History UsefulNotes / AVeryBritishChristmas

'''Theatre/{{Pantomime}}'''. A festive-season variant on musical theatre where not so stellar actors, often down-on-their-luck ex-soap stars, random C-list TV personalities and people referred to generically as "entertainers"[[note]](often in contravention of [[https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/1277/contents The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008]])[[/note]] perform a stock range of children's plays based on {{Fairy Tale}}s and other PublicDomain subjects: ''Literature/PussInBoots'', ''Literature/{{Aladdin}}'', ''Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk'', ''Literature/{{Cinderella}}'' and so on. A panto will be chock-full of songs, jokes, un-jokes, ridiculous costumes and audience participation, plus filthy [[DoubleEntendre single entendres]], double entendres and even ''triple entendres'' to [[ParentalBonus keep the parents happy]] and warp the children's fragile minds. The smaller scale, community-theatre takes on this tradition tend to avert most of the above, and are therefore significantly less excruciating to watch. Regionalism is definitely at play here; depending on where you are in the country, you'll often find local celebrities and other public figures appearing in the cast, local schools and community groups being given [[ShoutOut shout outs]] by the comic relief characters during the Intermission, and plenty of jokes aimed around certain aspects of where the show's being performed.

The general aim at Christmas is to consume at least 40% of one's own body mass over the course of the day -- aided by the vast choice lying around of chocolate selection boxes, sausage rolls, mince pies, mulled wine, German confectionery, cheese-and-pineapple on sticks, and all those 'nibbles' and peculiar savoury 'bites' supermarkets only seem to stock around Christmas: big bags of mixed nuts, large tubs of Twiglets [[note]] strings of dough coated in a salty yeast-extract similar to Marmite, then baked to resemble twigs; [[Series{{Spaced}} Tim Bisley is allergic to them]] [[/note]] and Mini Cheddars[[note]] small rounded cheesy crackers [[/note]], cheese footballs, cheese straws, cheese twists, cheese puffs, little sausages on cocktail sticks (with little cubes of cheese), a host of fun-sized versions of things such as burgers and pizzas, plus sweet stuff like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_Street_(confectionery) Quality Streets]], chocolate mints, choc truffles, "luxury biscuit assortment" tins, etc, etc. These all turn up in the shops because they're theoretically what people like to buy at Christmastime. People only buy them because they're what turns up in the supermarket aisle labelled "Christmas" stuff and it's what seems expected of them. Thousands of vol-au-vents remain untouched in people's freezers past June, but capitalism remains happy. It all appears from around the time the schools go back in autumn, which means every year the same stories turn up in the press featuring the person whose shop-bought Christmas pudding has turned out to be labelled "Best before 12th December" or similar.

There's a core of roughly thirty songs that are regularly heard; and ten or so of these you'll encounter ''everywhere'', for the whole of December at the very least. For many, the 'official' start of the festive period is the first time[[note]]2010 sighting: October 31st[[/note]] one hears the distinctive rasp of Music/{{Slade}} singer Noddy Holder on their 1973 classic "Merry Xmas Everybody", perhaps the most pervasive of all of them. Until this moment it's just a few pretty lights and stars festooning the shops; after you've heard Uncle Noddy bellow the sandpaper-throated clarion call '''''"It's Chriiisstmaaaass!!!"''''', however, it's open season – albeit with the traditional response, "No, it's ''not''. It's the 1st of December / the middle of flippin' November / ''October''"… delete as applicable to your cynicism. Just about every song in this category is catchy, of course. Since 2006, when all digital downloads became eligible for the UK singles chart, a slew of these decades-old favourites have returned annually to the Top 40, the pack invariably led by two of the more recent: bittersweet 1987 classic "Fairytale of New York" by Music/ThePogues with [[Music/KirstyMaccoll Kirsty [=MacColl=]]], and Music/MariahCarey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You". In recent times the genre seems to have undergone something of a revival, with 21st-century popstars having grown up with all the above tunes hardwired into their brains their entire lives. Most years there might be an AntiChristmasSong or two released as well, trying in vain to balance out the effect of the rest.

Curiously, a few songs are routinely wheeled out that, although not lyrically 'festive', apparently still count due to their originally charting highly around in December and giving off a warm fuzzy feeling – e.g. Music/FrankieGoesToHollywood's "The Power of Love",[[note]](the band's label produced a Nativity-themed music video to capitalise on its December release in 1984, which contributed to this; a mimsy-pop cover version by Gabrielle Aplin from a Advertising/JohnLewis TV advert (see above) also topped the charts in December 2012, although not at Christmas)[[/note]] or East 17's "Stay Another Day",[[note]](the fuzzy Christmas feeling around this song goes when you realise it's about member Tony Mortimer's brother, who committed suicide)[[/note]] which beat Mariah to the Christmas Number One Single slot in 1994. [[note]]Mariah Carey would eventually top the charts in 2020[[/note]] The race for this hallowed chart position (and the often ultra-cheesy pretenders thereto) is very much a UK-specific phenomenon, as fairly accurately depicted by the Billy Mack sub-plot in the movie ''Film/LoveActually''. Despite the wealth of popular Christmas classics to have from the United Kingdom, the country would go over 30 years between Christmas-''themed'' Christmas number ones after Music/CliffRichard's "Saviour's Day" in 1990 (more details follow later in this folder). After that, songs as varied as the ''Series/NoelsHouseParty''-derived novelty "Mr. Blobby" (1993), Music/MichaelJackson's dour GreenAesop "Earth Song" (1995), three consecutive Music/SpiceGirls songs (1996-8), Music/{{Westlife}} covering Music/{{ABBA}}'s "I Have A Dream" (1999), children's TV character ''WesternAnimation/BobTheBuilder'''s "Can We Fix It?" (2000) and Gary Jules' SofterAndSlowerCover of "Mad World" from the soundtrack of ''Film/DonnieDarko'' (2003) have taken the crown.

In recent years, some traditions and conventions from other countries have started to appear, mostly due to the lower cost of transport and increased cultural and economic relations between the UK and America, Europe (especially Germany, Italy, and France) and The Commonwealth. Naturally, these influences are subject to the same ebb-and-flow of any imported trend. For example, Black Friday, previously a chiefly-American spiel, crashed into the UK festive season in full force around 2014, and Brits everywhere seemed to go just as crazy for it as their friends across the pond... this despite the perplexing illogic of Britain marking a day based on American Thanksgiving. A mere two years later and the public appeared to have lost interest, with the images of quiet high-street shops inspiring the press to label the 2016 rendition "Blank Friday". Still, and in spite of reactions to Black Friday being more measured (and rather less violent) than its counterpart across the pond as of the 2020s, it still draws in considerable numbers of shoppers and has found quite a bit more mileage online[[note]]to such an extent that "Black Friday" deals now start as soon as November does[[/note]], especially in combination with the related Cyber Monday.

In recent years, some traditions and conventions from other countries have started to appear, mostly due to the lower cost of transport and increased cultural and economic relations between the UK and America, Europe (especially Germany, Italy, and France) and The Commonwealth. Naturally, these influences are subject to the same ebb-and-flow of any imported trend. For example, Black Friday, previously a chiefly-American spiel, crashed into the UK festive season in full force around 2014, and Brits everywhere seemed to go just as crazy for it as their friends across the pond... this despite the perplexing illogic of Britain marking a day based on American Thanksgiving. A mere two years later and the public appeared to have lost interest, with the images of quiet high-street shops inspiring the press to label the 2016 rendition "Blank Friday". Still, and in spite of reactions to Black Friday being more measured (and rather less violent) than its counterpart across the pond as of the 2020s, it still draws in considerable numbers of shoppers and has found quite a bit more mileage online, especially in combination with the related Cyber Monday.

