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A Covid Christmas In The UK?

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What do you have planned that your government won’t fine you for?

One of the reliefs of living Out Here is not having to deal with Christmas, neither having to opt out nor opt in. It’s a horrible, venal, stressful “festival” that should die anyway – will covid help to kill it off?

(Two arguments that are way past their sell-by date; People who don’t like Christmas are bah-humbug Scrooges who seek to abolish a wonderful heart-warming time of the year, and “it’s for the kids”).

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Comments

  1. We do have Christmas in Canada, and I find it a little less of an ordeal than in the UK. There is a little more respect here for other religions and it is evident that not everybody celebrates it. Still a big thing and I kind of enjoy it, one of the few times that we are together as a family and normally either myself or my ex spends the night of the 24th or the 25th at the other’s place (in separate beds naturally). Would also normally see my daughter’s Grandparents around New Year but they are in lockdown in Toronto and actually one is pretty ill in hospital right now, so all bets are off there.

    Haven’t done one in the UK since 2004, have been there around that time of the year though. My brother in the UK is likely to be alone for the first time at Christmas this year so we will try and synchronise some present opening or something through a video link.

    I miss the ones I had in Wales, much more likelihood for a white one here, but maybe 1 in 3 or 4 is a “Green Christmas”. Snow then comes anyway soon after and stays until April pretty much.

  2. No.1 son has just been pondering this: ‘So it looks like Christmas is back on. Also, our government is bad, and lots of people will die because of Christmas :(”

    Looks as though COVID is having a Christmas break: “Up to three households will be able to meet up during a five-day Christmas period of 23 to 27 December, leaders of the four UK nations have agreed.” People are urged, however, to consider alternatives such as technology or meeting outside. Usual fudge, in other words.

    Prawns and 30+C here…

    • You forgot 70 % humidity.
      I hate it the obligatory presents , the whose turn is it this year.
      Both my parents are now gone and since my divorce to my first wife , the mother of my son and daughter, there is never a gathering of the “whole family”. So I can’t muster any enthusiasm at all.

      • Jesus, what a grim outlook people have (Jesus not addressed to him of course although could be). I wont get to see my son because he is in Iceland and not allowed to go thee yet but we will video call him and his girlfriend from my daughters flat in London. We will have a quiet Christmas with my daughter and her boyfriend and will then walk their dog in Richmond park on Boxibg day avoiding the madness of Oxford street Quiet but pleasant and looking forward to a few days off

        • You’re falling into the Scrooge trap with this: “what a grim outlook people have”. Not necessarily – it’s perfectly okay to not like Christmas and/or resent being pulled into it. I think Christmas is grim. A festival in name only – celebrating what, exactly? Jesus’ birthday? If not that, what?
          If you enjoy the family getting together, you’re not obliged to do it on December 25th. You could by agreement set it for any day of the year, if you think a special Family Day is necessary to get everyone together. Make your own tradition. Perhaps not everyone in the family would want to participate – doesn’t make them grim Stooges.

          • Too true. I’m (normally) perfectly happy for people to do christmas but I don’t really get it and find it false so feel a quite uneasy joining in. It’s made worse by not seeing my side of the family and the one I married into does some religious things so I need to make sure I don’t say anything I shouldn’t.
            This year is worse because I simply don’t want a whole load of people (some of whom are young people who will doubtless be out drinking in the days leading up to christmas) getting too close to everyone else in our house. Some of those people are trying to work out whether the new rules allow things to happen but that doesn’t change the science!
            If there was no vaccine on the horizon it might be different but it’s only going to be another few months – lets all get together in the spring for a barbecue.

                • I … I … I can’t. I had to mute ‘barbecue’ and ‘BBQ’ on Twitter after daring to suggest that eating half raw/half burnt food off inadequate tableware while standing up outdoors surrounded by wasps and people wearing their ugliest clothes might be anything other than paradise.

                  • I think you’ve been going to the wrong barbecues, Gatz. Or at least with the wrong people.
                    I like a barbecue, UK weather permitting of course. I like the sheer meatiness of it. I’m with Terry Pratchett’s Sam Vimes in an enjoyment of “the black bits” too.
                    I don’t wish to give an impression I’m just a rampant carnivore, though. Nothing wrong with vegetarian or vegan food either, if the person preparing it knows what they are about..
                    I just like eating and drinking and talking bollocks. That’s what a barbecue is about for me. On a warm day with a bit of sunshine I like eating, drinking and talking bollocks out of doors.

