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Posted By: :andy: Merry Christmas!! - 12/24/03 06:54 PM
I hope noone minds that i already post that. But here, we are twice ahead, because of an earlier timezone, and because we use to celebrate Christmas already in the evening of the 24th.

so i wish everyone a nice and relaxed Christmas celebration!

my thaughts are with the ones that have to work over the holidays.
Posted By: Trumpy Re: Merry Christmas!! - 12/24/03 08:01 PM
Hey Andy,
Its 0900 Xmas Day over here at the moment.
A very happy and safe Xmas to all.
[Linked Image] [Linked Image] [Linked Image] [Linked Image]
Posted By: Bill Addiss Re: Merry Christmas!! - 12/25/03 07:34 AM
Merry Christmas!

[Linked Image]
Bill
Posted By: Roger Re: Merry Christmas!! - 12/25/03 06:16 PM
Merry Christmas to all.
Posted By: pauluk Re: Merry Christmas!! - 12/26/03 11:23 AM
Here in England it's now 11:15 a.m. on the 26th, also known as Boxing Day in British circles.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas day. It was really mild in my area, quite bright and temperatures up into the 50s! It brought everyone in the neighborhood out for walks along the beach and the back lanes.

Not so good today, so an excuse to take it easy and relax indoors.

How many of us are now looking forward to turkey sandwiches for the next week? [Linked Image]

Come to think of it, is turkey the usual Christmas meal in all our countries? Feel free to tell us about any Christmas traditions that are peculiar to your own country. [Linked Image]
Posted By: :andy: Re: Merry Christmas!! - 12/26/03 02:13 PM
in Germany, or in Bavaria, there isn't a norm meal for christmas. Well known is Goose or Duck, sometimes fish, but we personally always have wiener sausages and potato salad for christmas... our tradition [Linked Image]

[This message has been edited by :andy: (edited 12-26-2003).]
Posted By: Trumpy Re: Merry Christmas!! - 12/26/03 10:16 PM
Paul,
Owing to our Christmas being at the start of summer, down here, there is an increasing trend for families to fire up the BBQ and eat outdoors.
The turkey(or Chicken) is still quite popular here, though.
I've never really been able to eat a large Xmas dinner, normally owing to the usual high temperatures we have here on Xmas day.
Andy,
Quote
but we personally always have wiener sausages and potato salad for christmas.
Mmm, that sounds like a great Christmas meal!. [Linked Image]
Posted By: Bjarney Re: Merry Christmas!! - 12/26/03 10:42 PM
Mmmmmm... Lutefisk!




[This message has been edited by Bjarney (edited 12-26-2003).]
Posted By: pauluk Re: Merry Christmas!! - 12/27/03 05:32 PM
I know what you mean Trumpy -- I always find I want to eat more in winter.

Andy,
Sounds good, and I love potato salad, although it's more a summer thing. I seem to recall hearing that weiners with smoked bacon and potato salad are also a popular dish in the Alsace region of France.

Everybody get ready to sing the Oscar Mayer song..... [Linked Image]
Posted By: djk Re: Merry Christmas!! - 12/27/03 06:37 PM
Here in Ireland it's a bit of a heart-stopping dinner and is quite similar to Christmas in the USA due to various traditions crossing the atlantic in both directions but also quite similar to Xmas in the UK.

Multi-course dinner including:
Turkey or Goose
Ham
Sometimes Spiced Beef (particularly around Cork area)
Smoked Salmon
Various vegetables
(typically patatoes, turnips, sprouts, carrots, onions, peas etc etc.. it varies from house to house)

The compulsary Christmas fruit cake (very very dark rich cake laced with Cognac and dried fruit)
Christmas pudding.. served flaming.. you pour brandy over and light it with a match.

Mince pies (strange pies full of "minced meat" which is actually a mix of spices, alcohol and preserved fruit. Very victorian dish.

Vast amounts of food and drink basically.

It's also traditional to completely over estimate how much food you need and to use at least 2 shopping trollies (carts) in the supermarket and to buy a turkey that so bit it barely fits in the oven.

In terms of electricity consumption Xmas dinner cooking period is one of the annual peaks as 1 million ovens all go online simultaniously along with every hob, light, heater and cooking applience known to man.

The grid is still intact! so I think we can safely say the power system is able to deal with demand [Linked Image]
Posted By: C-H Re: Merry Christmas!! - 12/29/03 04:35 PM
Bjarney,
that's the best dish of the whole year [Linked Image]

Swedes have Christmas ham on the table, not turkey. Apart from the ham, all other dishes varies from house to house.

Among the drinks are "julmust", a type of soft drink, and "glögg", a mulled wine akin to "glühwein".
Posted By: Trumpy Re: Merry Christmas!! - 02/20/04 09:37 AM
Seems rather silly to bring this up.
But over here, we have a Mid-Winter Xmas party in NZ here, is there a sort of a Mid-Summer's party, in the Northern Hemisphere?. [Linked Image]
Posted By: C-H Re: Merry Christmas!! - 02/20/04 01:22 PM
Oh yes we do!

"Midsommar" is almost as big as Christmas in Sweden. It's a pagan tradition the church never dared to ban.
Posted By: pauluk Re: Merry Christmas!! - 02/20/04 02:47 PM
The Druids over here celebrate the summer soltice as well, and often try to gather at certain places of significance, such as Stonehenge .