In theory, the 'Christmas Season' for Britons is defined as the entirety of Advent,[[note]](the Church season running up to the Nativity, from the fourth Sunday before Christmas until Christmas Eve. These days, it is mostly known -- especially to children -- for Advent Calendars, which start at the beginning of December, and usually feature a small chocolate)[[/note]] Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day (December 26th), the days afterward leading up to New Year, and then the remainder of the days up through Twelfth Night (January 5th), after which everything comes to a complete close. Increasingly, however, the buildup has come to dominate, such that ChristmasCreep is widespread and some Christmas trees can be seen thrown out on the roadside on Boxing Day.[[note]]Again, not so weird for Americans, who get the Christmas stuff going right after (sometimes even just before) Halloween.[[/note]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' did an hour-long Christmas special every year from 2005-2017 -- [[NewerThanTheyThink many people were surprised]] when it was pointed out that this tradition only started with Creator/DavidTennant's tenure as the title character. These specials at least took place at Christmas, with the 2010 special for instance being a sci-fi, time-travelling retelling of ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' complete with Michael Gambon, Music/KatherineJenkins and [[ItMakesSenseInContext a flying sky-shark]]. It became customary for an outgoing Doctor's final story to be that year's Christmas special: David Tennant, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi all regenerated into their next incarnation in 2010[[note]]this was a two-part story, which started on Christmas Day 2009 and concluded on New Year's Day 2010[[/note]], 2013 and 2017.[[note]]Christopher Eccleston regenerated at the end of the first revived series, with David Tennant's first full episode being that year's special.[[/note]] From 2019-2021, a new episode starring Creator/JodieWhittaker's Doctor would premiere on New Year's Day, effectively carrying on the tradition.

'''Family traditions'''. Each and every family has its own time-honoured idea about how things should (and shouldn't) be done. Expect feelings to run high over most if not all of the following: the proper time for eating the Christmas meal; whether everyone should go to church or not (which gets worse if there are different denominations involved, in which case this can descend into an argument over ''which'' church everyone should go to); whether the Christmas tree should be real or artificial, lit or unlit, whether the lights should be [[http://www.emaildiscussions.com/showpost.php?p=492825&postcount=5 bulbs or LEDs]], and whether said lights should be white, single-colour or multicoloured [[note]] the giant Trafalgar Square tree in central London, effectively the 'nation's Christmas tree', used to have multicoloured lights, but now it has white ones because that's the tradition in Norway, the annual donors of the tree; this happens as a mark of gratitude for Britain's support of Norway during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII [[note]]; what to drink when opening presents; when children get to open their first presents; whether they are in a stocking, a pillowcase, or just in a pile under the tree (the presents, not the children ... unless the Christmas cake was particularly brandy-rich that year) or more than one of the above; whether everyone other than the designated cook goes to the pub while the dinner is being prepared, or mucks in to help peel potatoes; who gets to sit at the head of the table; the point in the day at which the crackers are to be pulled; whether the Royal Christmas Message (see below) gets watched or not; and whether post-dinner family parlour games (charades, etc), board games (Monopoly, Ludo, etc), card games and/or carol singing sessions are jolly fun or hell incarnate. For people in new relationships, all of this will ''most definitely'' get fraught, as it will likely be the first time that one of the couple is spending Christmas away from his or her own family, in addition to which it can be reasonably expected that no two sets of families will have traditions that match. Even slightly. To get the general idea, read Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}''.[[/folder]]

'''Stir-Up Sunday'''. The day when most people begin preparing their Christmas cakes and/or Christmas puddings (see the section on 'Food', below). Stir-Up Sunday is the Sunday before Advent and gets its name from the Church of England prayer for that day ("Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people") -- although in some families, pudding-making can occur as early as several months before December even begins. During Stir-Up Sunday, everyone gets (or has) to stir the mix at least once, and can make a wish while doing so. The ingredients are combined into a mixture and then baked or steamed, respectively. The resulting confection ''looks'' like the final product, yet 'has' to steep and soak through with alcohol for the remainder of the run up to Christmas so that by December 25th one mouthful could floor a horse, meaning it is ready for serving.

For workplaces in which parties and/or the consumption of alcohol are frowned upon (the civil service, local government, etc), a bring-and-share buffet and/or an after-work trip to a local restaurant or pub is generally substituted.

'''Christmas Jumpers'''. Jumpers [[note]] "sweaters" to North Americans[[/note]] themed with a garish Christmassy or winter-style design. Supposedly inspired by the semi-mythical odd-looking hand-knitted garment made by an elderly relative and given as a present that gets worn just the once before being consigned to the back of a wardrobe, they originally became popular in TheEighties thanks to their being worn by TV presenters like Gyles Brandreth and [[ExcitedKidsShowHost Timmy Mallett]], and singers like Val Doonican, on their TV Christmas specials. By the late 1990s they were widely seen as being incredibly naff, a perception exemplified by the title character's reaction to Creator/ColinFirth wearing one in ''[[Literature/BridgetJones Bridget Jones's Diary]]''. Since then, they've become popular again, but strictly in an ironic way. The charity Save the Children has an annual Christmas Jumper Day (usually a specific Friday in December) as a fundraiser; said day may well coincide with your office Christmas party (see above), meaning you'll be expected to wear one to it. Maybe with a Santa hat. Closely related to novelty Christmas ties, socks, pyjamas, etc.

* Other programmes, particularly sitcoms, will do something special for their ChristmasEpisode (which is referred to as a Christmas Special in Britain) — this can mean simply ramping up the excitement, [[VacationEpisode sending the cast on holiday]] so they're doing the same routine against a different backdrop, spoofing [[AwayInAManger the Nativity]] or [[YetAnotherChristmasCarol a certain work by Charles Dickens]], or just clearly establishing that it's Christmas by way of having some decorations on the set and adding sleigh bells to the theme tune. This applies even if the series no longer runs in its original format. For example, ''Series/TheRoyleFamily'' stopped making new series in 2000, but it made four Christmas specials between 2006 and 2010. ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'' likewise did numerous Christmas specials in TheNineties after the regular series had ended. Also, every [[PanelGame panel show]] you've ever heard of (and maybe a few you haven't) will do a festive episode. You can also expect plenty of repeats of specials from Christmas Past. Mainstays include ''[[Series/{{Blackadder}} Blackadder's Christmas Carol]]'', that episode of ''Series/TheVicarOfDibley'' in which [[BigEater Geraldine]] ends up having to eat four Christmas dinners in one day, and the Christmas editions of ''Series/MrBean'' [[note]] the one in which he ends up with a turkey on his head, first broadcast in 1992, six years before ''Friends'' did that gag[[/note]], ''Series/FatherTed'', ''Series/GavinAndStacey'' and ''Series/DadsArmy''. And, of course, more seasonal episodes of ''Creator/MorecambeAndWise'' and ''Series/TheTwoRonnies'' than you can shake a sprig of holly at.