                    • I might be more sympathetic to them if I ate meat, but I’ve never really seen the appeal of being outdoors for its own sake. They always seem to last so long as well.

              • Sorry about that – I don’t ‘do’ barbecues either. From the awful smell around our neighbourhood most sunny Saturdays, I thought I was alone. If invited I’ll always make sure I’ve eaten a hearty meal first so I don’t need to have anything ‘just for the vegetarians’ that’s been splattered with the fat from the meat. I’m more than happy sitting drinking in the garden though so I won’t refuse the invite!

                • The way to do barbecues is to insist on being the person manning the barbecue. Despite promoting a gender stereotype, it has three advantages: you get your food cooked the way you want, you don’t have to socialise, and everyone thinks you’re a topsa fellow for doing it.

                  • I can see the general principle but in my experience, barbecue attendees expect meat and if I’m manning the thing that’s not going to happen! I’d rather police the salad table to make sure nobody double dips!

                    • *deep breath*

                      Hurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

          • Not buying that Mr Sauceceaft . The extended family time with the family as you rightly say could take place any time of the year. December is as good a time as any in the UK- its half way through the months of grim weather and an opportunity to momentarily lift the gloom. As you say could easily do it any other time of year except that for example the good weather of June or July doesnt coincide with any public holidays in UK so harder for people to get together. However if the govt want to give me Christmas day and boxing day in June they wont get any beef from me.
            And you are right majority of people not ‘celebrating’ xmas for any religious reason so yes move it.

  3. Are the people who are so intent on having Christmas at any cost, the same people who get all moisty eyed as soon as they see a uniform and wax on and on about the sacrifices made during the war?
    I reckon “yeah.”

  4. The standard Christmas sounds remarkably like lockdown to me – everything is closed, you’re stuck at home with a vague sense of house arrest and doom, and wondering if it’s too early to start getting pissed.

  5. Lady W’s parents are religious folk (the nice liberal sort) and so Christmas is huge for them. Midnight mass, mulled wine, mince pies, bed. Up at crack of dawn, stockings opened on the bed, slap-up breakfast, proper presents unwrapped with a glass of bubbly, glass or three of sherry, turkey lunch, couple of bottles of red, fall asleep on sofa watching The Queen. Wake up to a crap movie. Play silly games with the neighbours. Bed with a nice malt I found in my stocking.
    A Scottish Christmas in the fifties was always a rather dour affair (Hogmanay was the real deal) then me and Wife No1 dismissed it all as bourgeois nonsense. My we was Wrong.
    I love Christmas, I do.
    ps this year, it’s just us two, a goose and a few gallons of Languedoc’s finest

      • You’re definitely not @SteveT … I love it, and it’s my favourite time of the year, mainly because it feels like it’s everyone’s birthday so really what’s not to like? Daughter home from University, the four of us all under the same roof and feeling glad to be there. I love the feeling that our small bit of the world stops for a few days. I always look out for a Christmas album to listen to and possibly overplay, and the ones by Tracey Thorn and Nick Lowe have shone out in more recent years. This year’s looks like it might be the forthcoming Calexico album “Seasonal Shift” out on December 4th.
        My looking forward to all this is slightly tempered by bloody covid, we do want to do the right thing but we are hoping for a sensible family gathering round my Mum and Dad’s on the day itself (it’s walking distance which means we can imbibe safely) to have a day away from what has been a difficult and somewhat gloomy year in so many ways.
        It has to be said, I do feel a lot of sympathy for folks who might be on their own or estranged from their family and friends at Christmas. I really can’t imagine how I’d feel about it, but I like to think I’d want everyone else to have a good time.

        • I think it was Harry Hill who said

          At this time of year it’s common to feel sorry for those who are spending Christmas alone. I don’t. I feel sorry for those who aren’t spending Christmas alone, but who wish they were.

