It’s Christmas time again and everyone around me is in full shopping mode. At least the holiday season here in England doesn’t start as early as that in the Philippines where we normally hear Christmas songs played on air during the “ber” months: September, October and so on.

Now, why do I say a traditional English Christmas with a Pinay twist? It is because at this time of the year I’d be twisting my hands with worry about what to buy my friends and family for Christmas.

I think this year will be different than before because of the credit crunch. A lot of people have lost their jobs here and big shops like Woolworths and MFI have gone bust. When we went out last weekend and passed by an MFI shop, I felt sorry for the employees who are losing their jobs especially at this time of the year. On the other hand seeing people rushing into the shop looking for items at rock bottom prices or coming out of the shop carrying pieces of furniture, to me they looked like vultures… picking on a dead creature’s flesh. I can’t blame them though because everyone is trying to get their money’s worth. We are all looking for the best bargains to stretch our hard earned money and fill our cupboards or get our loved ones some presents for Christmas.

This year, I decided to give a Christmas hamper for each family and no individual presents. And to save more money, I plan to assemble the hampers myself instead of buying them from the shops. I found out that you can save more money and you get to tailor each hamper according to your friends’ taste or preferences. In this way, they receive a more personalised gift rather than the generic ones you get in the shops.

We haven’t put up our Christmas tree yet, we normally put them up on the first weekend of December. We do recycle our fake Christmas tree every year, we don’t buy real trees. It’s a matter of personal choice. To me it’s such a waste cutting down a tree and put them in your house for only a few weeks. And for a change the fresh wreath I normally hang on our front door will have some fresh edible fruits in it like apples, figs, pears and walnuts. I don’t mind the birds and the bees feeding on it, as long as the neighbours don’t start munching on my apples! I am making a stand on recycling… but don’t worry I have not become a member of the knit-your-own-sandals brigade yet.

Ah now, we come to the English traditions or customs during Christmas. Did you know that when somebody hands you a gift, you are expected to open it in front of the giver? I am now getting used to this but I still have to practice my “delighted” face when I open a present that sometimes is not to my liking and say, “Oh, how lovely!”. At least in the Philippines we tend to set aside the present, make chika chika first and open it in private. So when you open it and you don’t like your gift, you store it in your closet and recycle it for next year and give it to somebody else, lol!

Here, our Christmas day starts early, opening our presents. Then we go to church and drive off to see the in-laws for Christmas lunch or dinner. We have the usual turkey complete with trimmings, Christmas pudding (but both my hubby and son don’t like it, so I usually bring my own chocolate cake as additional dessert kuno for the host but it really is a back-up, that way my boys are happy too, hehe!). The table is not complete without the Christmas crackers on top of each plate.

It is a rolled up hollow cardboard wrapped in shiny paper, shaped like a big candy and you ask the person sitting next to you to hold the other end and you both pull it at the same time in opposite directions. It comes apart with a bang, and the person who gets the bigger half of the cracker, gets the goodies inside i.e. a small stainless steel photo frame or a pair of nail clippers or a comb, a toy or a novelty pen. It’s quite nice especially if the host bought the good quality Christmas crackers and not the cheap type lest you end up with a plastic comb, plastic photo frame… hey, they’re all still the same items anyway, lol!. The cracker also includes a party hat, and a small piece of paper with a joke or riddle written on it one is supposed to read out loud. Sometimes you get a lot of laughs if it’s funny, most of the time you hear, “Oh yeah, heard that one before, har har har.” And everybody wears the party hats whilst eating their dinner, all looking rather silly but during this time all of us would have had more than a few drinks so it doesn’t matter really. The only sober ones on the dinner table would be the young ones, looking at the grown ups with their silly hats!

The New Year’s Eve party is the one we usually spend with friends either in a private party or if you want to splash out, have a gala evening at a social do. This event we normally have more booze than food. It is not a sit down dinner. Unlike in the Philippines, we don’t sound like we are in the war zone during New Year’s eve. We do have fireworks and set them off at the strike of midnight but compared to the Philippines, it’s more sedate and only lasts for half an hour.

These last two years I have hosted the New Year’s Eve party at my house with friends. This year, my friend says it’s her turn to host it so I am looking forward to welcoming the New Year with no dishes to wash and mess to tidy up on the first day of 2009. I think I got to find that polka dot shirt I stored somewhere in my wardrobe. And I am sure my fellow Pinay friend who’s going to host the party will have lots of round shaped fruits on her table at New Year’s Eve.

Anna Urquiola Green lives in Chelmsford, England with her husband and son. She is an artistic PF member and is currently busy with creating beautiful Christmas fruit wreaths and homemade Christmas hampers.

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