* ''More shopping'' - Increasing numbers take advantage of the heavily lowered shopping prices everywhere known as the Boxing Day Sales. This name is the more accurate description of what have traditionally (but no longer accurately) been referred to as the January Sales -- they've gradually crept earlier over recent years, so that December 26th's evening news will nowadays be fronted by features on the hordes of wild-eyed bargain-seizers who were queueing at 7:30am. Some sales finish within a few days and you can expect the adverts for these to crop up round about mid-evening on Christmas Day, or even Christmas Eve. They're getting so early now that the US tradition of Black Friday has been adopted! The same thing is happening to Canadian Boxing Day!

* ''Family'' - Maybe you just had Christmas dinner with your very nearest and dearest so that you could have the traditional three helpings of turkey each rather than risk only filling your plate once to make the meagre rations go around. So if you're not shopping, Boxing Day is often the day EVERYBODY comes together, including in-laws and second cousins. They don't just do this with more leftovers, but with various nibbles bought specially for this day as well.

[[folder:The Christmas Lunch]]

'''Family traditions'''. Each and every family has its own time-honoured idea about how things should (and shouldn't) be done. Expect feelings to run high over most if not all of the following: the proper time for eating the Christmas meal; whether the Christmas tree should be real or artificial, lit or unlit, whether the lights should be [[http://www.emaildiscussions.com/showpost.php?p=492825&postcount=5 bulbs or LEDs]], and whether said lights should be white, single-colour or multicoloured [[note]] the giant Trafalgar Square tree in central London, effectively the 'nation's Christmas tree', used to have multicoloured lights, but now it has white ones because that's the tradition in Norway, the annual donors of the tree; this happens as a mark of gratitude for Britain's support of Norway during the Second World War[[/note]]; what to drink when opening presents; when children get to open their first presents; whether they are in a stocking, a pillowcase, or just in a pile under the tree (the presents, not the children ... unless the Christmas cake was particularly brandy-rich that year) or more than one of the above; whether everyone other than the designated cook goes to the pub while the dinner is being prepared, or mucks in to help peel potatoes; the point in the day at which the crackers are to be pulled; whether the Royal Christmas Message (see below) gets watched or not; and whether post-dinner family parlour games (charades, etc), board games (Monopoly, Ludo, etc), card games and/or carol singing sessions are jolly fun or hell incarnate. For people in new relationships, all of this will ''most definitely'' get fraught, as it will likely be the first time that one of the couple is spending Christmas away from his or her own family, in addition to which it can be reasonably expected that no two sets of families will have traditions that match. Even slightly. To get the general idea, read Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}''.[[/folder]]

* The Father Christmas tradition holds that he comes from Lapland (the northern region of Finland), rather than the North Pole as American and Canadian children are taught. Perhaps a little less magical, but slightly less likely to melt, and easier for families who can afford to get to it via plane. And there are actually reindeer there. And ''snow'' -- the British climate generally is rather too temperate to see a real-life 'White Christmas' more than once in a given decade, despite the popular imagery and an annual rush to place bets on the subject. The tourist board of Finland (contested by the Swedish, as the two countries border each other with provinces that are both called Lapland and are both inhabited heavily by the Sámi people[[note]]Whom it is impolite to call "Lapps" anymore, but unfortunately there’s no great English-language term for their homeland other than "Lapland"
[[/note]]) is understandably fond of this tradition, though nowadays the American idea of the North Pole as Santa's home is increasingly taking over. The fact that Turkey, where the original St. Nicholas lived, is a mostly Muslim country is probably what has prevented it from attempting to get in on this, not to mention being a bit too hot.

The general aim at Christmas is to consume at least 40% of one's own body mass over the course of the day -- aided by the vast choice lying around of chocolate selection boxes, sausage rolls, mince pies, mulled wine, German confectionery, cheese-and-pineapple on sticks, and all those 'nibbles' and peculiar savoury 'bites' supermarkets only seem to stock around Christmas: big bags of mixed nuts, large tubs of Twiglets[[note]](strings of dough coated in a salty yeast-extract similar to Marmite, then baked to resemble twigs)[[/note]] and Mini Cheddars[[note]](small rounded cheesy crackers)[[/note]], cheese footballs, cheese straws, cheese twists, cheese puffs, cheese selection boxes, little sausages on cocktail sticks (with little cubes of cheese), a host of fun-sized versions of things such as burgers and pizzas, plus sweet stuff like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_Street_(confectionery) Quality Streets]], chocolate mints, choc truffles, "luxury biscuit assortment" tins, etc, etc. These all turn up in the shops because they're theoretically what people like to buy at Christmastime. People only buy them because they're what turns up in the supermarket aisle labelled "Christmas" stuff and it's what seems expected of them. Thousands of vol-au-vents remain untouched in people's freezers past June, but capitalism remains happy. It all appears from around the time the schools go back in autumn, which means every year the same stories turn up in the press featuring the person whose shop-bought Christmas pudding has turned out to be labelled "Best before 12th December" or similar.

'''Other meats''': Depending on the number of people in attendance, a roast joint of meat or some other centrepiece dish may also be presented: beef joints or various pig products (gammon/ham, pork loin, etc.) are common, and arguably an older tradition than the turkey. (This is alluded to in Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}''). If you're not of the meat-eating kind then woe betide you, you'll have to make do with a hastily purchased and overdone nut roast. A meat pie is another staple, as is the beef Wellington, a slab of roast beef wrapped in pastry, with a mushroom and cream stuffing. In coastal communities, a fish is common. In Mousehole, Cornwall, the 23rd of December is celebrated as Tom Bawcock's Eve, after a heroic fisherman who put out during a storm and managed to catch enough fish to lift a famine, and the traditional "Stargazy pie" (so called because it features fish heads poking upwards out the crust, a creepy spectacle for some) is sometimes also served on Christmas Day.

* '''Sauce''': As in North America, cranberry sauce is a traditional accompaniment to turkey if your family is aware of it (although this was practically unheard-of in Britain until Creator/DeliaSmith mentioned it in TheNineties); when they're not you'll get bread sauce, a lumpen whitish savoury concoction from medieval times which does indeed contain bread.[[note]]It's a survival of a vast array of bread-thickened sauces that were popular in the Middle Ages but which have since been replaced by sauces thickened with roux.[[/note]] The binding element to all dinners, though, is gravy, usually required when dining on drier meats like turkey or beef. Most of the time outside of Christmas, instant gravy is usually used, but more people opt to make it the traditional way when it comes to the Christmas dinner, from the giblets, meat juices, some flour and the meaty residues and fat stuck to the roasting tin.
* '''Roast potatoes''': Every dish needs a starchy side; Britain opted for roast potatoes -- which, depending on who's making them, will either be (a) crunchy on the outside, fluffy 'n' soft on the inside, browned-to-perfection little delights, or (b) rock-solid beasts which are somehow burned and raw at the same time.[[note]]A classic sign that the spuds were cooked at too high a temperature. [[OvenLogic Higher temperatures do not necessarily reduce cooking time]]; you need the ''right'' temperature to ensure the heat penetrates the whole potato before the outside starts getting ''too'' crispy. If you're having this problem, put the potatoes in at a lower temperature for longer and see what happens. You might also be using the wrong kind of potato; you cannot use potatoes with a "waxy" texture (that is, potatoes with a low starch content) for roasting. Floury potatoes, like the Maris Piper and King Edward (in Britain) or the Russet (in North America), are best.[[/note]] There is no inbetween. Tradition holds that the best are cooked in duck or goose fat to make them super crispy.