  6. Well, despite the allowed 3 household and unrestricted travel bananas, we shall hunker down and have yet another day in an optimistic purgatory : we had written it off this year anyway. Alternatively, depending which vaccine arrives first, possibly administering vaccines: DoH have us primed for being ready, even if the plans morph whenever Matt Pissflap opens his mouth.

  7. I dismiss Xmas as bougoise nonsense, though I’m thinking of going to the Lodeys in the Languedoc this year, Covid permitting. I’ve never tried goose before and, although I don’t drink alcohol, I think I’d find it nonetheless seasonally heartwarming to have someone provide me with free food and drink, at least until March.

    I’m of a mind now to post some seasonal poetry by the bard of Stoke-On-Trent:

    Oh what a miserable year
    But what a time to be alive!
    Sadly some friends disappeared
    It’s never been like this before
    It feels like we’re at war

    So I wonder who’s gonna decide
    If we can do the Auld Lang Syne?
    I wish that I could do what I like
    With this family of mine
    We’re going out of our minds

    So what are we to do
    About your FaceTimes and your Zooms?
    There’s a room inside my mind
    And it’s always here for you
    Nothing’s gonna stop Christmas…
    No chance

    You can’t take away our season
    Like you can’t take away the wine
    Santa’s on his sleigh
    But now he’s two metres away
    The people gonna need something to believe in
    After a year of being in
    We’ve got a wish list
    You can’t stop Christmas time

    If you’re wondering what I’d like
    Socks and sanitiser will do fine
    I guess you do your shopping online
    The high street lights are out
    There’s nobody about

    So where will we all be
    Come this time next year?
    I know you’ll be with me
    And I’ll be here
    Nothing’s gonna take Christmas…

    You can’t take away our season
    Like you can’t take away the wine
    Santa’s on his sleigh
    But now he’s two metres away
    The people gonna need something to believe in
    After a year of being in
    We’ve got a wish list
    You can’t stop Christmas

    Why, oh why are we all waiting?
    The whole damn world anticipating
    Beyond boredom and frustration
    The planet’s locked in what ifs and maybes

    You can’t take away our season
    Like you can’t take away the wine
    Let’s lie to Santa Claus
    Tell him it’s nineteen-eighty-four
    The people gonna need something to believe in
    After a year of being in
    We’ve all missed this
    So here’s our wish list
    You can’t stop Christmas time

    • Fine sentiments, admirably expressed! Of course, some countries haven’t even started Christmas time, so don’t need to stop it. But I can get pissed, overeat, dispense gifts, watch Top Gear and hang tinsel from my todger any day of the year.

  8. We absolutely, unashamedly fucking love Christmas we do. American wife and son and me having lived there 20 years we start day after Thanksgiving. Not uncommon over there given that families are together and quite often the tree goes up. So, Friday all the decorations come out (we have loads), everything goes up. We usually kick off our festive telly with Christmas Vacation on the Friday too. We watch every bloody Christmas fillum, every Christmas special from years gone by (The Office, Father Ted, Friends, Frasier and on and on and on) all the way up to Christmas Eve. . It’s brilliant. It will just be the 3 of us this year for the first time in ages. We are hoping that we will see my brother and his family sometime over the holiday, it looks like inter-county travel will be permitted here in Ireland during Christmas week.

    It looks like a lot of people here are starting early. Seeing a few decorations in windows already. Kilcullen town is looking quite festive already. We’ve had a pretty awful year so we’re going to enjoy this.

  9. For me, Xmas doesn’t start until the three stories below have appeared in the UK press

    1) A heartwarming (i.e. made up story) about the man who eats Xmas dinner avec all the trimmings surrounded by Xmas decorations all 365 days a year. Naturally, said man is single.

    2) The old Xmas chestnut (see how I slid the seasonal reference in there?) about the high cost of the delicious festive feast those detained at Her Majesty’s Pleasure will be sitting down to before knifing each other over the subtle nuances in the Queen’s Speech

    3) Front page outrage at a Winter Wonderland where punters’ £25 admission fees buy them unlimited access to:

    * “Reindeers” which turn out to be nothing more than badly malnourished donkeys with “antlers” sellotaped to their heads and

    * A belligerent, borderline alcoholic Santa who’s only just been removed the sex offenders register

  10. Christmas for me orbits about the family service at the little church in the next village. As a grown up I’m not a religious person, but I find it in me to allow that hour or so of peace and reflection to take me back to how I was raised. I find it a warmly comforting joy, almost despite myself.

