 | | | 
07.11.2019, 12:15
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: London
Posts: 6,420
Groaned at 38 Times in 37 Posts
Thanked 17,738 Times in 4,539 Posts
| | Re: It's almost Christmas!
Many years ago my Father died on the 19th December. Not so many years ago my Mother died on the 23rd. You would think that Christmas would be a hard time for me, but not at all. I still remember the wonderful Christmases we had as a (relatively poor) family. My parents really pulled out all the stops to make it special for us.
I have a vivid memory of my mother taking me to bed on Christmas eve, I guess I was about 4 or 5, and opening the bedroom window telling me we might be able to hear Santas Sleigh delivering toys to other children. Sure enough, a minute later I heard Sleigh Bells in the distance. I was so excited I almost peed myself. Of course, many years later I realised it was just my father round the side of the house doing it for my benefit. They must have had so much fun planning and doing that!
Last edited by grumpygrapefruit; 07.11.2019 at 12:37.
| The following 24 users would like to thank grumpygrapefruit for this useful post: | amogles, Blueangel, Cactus flower, Cata1yst, curley, jacek, Leonor, meloncollie, Merrylegs, Oldhand, olwe, Rob, roegner, Sky, swissotter, the_flag_is_a_big_plus, Urs Max | 
07.11.2019, 12:50
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: Küsnacht, Switzerland
Posts: 4,277
Groaned at 131 Times in 115 Posts
Thanked 11,526 Times in 5,023 Posts
| | Re: It's almost Christmas!
It occurred to me in the shower last night that, if I'd stayed with my ex, it would have been our silver wedding anniversary on Dec 26th.  My grandparents' anniversary was also Dec 26th and my parents' was Dec 27th because Christmas was often the only time when everyone was off work.
| The following 4 users would like to thank Blueangel for this useful post: | | 
07.11.2019, 21:01
|  | Forum Veteran | | Join Date: Jun 2019 Location: Baselstadt
Posts: 1,115
Groaned at 5 Times in 5 Posts
Thanked 1,346 Times in 597 Posts
| | Re: It's almost Christmas!
I remember one of the last Christmases we had with my dad before he went down the long hard road of vascular dementia. We have Christmas Dinner in the early evening and the BBC had Titanic on TV as the blockbuster film of the season. As it was about three quarters through, I asked dad if he wanted me to pause dinner so he could see it all and he replied "ach no, we all ken how it ends".
He was from Belfast (ironically Titanic Town, he worked at Harland and Wolff in his youth) and had lived in Scotland since the end of WW2, he would say things in all seriousness not realising they were funny. Another one was holding up his reading glasses and saying "I just wear these for safety you know", none of us had a clue what that meant  We still laugh about it and he's been dead for 14 years now.
I also remember my mother shoving the turkey in the oven with a kitchen chair against the oven door on Christmas Eve at bedtime and leaving it there all night, happy days!
| The following 2 users would like to thank Cherub for this useful post: | | 
07.11.2019, 21:12
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Lugano
Posts: 33,141
Groaned at 2,739 Times in 1,933 Posts
Thanked 40,408 Times in 19,051 Posts
| | Re: It's almost Christmas!
Tom
| The following 6 users would like to thank st2lemans for this useful post: | | 
07.11.2019, 21:52
| Banned | | Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: CH
Posts: 10,970
Groaned at 2,032 Times in 1,120 Posts
Thanked 5,139 Times in 3,246 Posts
| | Re: It's almost Christmas! | Quote: | |  | | | My contribution to 'candlegate' 
Back in the 70s, I only knew two people and the local churches that had real candles on their trees. After reports of the fires caused by the Blue Peter Advent calendar made from 2 coathangers, tinsel and 4 candles, my mum bought naff flower-shaped multi-coloured lights. I didn't see candles on a tree again until Salzburg in 1994, where our hotel had a real tree with blue candles on each floor opposite the lift, and they were only lit on Christmas Eve. The hotel staff also left a bottle of wine and a very generous plate of Christmas biscuits, nuts and tangerines in each room. | | | | | "Candelgate" not stopping. Here's all you need! Ban kitsch forever!
Real live candle holders for your real? tree
Get them at Manor. But be quick-they are selling like hot cakes. https://www.manor.ch/de/p/p0-6035870...kaAoyDEALw_wcB
Thats one Xmas we will never forget!
Last edited by omtatsat; 07.11.2019 at 22:02.
| 
07.11.2019, 22:14
|  | Member | | Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: other side of the pond
Posts: 180
Groaned at 3 Times in 3 Posts
Thanked 213 Times in 80 Posts
| | Re: It's almost Christmas!
I'll be coming to CH (first time in over 4 years!) in late November. Will there be any Xmas markets on yet? I'll be in ZH and the Leventina.
| 
07.11.2019, 22:16
| Banned | | Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: CH
Posts: 10,970
Groaned at 2,032 Times in 1,120 Posts
Thanked 5,139 Times in 3,246 Posts
| | Re: It's almost Christmas! | Quote: | |  | | | I'll be coming to CH (first time in over 4 years!) in late November. Will there be any Xmas markets on yet? I'll be in ZH and the Leventina. | | | | | https://www.zuerich.com/de/besuchen/...hnachtsmaerkte | This user would like to thank omtatsat for this useful post: | | 
09.11.2019, 14:28
| Banned | | Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: CH
Posts: 10,970
Groaned at 2,032 Times in 1,120 Posts
Thanked 5,139 Times in 3,246 Posts
| | Re: It's almost Christmas!