Christmas puds can be made at home or bought from a supermarket -- puddings from the high-end London department store [[UsefulNotes/BritishBusinesses Harrods]]' are considered the best pre-made ones. If homemade, it will have been done so ''either'' according to a centuries-old recipe passed down from mother to daughter, ''or'', more usually, borrowed from a recently purchased Christmas-themed cookbook by some celebrated TV chef (think ''[[Creator/DeliaSmith Delia Smith's Christmas]]'' or ''[[Creator/JamieOliver Jamie Oliver's Christmas Cookbook]]''). Traditionally the mix is, um, mixed over a month before the eating date, on 'Stir-Up Sunday', the last Sunday before the season of Advent (which, as mentioned above, is a pun on that Sunday's text in the Book of Common Prayer)-- with everyone in the family taking a turn at stirring the pudding, starting with the oldest member and finishing with the youngest, and each person making a private wish. The truly dedicated, however, make their Christmas pudding (and occasionally the cake; see below) around this time the ''year before'' it is due to be eaten, to give it a full twelvemonth to 'mature'. Whether this improves the flavour is always strongly debated. In the weeks/months between making and serving, the pudding must be 'fed' (i.e. lovingly doused in alcohol) periodically. As Christmas puddings are thus effectively pickled from within, they just never go off; since they also tend to be kind of dense and huge, it's an unofficial tradition to have a good deal left in a tin for most of the rest of the year, to either be periodically dug into now and then or to be forgotten in some little-used corner of the kitchen cupboards.

As mentioned above, plenty of stories arise around the time Advent begins of people's shop-bought puddings going 'off' long before Christmas. This is a sure-fire way of telling when the specific brand didn't use enough alcohol to preserve the pudding, and instead opted to cheap out and use heaps of artificial flavourings.

'''Christmas cake''': A dark fruitcake covered thickly in marzipan and then white icing (frosting), often whipped into a stiff snowscape. For this 'royal icing' tends to be used, which includes egg whites so it sets more crunchily and solidly than regular icing (anywhere on a scale from 'fetch the hacksaw' to 'industrial laser required'), and into which small decorative Santas, reindeer, robins, holly leaves, 'Happy Christmas' signs, snowmen etc. may be cemented. These will be of varying antiquity and wildly out of scale, hence scenes of Santa being menaced by a ten-foot robin and the like. Christmas cake is widely considered inedible yet equally widely considered delicious, much like its puddingy sibling: most slices have to be forcibly and messily dismembered for the benefit of that one person who wants marzipan but hates icing, the one who wants icing but hates marzipan, the one who wants both but hates the cake, etc. As with Christmas pudding, best made to a murkily specific ancestral recipe -- the only constants seem to involve the whole family stirring it, and the thing needing to be stuck in a low oven for anywhere up to about 48 hours. Simply called fruitcake in the US, much the same tradition except nobody cooks it and [[EveryoneHatesFruitcakes everybody hates it]].

'''Cheese''': After all of that, there may well be some cheese and biscuits. Ideally, a cheeseboard should consist of a minimum of three types of cheese -- a soft cheese [[note]] Brie, for example [[/note]], an English territorial [[note]] most likely Cheddar, although it could be Lancashire, Red Leicester or Wensleydale[[/note]], and a blue cheese which will invariably be Stilton. At this point, you can expect the port to come out (if it hasn't already done so) to accompany the Stilton.

The main meal is usually the time for pulling '''Christmas crackers''': if you've read ''Literature/HarryPotter'', you'll be familiar with these, although the Potter characters receive much more spectacular versions. Basically a cardboard tube with two twisted ends requiring two people to pull, one from either end, until it breaks in half and a little firework (little more than a popcap) goes bang and whoever gets the longest part of the tube gets to keep what's inside. You might consider this a mini tug-of-war and that there's a winner, but nobody wins when it comes to these. Given that those who have stronger grips often end up with multiple 'wins', you can expect plenty of cracker swapping to take place until everyone has a complete set of items from inside them. Contents of the cracker typically are made up of a colourful but delicate as hell crepe-paper 'crown', some cheap plastic bit of junk and a piece of paper with a very poor joke written in [[BlindIdiotTranslation Chinglish]]. These jokes are almost a trope of their own in that they are ''expected'' to be bad -- often by way of a bad pun. To find a genuinely funny joke in a cracker would be a grave disappointment and may even ruin someone's Christmas. It is [[BlatantLies a legal requirement under the Christmas Act 1972]] that each person dining at the table wear the paper hat, despite the fact that they look ridiculous. These are meant to represent the crowns worn by the Three Kings, or the crown of thorns worn by Jesus at His crucifixion. Or something. If they have drunk the right amount it won't actually matter. Fancy crackers more often contain things such as bottle openers, key rings, metal dice and other things that no child would really find any use from, much to the amusement of people at the table.

* Families beginning to stockpile vast quantities of alcohol, usually in the garage or utility room, as early in the year as September is not unheard of -- commonly champagne, Buck's Fizz, brandy, Bailey's, wines and so forth. Mysteriously, though, by Christmas Day evening every seventh bottle will have transmogrified into certain odd types of liqueur that no one likes and just end up festering malevolently on a shelf somewhere. Forever [[note]] or at least until your family produces the oddball uncle/aunt who actually likes it... or a sufficiently desperate youth/alcoholic, but we don't like to talk about that[[/note]]. In UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}}, the whisky will come out (usually some that has been given on the day as a gift), and in the less salubrious quarters the streets will run purple with Buckfast.[[note]]A purple-coloured "tonic wine" (fortified wine with added caffeine) made at Buckfast Abbey in Devon. Its Scottish consumers are wont to call it "Wreck the Hoose Juice" (where "hoose" is dialectical for "house"), and it has roughly the same reputation that [[ATankardOfMooseUrine Thunderbird, MD 20/20, and Cisco]] have in North America.[[/note]]

'''Dreaming of (and betting on) a White Christmas'''. Most of Britain has too temperate a climate for it to snow regularly at Christmas (unless you live in the Scottish Highlands); if there's any snow at all in winter, it's more likely to be in January or February. But that doesn't stop people from hoping that there will be snow during the festive period, despite the disruption to public transport that it inevitably brings. High street bookmakers will post odds on Christmas being white, and punters will put money on it. This has led to the official Met Office definition of a white Christmas (ie. the one the bookies will pay out on) as snow ''falling'' at any point on Christmas Day itself. So a brief flurry at 2am that's gone by the time everyone wakes up counts, but snow that's already on the ground from a fall several days previously does not.

* Families beginning to stockpile vast quantities of alcohol, usually in the garage or utility room, as early in the year as September is not unheard of -- commonly champagne, Buck's Fizz, brandy, Bailey's, wines and so forth. Mysteriously, though, by Christmas Day evening every seventh bottle will have transmogrified into certain odd types of liqueur that no one likes and just end up festering malevolently on a shelf somewhere. Forever [[note]] or at least until your family produces the oddball uncle/aunt who actually likes it... or a sufficiently desperate youth/alcoholic, but we don't like to talk about that[[/note]]. In UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}}, the whisky will come out (usually some that has been given on the day as a gift), and in the less salubrious quarters the streets will run purple with Buckfast.[[note]]A purple-coloured "tonic wine" made Buckfast Abbey in Devon. Its Scottish consumers are wont to call it "Wreck the Hoose Juice" (where "hoose" is dialectical for "house"), and it has roughly the same reputation that [[ATankardOfMooseUrine Thunderbird, MD 20/20, and Cisco]] have in North America.[[/note]]

* It has been seriously, academically suggested that people ''prefer'' bad cracker jokes[[note]]("so these two crackers walk into a bar..." -- ''no not that kind'')[[/note]] to good ones because that way [[BlackSheep one person]] (you know the one, that second cousin who everyone vaguely suspects got [[ChildhoodBrainDamage dropped on his head as a child]]) doesn't suffer the mortifying indignity of being LateToThePunchline. Genuine studies have shown that group togetherness is fostered by this shared groaning at the 'joke', in a way that simply wouldn't happen if some found it funny and some didn't. So yes, science has proven that bad jokes are the royal icing binding families together during this time. Aww.