    My parents were Christians – nominally at least; they didn’t attend a church when I was a child, even though my maternal grandad was a Methodist lay preacher (and organist) in Cornwall. My paternal grandad was a stoker in the Navy; only religious when the seas were at storm force or above. Patiently, my parents let me find my own way through the forests of religious belief. But big school was also always nominally Christian; an assembly service every morning, prayers and so on.

    What really influenced me though was my parents’ profound Christian socialism – they couldn’t countenance that anyone could really be a Christian – or claim to follow and uphold the Christian moral message – unless as a consequence they also believed in social justice and equality for all. They scorned most Tories and any other transgressors who gave the game away with venal attitudes and hypocritical behaviour. I took that belief and ran with it, and it’s served me well I believe.

    So that foundation has been with me all along, and the best thing about Christmas for me is that those 60 minutes of quiet reflection in a tiny little church give me a small window back into my childhood, and to an affirmation of my parents’ fundamental decency.

    You can keep all the rest. The dismal commercialism. The cynical profiteering. The shouty, unavoidable self-centredness of it all in this connected age. Black Fucking Friday. Boxing Day Sales. Do me a favour.

    We’ll have a roast dinner to give ourselves a bit of a treat. If the weather is good, we’ll take the dogs out somewhere for a long walk. We’ll watch the sun go down. If the weather is shit, we’ll stay in, watch a movie in the afternoon – shock! horror! – and slug down the best red we have in the rack. And as we retire at the end of the day we’ll reflect that the really important day in December has in any case already recently passed, and that the days are finally getting longer again.

    • Vulpes, I love the description of your parents Christian Socialism. I’m not religious at all but they are absolutely right. What good people they sound.

    • I grew up in a Methodist house. My dad was also a socialist. Not sure I would necessarily recommend such an upbringing (the extreme religious part), but going to church on Christmas Day was a big part of it. My mother passed away in 2005 and I haven’t repeated that since. My ex was catholic so we did go to a few midnight mass services on Christmas Eve subsequently. I am guessing there will be no services this year at least in person but maybe I will try and join one via Zoom or something.

    • Spot on Vulpsy. I have something similar with the school choir concert – having watched Twang Jr progress from treble in the chamber choir spot to one of the big bass guys at the back. It’s in the lovely old church in Hitchin and we have all the traditional carols and usually some interesting stuff from further afield or old mediaeval pieces too. I sing whole heartedly, wish I could still hit the notes in the descant of Hark The Herald Angels Sing and generally feel a bit emotional about it all. I sang the solo in the second verse of “Once in royal David’s city” when I was 11, centuries ago. Still gets me going and I can still see my Dad in the audience, beaming. He was a choirboy too, and his Dad was the church organist.

      I’m not religious but I like Christmas – more as a mid winter feast and a bit of tradition now, and I think it’s nice to get together and exchange gifts etc. For those who wish to sneer, judge or distribute their own misery to everyone else I wish you well if it makes you feel better. Personally we’ll be putting up the tree the first weekend of December and watching Elf. No eggnog, mind.

      • I think there’ll be a lot more sneering this year than ever before. Personally I’d rather not have christmas at all because I just don’t get it but I’m not about to sneer at people that want a party.
        However, this year having a party in a small space like a house seems bonkers so I’m going to feel free to sneer and my sympathy levels for anyone that gets Covid as a result will be down.

        • You don’t have to have Christmas. Just make it a normal day. No turkey, no tree, start work at 8.30, knock off at 5etc. Quality sneer though. “party”, thus demonstrating a total lack of what people who like Christmas get out of it. Hats!

          • If I lived on my own, that’s exactly what I’d do… possibly without the work bit, after all I don’t work on other bank holidays…. however I live with, and around people who want to do christmas so I go along with it. It’s been a lot less stressful since I stopped having anything to do with presents for adults some years ago.

  11. You’ve nailed it there, Jaygee. The ‘Winter Wonderland’ headline is regurgitated every Christmas – usually accompanied by forlorn pictures of portacabins doubling as Santa’s grotto.