Well theres nothing better than the Santa Claus motiv toilette paper. To have your bum wiped by Santa! | 
10.11.2019, 01:47
| | Re: It's almost Christmas! | Quote: | |  | | | This month I'm grateful for people who don't mention Christmas until it's December, the removal of halloween decorations from shops, and oxford commas.
I'm off home for christmas, straying further from the possibility of a white christmas and swapping it for a proper wet, windy and bone cuttingly cold west of Ireland. | | | | | | 
11.11.2019, 09:57
|  | Member | | Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Zug
Posts: 214
Groaned at 9 Times in 8 Posts
Thanked 254 Times in 103 Posts
| | Re: It's almost Christmas!
Anyone know where I can pick up a traditional Xmas ham?
| 
11.11.2019, 11:17
| Junior Member | | Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: Zurich
Posts: 38
Groaned at 2 Times in 2 Posts
Thanked 15 Times in 10 Posts
| | Re: It's almost Christmas! | Quote: | |  | | | | | | | | LOOOOOOOL | This user would like to thank Leonor for this useful post: | | This user groans at Leonor for this post: | | 
11.11.2019, 11:19
| Forum Legend | | Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Kt.ZH
Posts: 11,807
Groaned at 463 Times in 380 Posts
Thanked 18,448 Times in 9,332 Posts
| | Re: It's almost Christmas!
I don't know anyone apart from my grandparents who used real candles in their Christmas tree.....  When I was a child those classic Christmas tree light bulbs were the norm.
Things that I have in mind for Christmas
- keep it simple. No need to cook or buy too much food that will go to waste because it's simply too much
- no need to go over the board with Christmas gifts, lose time and money for things we (basically) already have
- as a result of being wiser and more thoughtful, increase the amount that we normally donate to a couple of charities. I came to the conclusion that there's no better feeling than knowing you made someone's life a bit happier. Or easier. Even for a day.
| This user would like to thank greenmount for this useful post: | | 
11.11.2019, 11:43
| Junior Member | | Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: Zurich
Posts: 38
Groaned at 2 Times in 2 Posts
Thanked 15 Times in 10 Posts
| | Re: It's almost Christmas!
Well, I'm still in the process of moving here and getting my affairs in order, so come December I'll have a few Xmas ornaments around, but not a tree this year (that's a lot of work!). Also I've never had real candles in the tree - that sounds borderline pyromaniac!!
I will be spending Xmas at home, in Lisbon, not in Zuerich. But before I go, I will attend a shit load of xmas fairs and drink my share of glühwein
Traditions: food coma between the 24 and 28th/29th.
Mostly on turkey, apple/celery pure and tons of Portuguese Christmas sweets (fatias douradas, coscorões, azevias, bolo-rei, sopa dourada, and so on  ).
| The following 3 users would like to thank Leonor for this useful post: | | 
11.11.2019, 13:14
| Forum Legend | | Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Kt.ZH
Posts: 11,807
Groaned at 463 Times in 380 Posts
Thanked 18,448 Times in 9,332 Posts
| | Re: It's almost Christmas! | Quote: | |  | | | Traditions: food coma between the 24 and 28th/29th. | | | | |
Food coma, I like the way you put it. I guess I'm trying to avoid that.
For us it's not turkey (actually we eat turkey only in two Christmas dishes), it's pork, pork and some more pork. | 
11.11.2019, 13:22
| | Re: It's almost Christmas!
Because we're mavericks, we've abandoned most traditions from all three of our cultures. Samichlaus brings nuts and mandarins in early December, we observe Advent, and we do church and presents on Christmas Day, but apart from that we do it our way: a delicious cold plate of fruit, cheese and meat for lunch, maybe a walk in the afternoon. No big blow out, no listening to Brenda on the radio, no daft paper hats or crackers. It will never be Birmingham in 1977 ever again, so why try to recreate it?
Traditions are all fake anyway. | This user would like to thank for this useful post: | | 
11.11.2019, 14:28
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Lugano
Posts: 33,141
Groaned at 2,739 Times in 1,933 Posts
Thanked 40,408 Times in 19,051 Posts
| | Re: It's almost Christmas!
We do chinoise/bourguignonne (one pot of each) on the 24th, relax and leftovers on the 25th.
Tom
| 
11.11.2019, 15:12
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Kanton Luzern
Posts: 18,056
Groaned at 782 Times in 611 Posts
Thanked 27,837 Times in 11,234 Posts
| | Re: It's almost Christmas! | Quote: | |  | | | We do chinoise/bourguignonne (one pot of each) on the 24th, relax and leftovers on the 25th. | | | | | That's the most unpleasant, tasteless thing about spending Christmas here. We try and avoid it.
Still, each to their own.
| 
11.11.2019, 15:15
| Banned | | Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: CH
Posts: 10,970
Groaned at 2,032 Times in 1,120 Posts
Thanked 5,139 Times in 3,246 Posts
| | Re: It's almost Christmas!
We do fondeu
| This user would like to thank omtatsat for this useful post: | | 
11.11.2019, 15:22
| | Re: It's almost Christmas!
Turkey crown. Joint of roast beef. Loads of veggies. Two buckets of gravy. Stuff and roll.
| This user would like to thank for this useful post: | | 
11.11.2019, 15:28
| | Re: It's almost Christmas! | Quote: |  | | | Turkey crown. Joint of roast beef. Loads of veggies. Two buckets of gravy. Stuff and roll. | | | | | Is that the cooking technique or the state of the guests at the end..? | The following 2 users would like to thank for this useful post: | |
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests) | | Thread Tools | | Display Modes | Linear Mode |
Posting Rules
| You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts HTML code is Off | | | All times are GMT +2. The time now is 00:31. | |