* Children's animated 1982 short ''ComicBook/TheSnowman'' is so consistently shown and beloved that any attempt to remove it from the Christmas schedules could be seen as some sort of career suicide for the head of Creator/{{Channel 4}}. The one year it did omit the showing - 1999, when it was shown on Boxing Day - they fell behind Creator/ChannelFive (then almost entirely unknown and only available to roughly half of the country) in the ratings. A sequel adventure was finally produced for Christmas 2012, ''The Snowman and the Snowdog'', which demonstrated this exalted status by securing the cover of that year's ''Magazine/RadioTimes'' Christmas double-issue (see above). In recent years, both ''The Snowman'' and ''The Snowman and the Snowdog'' are usually both shown on Christmas Eve ''and'' Christmas Day, usually back-to-back and sometimes shown more than once a day (usually Christmas Eve). They also usually show the non-Christmassy ''The Tiger Who Came To Tea'' and ''We're Going On A Bear Hunt'' on either Christmas Eve or Day.

'''Christmas pudding''': Also known as "plum pudding" or "figgy pudding" (although the latter name is only widely known because of its inclusion in the song "We Wish You a Merry Christmas")[[note]]In Britain, many things are called "pudding" which bear no resemblance to what Americans and Canadians would describe as such -- or, for that matter, to each other. Historically, it meant any number of dishes produced by taking a paste or liquid mixture, stuffing it into a sausage casing (i.e. the inner lining of a sheep's small intestine), and then baking, boiling, or steaming the result until the mixture sets into a softish solid. Eventually, the terminology extended to dishes that began with a similar mixture but were stuffed into a cloth lining rather than animal guts. From there, the meaning of the word diverged; since many of these things were sweet mixtures, any sweet dish that sets after boiling, baking, or steaming became known as a "pudding" -- but so too did many savoury dishes that happen to be baked, steamed, or boiled and also take the shape of their casing or container, e.g. Yorkshire pudding as mentioned just above, or the blood sausage known as 'black pudding'[[/note]]. It's a very dark, rich, curranty, spiced, booze-soaked suet pudding (a dense, bulbous sort of steamed cakey thing) made with a lot of dried fruit, nuts and alcohol, generally cooked by steaming the mixture in a cloth wrapping or pudding basin for hours on end. May contain silver [[UsefulNotes/OldBritishMoney sixpences]] (no longer legal tender) and other trinkets to give luck and major dental damage to whoever bites into the damned things -- although if this is the case, they tend to be slipped in when the pudding is being served (so the kids get them) rather than cooked along with it. Tradition is to spoon yet more warmed alcohol, usually brandy, over it once more for good luck immediately before serving, darken the room and then set the whole thing alight for a spectacular entrance. Providing fabrics, hair and especially eyebrows are covered, you don't trip bringing it in and everyone maintains an 8ft blast radius, this will safely provoke "oohs" and "aahs" and add those pleasingly tangy top-notes of ethanol and charcoal. If this has an ancient meaning, most have forgotten it.\\

As mentioned above, plenty of stories arise around the time Advent begins of people's shop-bought puddings going 'off' long before Christmas. This is a surefire way of telling when the specific brand didn't use enough alcohol to preserve the pudding, and instead opted to cheap out and use heaps of artificial flavourings.

The pud can be served with cream or ice-cream, but is most 'traditionally' served with '''brandy butter'''[[note]](also known as hard sauce)[[/note]], a dietician's nightmare made from brandy (surprisingly), butter (ditto) and icing sugar (plot twist), of similar consistency to ice-cream but not as cold. One of those peculiarly festive foodstuffs that only seems to manifest in our universe in the run-up to Christmas, although leftover pots can be glimpsed as late as mid-January before they scurry off to whatever dimension they spend the rest of the year hibernating in. An alternative is rum sauce (sweet white sauce with rum). Combine cream, rum sauce and brandy butter for the ultimate cholesterol nightmare and maximum deliciousness.

** As far as Christmas movies are concerned, expect to see the likes of ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'', ''Film/MiracleOnThirtyFourthStreet'' (both versions), ''Film/HomeAlone'', ''Film/{{Elf}}'', ''Film/LoveActually'' and many more among the listings. Oh, and there will be ''at least'' three or four [[YetAnotherChristmasCarol versions]] of ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' on the terrestrial channels alone. The exact ones vary, but ''Film/{{Scrooge|1951}}'' (the Creator/AlastairSim one) and ''Film/TheMuppetChristmasCarol'' (voted [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff the nation's 2nd favourite Christmas film]] after ''It's a Wonderful Life'' in a 2011 ''Magazine/RadioTimes'' poll) are usually among them [[note]] although Creator/ChannelFour doesn't show the latter on Christmas Eve any more, as Sky bought the rights to it in 2019 — but don't worry, as some cinemas have started showing it during the festive period![[/note]].
** Many, ''many'' thematically-unrelated movies have nonetheless become staples of the season -- ''Film/{{ET|The Extraterrestrial}}'', ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'', ''Film/BriefEncounter'', the original ''Franchise/ThePinkPanther'' films with Creator/PeterSellers, ''Film/ChariotsOfFire'', ''Film/TheGreatEscape'', ''Film/SixThreeThreeSquadron'', ''Film/MaryPoppins'', a couple of Creator/AlfredHitchcock movies, few of the ''[[Film/CarryOnSeries Carry On]]'' films, at least one [[Film/JamesBond Bond]] film [[note]] of these, ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'' is the only one that's explicitly set during the festive period[[/note]], an Franchise/IndianaJones film, etc. Interestingly, during its rather untrendy period in the late 1980s and early '90s, the original ''Franchise/StarWars'' trilogy definitely fell into this category, but has become a much less common sight since it became cool again.

* ''Sport'' - Sporting calendars put on hiatus for Christmas Day get back up and running, giving many a good excuse to get out of the house. There's invariably a full programme of [[UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball football]] and [[UsefulNotes/RugbyUnion rugby]] matches nationwide, as well as several UsefulNotes/HorseRacing meetings (take your pick between the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park and the Welsh Grand National at Chepstow, among others). If there's an [[UsefulNotes/{{Cricket}} Ashes series]] going on in Australia, there will be a Boxing Day Test match, and it will be held in Melbourne [[note]] although given the time difference, you'd need to stay up late on Christmas Day to catch the start[[/note]]. For some reason, the sport of boxing has never held events to exploit the naming coincidence.