  12. As Gatz says above, Christmas for my wife, daughter and me has become a reasonably enjoyable period of lockdown anyway. We quite like closing the door on Christmas Eve and doing, eating, drinking what we like when we like with no obligations. Until we deign to open it a couple of days later.

    We’re not averse to spending Christmas with family and friends. We just prefer to be a trio.

    Religion doesn’t enter into it. For me anyway. I’m happy that an originally pagan midwinter ‘festival’ (read holiday) still exists and is mandated with official sanctioned days off. In the U.K, in winter it’s something i look forward to.

    Having said religion doesn’t enter into it, my wife and I have managed to find ourselves over recent years in a cathedral somewhere a few days prior sitting in a carol service. She loves the sound of singing in such spaces and it brings back memories of her childhood. I’m content enough with this. I’m unmoved by the sentiment but sitting in a cathedral is fine thing to do. They were community spaces as well, when built.

    • I agree, you’ve put it very well there.

      I have a religious background but I’m not religious now and I don’t consider Christmas to be particularly religious. But cathedrals and carol services are great things.

      • Remarkable buildings. Designed to inspire awe and, to play the cynic, make the hoi polloi feel rather small and malleable by the clergy.

        For a long time I assumed biblical scenes in frescoes and stained glass windows etc were decoration. Well, yes they are, but because only the privileged could read, these were primarily visual texts. Explainers of the stories for the unwashed to understand.

        All sorts of human interaction and commerce went on in and around them on non holy days. I’m just writing obvious things, aren’t I?

  13. I like Christmas. Yes, it’s arbitrary and you could have a “family festival” any time of the year. And yes, the commercialism of it is a bit grating. As are some of the songs. But I think it’s healthy to be forced to have a set day where everything stops. It just becomes this one unmovable, undeniable event where everyone can pause from life and reflect, whether they want to or not.

    And (QI klaxon) it IS “for the kids”, isn’t it?? We buy kids presents and they love it, to the extent of convincing themselves of the existence of a fat guy in a red suit who goes round the world in one night. In what way is it not “for the kids”?

  14. I’m taking the positives (time off work, buying something for Mrs E and my two neices), eating and drinking a fair bit, seeing a few friends) and boycotting the rest of it this year.

    Frankly the whole thing is soured by the childish insistence of our government to allow the rules to be bent for three days (I think that’s this week’s guideline). Yes it would be nice for families to join other branches but can’t we just grow up and give that a miss for one year? It’s not like anyone will actually be paying attention to the rules, or even being fined for doing so, FFS.

  15. No kids at home this Christmas, so we’ll Skype/ FaceTime/ Zoom them. My wife and I will have a leisurely morning, tea and toast, exchange gifts, do something productive in the garden. I may have a wander up the hill for exercise, we will have a nice meal, play Scrabble with some wine, watch a film or an exciting series we can binge-episodes of, then fall into bed realising we only had to please ourselves, with no children or family to compromise for. I’ll be surprised if I even get pissed. Lovely.

  16. It’s interesting to observe the split between those who decry the whole thing because it doesn’t appeal to them and those who can find the beauty and pleasure in something they might not completely enjoy, ignore the negative aspects and focus on the parts they can enjoy, often just for the sake of their partner or children. That’s the Christmas spirit, right there.

  17. A large part of my Christmas grinchiness might be down to working in retail from my early 20s to late 30s. It was always my favourite time to work (if you don’t get a kick out of selling your product as fast as you can out it on the shelves you’re in the wrong job), but if you have been immersed in it since August the last thing you want is more when you get home.

    As Christmas was a quiet do when I was a kid (in Glasgow, so Hogmanay was a bigger deal, and my father was a church organist so would be out at services much of the day) I was nearly 40 before a ‘normal’ Christmas was something I could participate in, and frankly by then I couldn’t muster the effort.

      • I was with Waterstone’s for 17 or 18 Christmases. In the earlier years towns actually got quiet mid afternoon on Christmas Eve, by the last it was exactly as you say. Stay late on Christmas Eve to put the sale in, back on Boxing Day to open it.

