone of a turkey.  There is then a massive CRACK as the small explosions within each cracker occurs, and the cracker bursts open to reveal treats.
Now, the winner is the person who had the long end of the cracker.  They traditionally get to keep the goodies, but seeing as it is the holiday season, everyone usually gets a prize.
Inside our particular crackers are a small toy, such as a few marbles or a little airplane.  There is also a joke, usually having the same quality as those found on Laffy Taffy wrappers.
Finally, there is always a little paper crown included, which must be worn at the table or for the rest of the night.  One of the best parts of this tradition is walking around and seeing wealthy business executives and elderly grandparents alike wearing their hats at the table.

Once the cracker had been open, we started the feast. Unfortunately, I was so hungry, I totally forgot to take pictures of the prepared feast.  If memory serves, we had turkey, chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas, carrots, turnips, roasted potatoes, little sausages wrapped in bacon, and mince pies for dessert, as well as the ever-popular mulled wine.

Sunset at Egham station

A few days after, I ventured into London for some holiday adventures.  I had heard from some of my friends that there was a lovely Christmas fair in Hyde Park called Winter Wonderland.  I decided I'd check it out.  So I took the train into Waterloo station and hopped on the Underground to Hyde Park.  I couldn't believe what I saw.

Creepy animatronic talking tree

It was indeed a holiday fair, but it was on a scale I had never seen.  This place opens in mid November and lasts until the 4th of January.  So it is all temporary.  Yet even so, they had a Ferris wheel with heated pods that went up 15 stories, a power tower, loads of rides and attractions--even roller coasters.

Fun House!

It had a distinct German food culture, offering sausages, bratwursts, wiener schnitzel, and of course, German beer.  I wandered into this place in awe.  So many lights and things to see!  At

Ferris Wheel

the entrance, there was mostly German foods and drinks, but as I continued walking, there were booths all over that were selling all sorts of items and goods. There were glassblowers and wood crafts, wool goods and paintings.  They came from all over Europe, just to sell their goods here at the winter market.

As I wandered deeper into the Wonderland, it evolved into the amusements and attractions sector, where there were fun houses and haunted houses and all sorts of rides and midway games.

Roller Coaster and Power Tower

Genuine Circus under the Big Top

It was interesting that there was a midway game in which players took an air rifle and shot at little targets. Lawsuits and insurance keeps anything remotely close to this type of game out of play. (No pun intended) Simply the fact that the rifles were not fixed to the stand and could be, technically, turned upon the operator or a bystander would be enough to get it shut down before the first shots were fired.

Of course, I decided to take this opportunity that I would never be afforded back home, and played the game.
Naturally--being American (and everyone knows that all Americans are trained assassins with firearms)--I knocked down all the targets. (7/7) Meanwhile, a British man who had brought his girlfriend to the stand and boasted that it would be easy to win her a prize was cursing his gun saying it was broken.  He was too stubborn to ask for help. Turns out he simply didn't know how to take the safety off.



I had to chuckle to myself.
 
Especially when his girlfriend gave me a very impressed smile as I walked away.