If you haven't partied hard enough, after recovering in the few days after Boxing Day it's time for New Year's Eve. This consists of either a party round someone's house at which various friend, relatives and neighbours are invited, or a very crowded night down the pub. Either way, the trick is to pace yourself so as not to pass out before midnight, when the music is turned down and the TV turned up so everyone can welcome in the New Year by listening to the chimes of Big Ben [[note]] that being the nickname of the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, located at the north end of the Palace of Westminster (a.k.a. the Houses of Parliament) -- although the nickname is often extended to refer to the clock itself, if not the whole tower; the official name of the latter used to be the Clock Tower, but it was renamed the Elizabeth Tower in 2012 to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II[[/note]] and then hugging and kissing anyone in the immediate vicinity. Basically, as far as welcoming in the New Year is concerned, the chimes of Big Ben (sometimes referred to as "the bongs") are the London equivalent of New York's Times Square ball drop. And yes, quite a few people do chose to head down to Central London to hear the chimes in person and then watch the fireworks on the Thames; as far as getting home is concerned, the Tube runs through the night, with free travel between 11:45pm on New Year's Eve and 4:30am on New Year's Day.

* A Hogmanay tradition that's dying out is that of 'First Footing', by which you're not allowed to leave your house after midnight has struck until someone -- the 'first footer' -- has visited your house. This visitor, usually a neighbour or family member who was outside when midnight struck, sometimes comes with a gift (traditionally, a lump of coal) and is given a dram of whisky.

* ''Superstitions'' - A commonly-held superstition is that while the Christmas decorations must not come down ''before'' Twelfth Night, lest bad luck befall the house for an entire year, they ''must'' come down on Twelfth Night, or the same will happen. If any decorations are left up or even present after Twelfth Night, they must remain on view until the next Twelfth Night begins. Of course, not many people follow this tradition any more, but it's not unusual to see a rogue bauble or strands of tinsel lying around for the rest of the year, having somehow escaped being put back into the loft. Eagle-eyed people may spot houses that still have exterior decorations and Christmas lights up as late as ''June'', the residents simply having forgotten (or being too lazy) to take them down (or being understandably reluctant to do the job in bitter cold weather).

'''Christmas cake'''[[note]]([[ChristmasCake no, not this kind]], although it is the dish which inspired the alternate use of the term)[[/note]]: A dark fruitcake covered thickly in marzipan and then white icing (frosting), often whipped into a stiff snowscape. For this 'royal icing' tends to be used, which includes egg whites so it sets more crunchily and solidly than regular icing (anywhere on a scale from 'fetch the hacksaw' to 'industrial laser required'), and into which small decorative Santas, reindeer, robins, holly leaves, 'Happy Christmas' signs, snowmen etc. may be cemented. These will be of varying antiquity and wildly out of scale, hence scenes of Santa being menaced by a ten-foot robin and the like. Christmas cake is widely considered inedible yet equally widely considered delicious, much like its puddingy sibling: most slices have to be forcibly and messily dismembered for the benefit of that one person who wants marzipan but hates icing, the one who wants icing but hates marzipan, the one who wants both but hates the cake, etc. As with Christmas pudding, best made to a murkily specific ancestral recipe -- the only constants seem to involve the whole family stirring it, and the thing needing to be stuck in a low oven for anywhere up to about 48 hours. Simply called fruitcake in the US, much the same tradition except nobody cooks it and [[EveryoneHatesFruitcakes everybody hates it]].

The most important thing to remember, especially for American tropers, is that Christmas is the United Kingdom's premier holiday and day of celebration.[[note]](though in UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} it was once second to Hogmanay). Also, it's pretty much the premier holiday in the USA as well, unless you can think of another holiday which effectively lasts for a month and which completely overshadows another major holiday the month before. So...maybe not so weird for Americans..[[/note]] The UK does not observe a designated public UsefulNotes/ThanksgivingDay (although many churches will celebrate a 'Harvest Festival' in September or October), and, between its not having been occupied by any foreign power since 1066 and having a [[UsefulNotes/EnglishCivilWar revolution]] without any really truly clear dates for celebration that wouldn't also be divisive, this means that Christmas is far more of a dominant calendar event and holiday here than in the United States and elsewhere. Indeed, inhabitants of these sceptered isles have celebrated the winter solstice since before the birth of Christ, the [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire Roman]], [[HornyVikings Viking]], and [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy Norman]] invasions. So, although Brits don't usually think of it much, beneath all the tinsel, Brussels sprouts and unwanted socks at least two millennia of tradition and community are reflected in the average Christmas, with old and new customs – both original and appropriated – stacked on top of each other. This veritable smorgasbord of practices all blur into the [[TitleDrop very British affair]] described below.

* All details are to be found in TV listings magazines like the ''Magazine/RadioTimes'', the Christmas edition of which covers a two-week period [[note]]whether or not this includes New Year's Day varies as the time period covered always starts on the Saturday before Christmas; the 2021 and 2022 editions provide the most extreme examples in either direction — the former covered Saturday 18th December to Friday 31st December, while the latter covers 2022 Saturday 24th December to Friday 6th January (although this was done to avoid [[UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup the Final of the 2022 World Cup]]; previous editions when Christmas Day fell on a Sunday covered the period of 17-30 December)[[/note]]. Usually with some lovely festive-themed cover art. Recent covers have included a [[Series/DoctorWho TARDIS]] snowglobe and an exclusive Christmas Day living room scene with WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit. 2012's starred ComicBook/TheSnowman (see below). Although the ''RT'' runs year-round, with the dawn of Electronic Programme Guides many families will ''only'' buy a copy for Christmas, if at all. In many households it is then traditional to attack the magazine with coloured markers, in order to get all the arguments about things that are on at the same time done in advance.

'''Christmas music starts popping up everywhere'''. The populace is mercilessly prodded into feeling goodwill to all men by the endless ChristmasSongs drummed into their heads for weeks in advance of the big day (for those who ''really'' want to go all in, Magic FM does an all-Christmas playlist during the month of December). Unlike in the USA, contemporary musical artists rarely release seasonal albums of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"-esque standards, however. True, the Music/FrankSinatra, Music/BingCrosby and Music/NatKingCole-era crooners do make up a significant portion of seasonal airplay, but the UK has its own considerable canon of mostly home-grown Christmas pop songs, generally dating to a period from [[TheSeventies the 1970s]] until about [[TheEighties 1985]], when every major act seemed to produce one (or collaborated on [[CharityMotivationSong one for charity, like Band Aid]]), which now seem as ingrained in popular consciousness as the more traditional songs and carols. Indeed, several acts are now almost solely remembered for their hardy-perennial festive hit, irrespective of how successful they once were: a sort of musical {{Flanderization}}. So, whereas the US Christmas often seems, culturally, to be firmly stuck in [[TheFifties the 1950s]], the British enjoy one which is welded firmly to the late '70s if music is anything to go by.[[note]](Frankly, the British '50s were quite unlike the American '50s, what with having to rebuild the country after [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the War]].)[[/note]]

There's a core of roughly thirty songs that are regularly heard; and ten or so of these you'll encounter ''everywhere'', for the whole of December at the very least. For many, the 'official' start of the festive period is the first time[[note]]2010 sighting: October 31st[[/note]] one hears the distinctive rasp of Music/{{Slade}} singer Noddy Holder on their 1973 classic "Merry Xmas Everybody", perhaps the most pervasive of all of them. Until this moment it's just a few pretty lights and stars festooning the shops; after you've heard Uncle Noddy bellow the sandpaper-throated clarion call '''''"It's Chriiisstmaaaass!!!"''''', however, it's open season -- albeit with the traditional response, "No, it's ''not''. It's the 1st of December / the middle of flippin' November / ''October''"… delete as applicable to your cynicism. Just about every song in this category is catchy, of course. Since 2006, when all digital downloads became eligible for the UK singles chart, a slew of these decades-old favourites have returned annually to the Top 40, the pack invariably led by two of the more recent: bittersweet 1987 classic "Fairytale of New York" by Music/ThePogues with [[Music/KirstyMaccoll Kirsty [=MacColl=]]], and Music/MariahCarey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You". In recent times the genre seems to have undergone something of a revival, with 21st-century popstars having grown up with all the above tunes hardwired into their brains their entire lives. Most years there might be an AntiChristmasSong or two released as well, trying in vain to balance out the effect of the rest.

