Christmas traditions, shopping, crackers and smelly newspaper!

Well, it's nearly Christmas. We've only got a few more days. It's going to be my first Christmas away from home. I've worked abroad alot but normally the season would end well before Christmas. This time I'll be gone for Christmas and New Year (and my nieces 3rd birthday and my birthday and easter....) It's really hard to be away from family this time of year but I'm coping. Mainly because I have a terrific group of friends out here.

It feels really strange to see Christmas decorations on palm trees. I'm used to cold weather this time of year and walking around in a T-Shirt just feels strange. Still, it's interesting to see how the Americans celebrate Christmas. For one thing, they call it "the holidays" rather than Christmas. They include Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year as the whole celebration. Everywhere you go people wish you "Happy Holidays". I always answer with "Merry Christmas!"

At work we're not allowed to wish guests a "Happy Christmas" because "Disney is a non discrimatory organisation". Apparantly it might be offensive to people who don't celebrate Christmas. Rubbish! I'm British and we wish everyone a Merry Christmas and that's our tradition so I will continue to give that as my holiday greeting until I get in trouble for it. If someone wished me a "Happy Hannakah" it wouldn't bother me even though I'm not Jewish so our guests will just have to get used to it.

I've got some good plans for Christmas anyway. I'm working an AM shift but I should be done by about 4pm. I'm getting together with Kevin, Sam, Vikki, David and Rene round at Kev and Rene's apartment. We're having a Christmas Eve sleepover and we're all going to be together to open the presents in the morning. Then I'm off to work (as is Kevin and Rene) and Dave, Vikki and Sam are making Christmas dinner. Then when we get back, we're decorating a Gingerbread house and having dinner all together. Poor Rene is working late but we won't leave him out.

We all got together this morning to go and get the Christmas food. Kevin hired a car and we went down to Kissimee to The British Store. Oh my goodness! You have never seen any group of people so excited to see Heinz Baked Beans! Us Brits were rushing round the store picking up things and screaming "oh my God, look, they have Penguins!!!!" (Chocolate coated cookies for the Americans reading this!) We were in raptures over the Aunt Bessies yorkshire puddings and when we found Lilt we were near tears. All those brands I take for granted at home....I never thought I'd be so excited to see a bottle of TCP! The sales assistant must have thought we were barking! However, she got into the spirit of things and brought out some English newspapers that were out of date. She was going to throw them away but said we could have them for free. Of course, we jumped at the chance and Vikki sniffed the paper and said "it smells like home!" Of course, that meant all of us had to smell the newspaper. Picture the scene, five people in a shop in Florida sniffing an out of date newspaper while our random Norweigan friend, Rene looks on in horror, convinced we've all gone nuts! It was the funniest thing ever and we were all laughing our heads off! Most importantly, the British store sold Christmas Crackers! I never knew they were a European thing, I thought it was universal but you can't get them in America. I was so happy to find them! At the end of our visit, the sales assistant (a lovely, elderly lady) whom we had been chatting with came round the counter and said "I know you're all away from your families so I'm going to give you all a hug". We all got a huge hug from her and Vikki was near tears when she pulled away. It was so sweet.

As this will be a rather strange Christmas for all six of us, we're trying to incorparate everyone's traditions into one. You would think that would be simple as five of us are British and one is Norweigan but it seems even in Europe people celebrate things a little differently. Rene is used to opening all his presents on Christmas Eve and he never has turkey for Christmas dinner. He has Christmas ham or Christmas sausage. I always have roast potatoes but Kevin has mashed potatoes. David always has Brussel Sprouts even though he doesn't eat them and most of the others want them because they're traditional (though no one really likes them). Vikki opens all her presents in the morning but Kevin spaces his out throughout the day. It's hard to mix it all together but I think we've hit a compromise. Christmas dinner will be turkey and stuffing with roast AND mashed potatoes. We'll also have sausages and sausage rolls. I think we're doing the presents half and half (half in the morning, half in the evening). For dessert, Rene is making a traditional Norweigan dessert called Riskrem (pronounced Rice-cream). Apparantly it's delicious but it's a bit worrying when Rene told us it's "creamy, sweet, smooth, light, fluffy and a little chewy" and is made from "rice and some other stuff." Still, we'll give it a go.

So, that's my Christmas all planned and it's going to be weird but also alot of fun. I never realised how much tradition there is in Christmas, I just thought everyone celebrated the same way. However, I've learnt that it doesn't matter how you celebrate or even IF you celebrate as long as you can surround yourself with friends or family and have an open mind to other peoples customs. So, I happily wish everyone "A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!" (or God Jul for the Norweigans). Have a fantastic Christmas, whatever you're doing and wherever you are!!!!