Published on 12, July, 2020
With Christmas rapidly approaching - it seems only twelve months since last time - I thought I would start a thread on Christmas - what it means to us, our memories, what traditions we have (locally or of our own), what we like or don't like, and also to share our favourite films and music of Christmas.
I do not like the commerciality of Christmas. My favourite memories of Christmas were when I was young, and returning from Church before Christmas to the glow of the the wireless/gramophone set in the living room, the light of which was an eerie green colour, the room being lit by the lights of the Christmas tree and a collection of 78's of Christmas Carols playing on the gramophone. It was a truly magical time.
In the late 1980's a programme was made for Channel 4 of Dylan Thomas's 'A Child's Christmas in Wales'. This is a film I watch over and over again, it just evokes memories of my early Christmases, when we did not have a television set. This film isW beautifully shot, and brings the humour of Dylan Thomas out. 'A Child's Christmas in Wales' was originally a short story, and there are versions of Dylan Thomas himself reading it on You Tube. Dylan Thomas had such a beautiful way of putting things into words, and perhaps because of my own Welsh heritage it always brings a bit of a tear to my eye, in a good way!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BTSQYdBuZY
I also think humour is an important part of Christmas and the Christmas season. I like all sorts of Christmas music from religious to secular, and songs which are really about the season rather than Christmas. So for my first song which I will put here is this one from Bob Rivers (who is a record producer, not the singer!), the song is a parody of a delivery by a certain brother and sister who were very popular in the 1970's
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GONd04tiLk
Please share what Christmas means to you here. And I will add more as the days pass!
I don't do Christmas trees or decorations in my flat. My cats would wreck these and shred them anyway!
If I spend Christmas alone I know how to cook a reasonable Christmas dinner and to get a decent Rioja to go with it. In Budapest you can go to the tourist district and get a mulled wine or rum chocolate. This Christmas I am staying in Plymouth though and as the person I am staying with is a strict veggie, it will be a special cured tofu, not turkey.
Last year we glutted on 70's vampire films. We will be having Marsala with Sicilian sweets I got at the airport and he just showed me images of Etna erupting - we stayed at an Etna town a couple of years ago.
nexus9 said:We will be having Marsala with Sicilian sweets I got at the airport
I've been eating Cannoli since the start of Hannukah and haven't stopped since. Weird tradition but Nan was brought up on a street with a lot of Italian families, the Cannoli thing stuck, and it's a household tradition.
Nan and mom make these ones with cherry and dark chocolate. ***, they are delicious. When nan was more healthy she'd make Metaxas, these Morrocan Baklavas. Mom's are soggy, not good. My ex brought round a big bag of Jamaican Drops a few days ago. I think I'm going to die. I think they are all colluding to kill me.