Curiously, a few songs are routinely wheeled out that, although not lyrically 'festive', apparently still count due to their originally charting highly around in December and giving off a warm fuzzy feeling -- e.g. Music/FrankieGoesToHollywood's "The Power of Love"[[note]](the band's label produced a Nativity-themed music video to capitalise on its December release in 1984, which contributed to this; a mimsy-pop cover version by Gabrielle Aplin from a Advertising/JohnLewis TV advert (see above) also topped the charts in December 2012, although not at Christmas)[[/note]], or East 17's "Stay Another Day"[[note]](the fuzzy Christmas feeling around this song goes when you realise it's about member Tony Mortimer's brother, who committed suicide)[[/note]], which beat Mariah to the Christmas Number One Single slot in 1994 [[note]]Mariah Carey would eventually top the charts in 2020[[/note]]. The race for this hallowed chart position (and the often ultra-cheesy pretenders thereto) is very much a UK-specific phenomenon, as fairly accurately depicted by the Billy Mack sub-plot in the movie ''Film/LoveActually''. Despite the wealth of popular Christmas classics to have from the United Kingdom, the country would go over 30 years between Christmas-''themed'' Christmas number ones after Music/CliffRichard's "Saviour's Day" in 1990 (more details follow later in this folder). After that, songs as varied as the ''Series/NoelsHouseParty''-derived novelty "Mr. Blobby" (1993), Music/MichaelJackson's dour GreenAesop "Earth Song" (1995), three consecutive Music/SpiceGirls songs (1996-8), Music/{{Westlife}} covering Music/{{ABBA}}'s "I Have A Dream" (1999), children's TV character ''WesternAnimation/BobTheBuilder'''s "Can We Fix It?" (2000) and Gary Jules' SofterAndSlowerCover of "Mad World" from the soundtrack of ''Film/DonnieDarko'' (2003) have taken the crown.

'''Christmas music starts popping up everywhere'''. The populace is mercilessly prodded into feeling goodwill to all men by the endless ChristmasSongs drummed into their heads for weeks in advance of the big day (for those who ''really'' want to go all in, Magic FM does an all-Christmas playlist during the month of December). Unlike in the USA, contemporary musical artists rarely release seasonal albums of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"-esque standards, however. The Music/FrankSinatra, Music/BingCrosby and Music/NatKingCole-era crooners do make up a significant part of it, but the UK has its own considerable canon of mostly home-grown Christmas pop songs, generally dating to a period from [[TheSeventies the 1970s]] until about 1985 when every major act seemed to produce one (or collaborated on [[CharityMotivationSong one for charity, like Band Aid]]), which now seem as ingrained in popular consciousness as the more traditional songs and carols. Indeed, several acts are now almost solely remembered for their hardy-perennial festive hit, irrespective of how successful they once were: a sort of musical {{Flanderization}}. So, whereas the US Christmas often seems, culturally, to be firmly stuck in [[TheFifties the 1950s]], the British enjoy one which is welded firmly to the late '70s if music is anything to go by.[[note]](Frankly, the British '50s were quite unlike the American '50s, what with having to rebuild the country after [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the War]].)[[/note]]

'''Christmas music starts popping up everywhere'''. The populace is mercilessly prodded into feeling goodwill to all men by the endless ChristmasSongs drummed into their heads for weeks in advance of the big day (for those who ''really'' want to go all in, Magic FM does an all-Christmas playlist during the month of December). Unlike in the USA, contemporary musical artists rarely release seasonal albums of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"-esque standards, however. The Music/FrankSinatra, Music/BingCrosby and Music/NatKingCole-era crooners do make up a significant part of it, but the UK has its own considerable canon of mostly home-grown Christmas pop songs, generally dating to a period from [[TheSeventies the 1970s]] until about 1985 when every major act seemed to produce one (or collaborated on [[CharityMotivationSong one for charity, like Band Aid]]), which seem as ingrained in popular consciousness as the more traditional songs and carols. Indeed, several acts are now almost solely remembered for their hardy-perennial festive hit, irrespective of how successful they once were: a sort of musical {{Flanderization}}. So, whereas the US Christmas is, culturally, firmly stuck in the 1950s, the British enjoy one which is welded firmly to the late '70s if music is anything to go by.[[note]](Frankly, the British '50s were quite unlike the American '50s, what with having to rebuild the country after [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the War]].)[[/note]]

The most important thing to remember, especially for American tropers, is that Christmas is the United Kingdom's premier holiday and day of celebration.[[note]](though in UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} it was once second to Hogmanay). Also, it's pretty much the premier holiday in the USA as well, unless you can think of another holiday which effectively lasts for a month and which completely overshadows another major holiday the month before. So...maybe not so weird for Americans..[[/note]] The UK does not observe a designated public UsefulNotes/ThanksgivingDay (although many churches will celebrate a 'Harvest Festival' in September or October), and, between its not having been occupied by any foreign power since 1066 and having a [[UsefulNotes/EnglishCivilWar revolution]] without any really truly clear dates for celebration that wouldn't also be divisive, this means that Christmas is far more of a dominant calendar event and holiday here than in the United States and elsewhere. Indeed, inhabitants of these sceptered isles have celebrated the winter solstice since before the birth of Christ, the [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire Roman]], [[HornyVikings Viking]], and [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy Norman]] invasions. So, although Brits don't usually think of it much, beneath all the tinsel, Brussels sprouts and unwanted socks at least two millennia of tradition and community are reflected in the average Christmas, with old and new customs -- both original and appropriated -- stacked on top of each other. This veritable smorgasbord of practices all blur into the [[TitleDrop very British affair]] described below.

'''Christmas music starts popping up everywhere'''. The populace is mercilessly prodded into feeling goodwill to all men by the endless ChristmasSongs drummed into their heads for weeks in advance of the big day (for those who ''really'' want to go all in, Magic FM does an all-Christmas playlist during the month of December). Unlike in the USA, contemporary musical artists rarely release seasonal albums of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"-esque standards, however. The Music/FrankSinatra, Music/BingCrosby and Music/NatKingCole-era crooners do make up a significant part of it, but the UK has its own considerable canon of mostly home-grown Christmas pop songs, generally dating to a period from [[TheSeventies the 1970s]] until about 1985 when every major act seemed to produce one (or collaborated on [[CharityMotivationSong one for charity, like Band Aid]]), which seem as ingrained in popular consciousness as the more traditional songs and carols. Indeed, several acts are now almost solely remembered for their hardy-perennial festive hit, irrespective of how successful they once were: a sort of musical {{Flanderization}}. So, whereas the US has a Christmas firmly stuck in the 1950s, the British enjoy one which is welded firmly to the late '70s if music is anything to go by.[[note]](Frankly, the British '50s were quite unlike the American '50s, what with having to rebuild the country after [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the War]].)[[/note]]