Several northern-hemisphere countries have their various national holiday during the summer months as well, e.g. U.S.A. (July 4), France (July 14).
Posted By: dougwells Re: Merry Christmas!! - 02/20/04 06:53 PM
Canada Has Canada Day July 1st
Posted By: classicsat Re: Merry Christmas!! - 02/21/04 09:25 PM
Not to mention the summer bookends,

Victoria day (third Monday in May, US has memorial day the week after)), which is called May 24 weekend, and is the spiritual beginning of summer in Canada.

Labour day, first Monday in September, school starts the next day, which makes it essentially
the end of summer.
Posted By: pauluk Re: Merry Christmas!! - 02/22/04 09:57 AM
In England we also have the rather non-descript "Bank" holidays, two of which are the Spring Bank Holiday at the end of May, and the Summer Bank Holiday at the end of August.
Posted By: C-H Re: Merry Christmas!! - 02/22/04 03:25 PM
Paul, I had never thought about the "national holiday in summer" thing but when you mention it: The Swedish national holiday is on June 6 . Not that anyone cares to celebrate it. It's not even a holiday (sic!)

Canada has labour day in September??? How about other countries? I thought may 1 was universal.

Clearly, Swedes are a bit more optimistic than Canadians. The start of summer is on April 30, no matter how cold it is.
Posted By: Trumpy Re: Merry Christmas!! - 02/23/04 05:50 AM
The only holidays we have over here during the Summer are the Xmas and New Years ones
(if you are lucky enough to get them off!).
I find it amazing here, that there are no actual Public Holidays during the Winter months, Easter is in Autumn here.
Just a small point here Paul, why on earth do people that work in Banks need a seperate holiday, considering that they don't start work until 9am and only work until 4:30pm?.
Sorry just being silly!. [Linked Image]
Well, there guy's, what do you people eat during these festive occassions during your Summers?.
Lots of salads, cold meat?.
Or a BBQ?, any Regional variations on the BBQ, BTW?.
Us guys and to a certain extent the Australian folk just Grill plain or Marinated Beef, or Pork or Lamb.
Coming from a country that actually produces this sort of fare, it's un-ususally expensive here!. [Linked Image]
But myself and a few people from the Abbatoirs that I used to work at, got in with a local Farmer, to provide us with a Full "body" of Beef every Summer and I usually end up boning the thing out, to give T-Bone steaks, Sirloin, and Rump steaks for all in the "Syndicate".
For NZ$50, per year, between the 5 of us, as well as Boning charges to me, NZ$35, it's just great and we all get together to taste the first cut!.
Fill your freezer up, no problems, my friend in the Syndicate, vacuum packs it too!. [Linked Image]

[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 02-23-2004).]
Posted By: pauluk Re: Merry Christmas!! - 02/24/04 12:26 PM
Quote
Canada has labour day in September??? How about other countries? I thought may 1 was universal.
U.S. Labor Day is the first Monday in September.

Have a look at http://www.smart.net/~mmontes/ushols.html for information on U.S. holidays. There's a calculator there to give you the exact dates of the "movable" holidays for any year.

Quote
Well, there guy's, what do you people eat during these festive occassions during your Summers?.
Lots of salads, cold meat?.
Or a BBQ?, any Regional variations on the BBQ, BTW?
Barbecues have become more popular is the U.K. in recent years, although there are plenty of Brits who seem to detest them for some reason. Personally, I love to eat outdoors from a BBQ on a nice warm summer evening. The climate here is the only thing that really goes against the BBQ! [Linked Image]
Posted By: Trumpy Re: Merry Christmas!! - 02/28/04 12:43 PM
Paul,
Quote
Barbecues have become more popular is the U.K. in recent years, although there are plenty of Brits who seem to detest them for some reason
How so Paul?, why are these things disliked?
There is nothing simpler than a BBQ,
Meat + Fire = A really good feed! [Linked Image]
So primal!!. [Linked Image]
Posted By: djk Re: Merry Christmas!! - 02/28/04 04:59 PM
In Ireland a BBQ usually starts off well, then suddenly turns into a steam bath once the first shower hits! [Linked Image]
Posted By: pauluk Re: Merry Christmas!! - 02/29/04 09:17 AM
Yeah, the unpredictable British/Irish weather always makes it a gamble!

Trumpy,
There seem to be some people here who regard the BBQ as some awful American/Australian import that is to be despised. They're probably the same ones who would never buy a hamburger or a hot dog, because "They're just not British."

Now we can start the McD vs. BK vs. Wendys thing... [Linked Image]
Posted By: Hutch Re: Merry Christmas!! - 02/29/04 04:12 PM
Paul said ...
Quote
There seem to be some people here who regard the BBQ as some awful American/Australian import
Nonesense! It is actually a South African concept and should properly be called a 'Braai' {Afrik. = grill} [Linked Image]

Akin to rugby, it is a national passion!
Posted By: Trumpy Re: Merry Christmas!! - 03/10/04 10:11 AM
Quote
Nonesense! It is actually a South African concept and should properly be called a 'Braai' {Afrik. = grill}
Akin to rugby, it is a national passion!
I hear you there Hutch, in terms of both the Grill andthe Rugby!.
The best night's entertainment here would be a big BBQ and a good Super 12 game, with plenty of beer!. [Linked Image]
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