That's what my daughter will be doing, as she and her husband are moving down on December 10th.

Tom

For us, first Sunday of Advent is 1 December this year.

Which calendar do all y'all follow down Ticino way?

More importantly, does the Befana visit?

Depends. Around here, Ambrosian (Milanese) rite, but the next village is Roman rite.

Tom

I will be worried about X-mas only closer to the date. With this weather, it is difficult to plan anything exciting.

to be fair, your avatar tells me you prefer a more tropical xmas (or one down under too)

Now, you have given me a great suggestion. Go Down Under ... !

or okinawa (the hawaii of japan!) we will be there for our last asian xmas

Yes.

Tom

I’m completely flabbergasted by this. It really wasn’t unusual at all.

I just asked OH and he said they had candles on their tree when ne was young and his grandparents had them right up until they died in the nineteen eighties.

We always had real candles. But then again the Brits are a bit wierd anyhow

Sherry for santa. Main presents Christmas day. Apple and orange in the bottom of the pillow case present sack.


Yep.

My grandmother did too, and my father's aunts and uncles, certainly until the early 80s. My other grandmother stopped in the mid 70s when she got a high-maintenance toy poodle called Penny who had a bit of a Christmas tree/candle deathwish.

Japan? The RWC2019 is over so no point in visiting ...

You had me when you mentioned “Hawaii of Japan“ though!

I know an excellent Whisky that will send you down under in no time!

I could also jump from the bridge, meet a captain Morgan or simply experience a southern comfort ...

Same here.
Sherry and mince pie for Santa, carrot for Rudolph.
All presents on Christmas day and an apple, an orange and a shiny new coin in the bottom of the pillowcase present sack.

In the US, our Santa got a bottle (always glass) of coke and a plate of toll-house cookies. Sometimes Santa got a shot of whiskey, too.

The parents of my boyfriend at the time had real candles on the tree and that was even in the 90s but they were posh. Also had a pine garland up the bannister (not a euphemism ) and had a goose for Christmas lunch rather than a turkey.

Ah well-can only say it as it was from our experience. OH confirms that he never ever knew anyone with real candles in the UK, even in the 40s/50s and 60s (I lived there since 1970)- and certainly not ones that were actually lit. So it is interesting. He lived in London, Sussex and Surrey as a child.

We had to explain to the girls that Santa didn't really like sherry and much preferred a good glass of single malt.

Well you won't have known everyone. That's where anecdotes-as-facts fall over. Everyone else was having as proper and real and traditional a Christmas just as your family was. Does. In their own way. No right or wrong. Family traditions.

Well of course - those were the words of a five year old - who knew no-one among friends, family and neighbours - to have real candles lit on the tree. The perception of a small child on Christmas day - which we thought was very sweet.

And to illustrate DB's OP- that many of us, and our children with us- do experience a mix of cultures growing up abroad. And yes, the world has changed. Where my first daughter was born in 73, in Newcastle Staffs- I was the only foreign mum in the street and for many streets around. And where second one was born, in Leics, in 75- same again. In the street, and in the whole village actually. So they were perhaps even more aware of differences.