Curiously a few songs are routinely wheeled out that, although not lyrically 'festive', apparently still count due to their originally charting highly around in December and giving off a warm fuzzy feeling -- e.g. Music/FrankieGoesToHollywood's "The Power of Love"[[note]](the band's label produced a Nativity-themed music video to capitalise on its December release in 1984, which contributed to this; a mimsy-pop cover version by Gabrielle Aplin from a Advertising/JohnLewis TV advert (see above) also topped the charts in December 2012, although not at Christmas)[[/note]], or East 17's "Stay Another Day"[[note]](the fuzzy Christmas feeling around this song goes when you realise it's about member Tony Mortimer's brother, who committed suicide)[[/note]], which beat Mariah to the Christmas Number One Single slot in 1994 [[note]]Mariah Carey would eventually top the charts in 2020[[/note]]. The race for this hallowed chart position (and the often ultra-cheesy pretenders thereto) is very much a UK-specific phenomenon, as fairly accurately depicted by the Billy Mack sub-plot in the movie ''Film/LoveActually''. Despite the wealth of popular Christmas classics to have from the United Kingdom, the country would go over 30 years between Christmas-''themed'' Christmas number ones after Music/CliffRichard's "Saviour's Day" in 1990 (more details follow later in this folder). After that, songs as varied as the ''Series/NoelsHouseParty''-derived novelty "Mr. Blobby" (1993), Music/MichaelJackson's dour GreenAesop "Earth Song" (1995), three consecutive Music/SpiceGirls songs (1996-8), Music/{{Westlife}} covering Music/{{ABBA}}'s "I Have A Dream" (1999), children's TV character ''WesternAnimation/BobTheBuilder'''s "Can We Fix It?" (2000) and Gary Jules' SofterAndSlowerCover of "Mad World" from the soundtrack of ''Film/DonnieDarko'' (2003) have taken the crown.

The most important thing to remember, especially for American tropers, is that Christmas is the United Kingdom's premier holiday and day of celebration.[[note]](though in UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} it was once second to Hogmanay). Also, it's pretty much the premier holiday in the USA as well, unless you can think of another holiday which effectively lasts for a month and which completely overshadows another major holiday the month before. So...maybe not so weird for Americans..[[/note]] The UK does not celebrate a designated harvest UsefulNotes/ThanksgivingDay (although many churches celebrate "Harvest Festival" in September or October), and, between not having been occupied by any foreign power since 1066 and having a [[UsefulNotes/EnglishCivilWar revolution]] without any really truly clear dates for celebration that wouldn't also be divisive, it means Christmas in the United Kingdom is far more of a dominant calendar event and holiday than it is in the United States and elsewhere. Indeed, inhabitants of these sceptered isles have celebrated the winter solstice since before the birth of Christ, the [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire Roman]], [[HornyVikings Viking]], and [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy Norman]] invasions. So, though Brits don't usually consider it, beneath all the tinsel, Brussels sprouts and unwanted socks at least two millennia of tradition and community are reflected in the average Christmas, with old and new customs -- both original and appropriated -- stacked on top of each other. This veritable smorgasbord of practices all blur into the [[TitleDrop very British affair]] described below.

In theory, the 'Christmas Season' for Brits is defined as the entirety of Advent[[note]](the Church season running up to the Nativity, from the fourth Sunday before Christmas until Christmas Eve. These days, it is mostly known -- especially to children -- for Advent Calendars, which start at the beginning of December, and usually feature a small chocolate)[[/note]], Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day (December 26th), the days afterward leading up to New Year, and then the remainder of the days until Twelfth Night (January 5th), after which everything comes to a complete close. Increasingly, however, the buildup has come to dominate, such that ChristmasCreep is widespread and some Christmas trees can be seen thrown out on the roadside on Boxing Day[[note]]again, not so weird for Americans, who get the Christmas stuff going right after (sometimes even just before) Halloween[[/note]].

In recent years, some traditions and conventions from other countries have started to appear, mostly due to the lower cost of transport and increased relations between the UK, America, Europe (especially Germany, Italy and France) and The Commonwealth. Naturally, these influences are subject to the same ebb-and-flow of any imported trend. For example, Black Friday, previously a chiefly-American spiel, crashed into the festive season in full force around 2014, and Brits everywhere seemed to go just as crazy for it as their friends across the pond... despite the perplexing illogic of Britain marking a day based on Thanksgiving. A mere two years later and the public appeared to have lost interest, with the images of quiet high-street shops inspiring the press to label the 2016 rendition "Blank Friday". Despite reactions to Black Friday being more measured as of 2020 and far less violent than its counterpart across the pond, it still draws in considerable numbers of shoppers, and has found quite a bit more mileage online, in combination with the related Cyber Monday.

Before we continue, let's debunk a tabloid myth. There is no [[PoliticalCorrectnessIsEvil mass PC-ing]] of Christmas. "Winterval" was a one-off commercial event[[note]](thank you, [[Series/{{QI}} [=QI=]!]])[[/note]] and few things could annoy a Brit any more than someone wishing them "Happy Holidays"[[note]](to most Brits, the "holidays" are your summer vacation)[[/note]]. The secular winter scene on one year's festive postage stamps isn't "taking the Christ out of Christmas", it just means Baby Jesus or suchlike will show up on next year's, as they ''alternate''. Cards are still sent. Office parties are more common every year. In fact, Christmas in Britain is so popular that from around the 1800s onwards, it has begun to be celebrated by virtually every religious denomination in some way or another. Christmas did ''almost die out'' in pre-1843 Anglophone Protestant nations (US and UK) until a [[Literature/AChristmasCarol certain book]] by Creator/CharlesDickens completely revitalised it, and it is very firmly here to stay.

'''Advertising'''. Starting from right before the current year's Christmas, "cost-spreading" companies - such as Park, a company which supposedly makes this their sole goal - will usually release an advert telling people to begin saving or using their services so that they have enough money for ''next'' year's festivities. The advert mysteriously disappears after around a quarter into the following year, only to return time and time again as Christmas gets nearer, like a ruthless alligator waiting to feed on people who are insecure about their finances.

The most important thing to remember, especially for American tropers, is that Christmas is the United Kingdom's premier holiday and day of celebration[[note]](though in UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} it was once second to Hogmanay). Also, it's pretty much the premier holiday in the USA as well, unless you can think of another holiday which effectively lasts for a month and which completely overshadows another major holiday the month before. So...maybe not so weird for Americans..[[/note]]. The UK does not celebrate a designated harvest UsefulNotes/ThanksgivingDay (although many churches celebrate "Harvest Festival" in September or October), and, between not having been occupied by any foreign power since 1066 and having a [[UsefulNotes/EnglishCivilWar revolution]] without any really truly clear dates for celebration that wouldn't also be divisive, it means Christmas in the United Kingdom is far more of a dominant calendar event and holiday than it is in the United States and elsewhere. Indeed, inhabitants of these sceptered isles have celebrated the winter solstice since before the birth of Christ, the [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire Roman]], [[HornyVikings Viking]], and [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy Norman]] invasions. So, though Brits don't usually consider it, beneath all the tinsel, Brussels sprouts and unwanted socks at least two millennia of tradition and community are reflected in the average Christmas, with old and new customs -- both original and appropriated -- stacked on top of each other. This veritable smorgasbord of practices all blur into the [[TitleDrop very British affair]] described below.