        The season leading up to it was great, and I would always advise my staff that they had to be energy vampires, feeding off the vibes from the customers, but as soon Christmas Day was past there would be a huge crash. It’s like teachers when term ends, almost everyone fell ill just after Christmas because we didn’t have time to do it before.

  18. My ex wife set her standards somewhere between unreasonable and impossible for Christmas, birthday, valentines day, any day that the marketing vampires take hold and force us on mass to celebrate in the way they tell us to. It has scarred me deeply. Even now in a very happy relationship the old wounds surface in the lead up. So I’m not bothered by Christmas this or any year but I’ll do it in my own sweet way. The bit this year that has really ground my gears is the media from main news programmes to The One Show and their need to bang on about it endlessly. Almost forcing our useless government to come up with this latest Covid Christmas shit show. 5 days fir coronavirus to do it’s thing among those not strong enough to say “not for me” this year. Uni students, mixing with mums, dads, nans and grandads passing the nuts and playing Twister and trying to be the perfect John Lewis family. Boris Johnson. The man who saved Christmas but killed everyone over 70 in the process…

    • Yet polls I have seen suggest that a large majority would prefer restrictions to remain over Christmas to avoid the risk of another spike before a vaccination programme can be rolled out. I can only assume that Johnson thought that enough people were going to go their own sweet way at Christmas anyway, and that by ‘allowing’ them to he could present the illusion that he is somehow in control.

  20. We won’t be visiting my family in the UK as we usually do, because of the risks.

    Like so many things about the UK, Christmas seems to be a hotchpotch of good and bad things balanced on an insincere concocted tradition that nobody really believes in. The whole country seems to be swimming in bad faith, thanks to the current untrustworthy regime. It’s no wonder there is nostalgia for Christian Socialism, when the current dogmas and ideologies blindly push forwards, wilfully ignoring COVID, Brexit and climate change. Hurrah for building back better with new improved (green) unlimited growth – boost the defence budget, slash the aid budget and look forward to the 4 day weekend in June 2022.

    There are alternatives – old institutions like the C of E could adapt to a post-religious Britain, and help weave festivals that resonate with the core of how people feel without the creeds and dogmas and myths that alienate the many Brits without religious belief. Rituals and community are part of the social fabric – they just need to be tailored to modern ways. Otherwise, they are rotten threads, failing desperately to be meaningful or authentic. The trouble is the ‘established church’ is torn between faith and state, as the knife that was sheathed so long, saws its way through the cloth scabbard of established values, customs, traditions, regulations, rights and laws, scornful of resistance or morals.

  21. The bits I like – the anticipation on the 24th, a few games maybe, indulging some crap TV, the day itself, exchanging gifts, too much booze, the whole laid back vibe of Boxing day.

    The bits that get right up my Christmas stocking – mince pies in shops from 1 November, decorations up going up mid November, the same half dozen songs played in almost every public space, the whole who is going to whose house and when debate (cured this year by a divorce), in days gone by the office party.

    As a 3 day celebration it’s ace.

  22. Our fearless premier (Ontario) has given us our instructions. Your own household only. Exception if you live alone, you may join other family members (or friends) in their household.

    I spent Christmas a few years ago alone in hospital. A work colleague was my only visitor, there were no presents and no carol singers, just sharing my room with a distressed woman who kept ripping out her IV and bleeding everywhere.

    I had just moved to Ottawa and didn’t really know anyone here. Ex and daughter were still living in Toronto which is where I had planned to be.

    Happy to have anything that isn’t like that.

      • He’s actually done a reasonable job, especially when compared to the right wing idiots to our south. Seems to be getting to him now though. Prime Minister has basically vansihed for months only re-appearing to emphasise that we have no means to manufacture vaccines in Canada.

  23. Sharon and I will be by ourselves; her family in the States, and mine in York/the States.
    It will also be RF hot; it’s a real shock hearing Christmas carols when it’s approaching 40 degrees.

    We will, however, be free to share with anyone around here we want, with no restrictions. The NT Government went very hard very quickly, and as a result life around here is as close to normal as it gets – trivia night last night at the pub!

    So we’re distancing, of a kind, voluntarily. Which is OK for us, I think. I’ll still get to see niece and nephew enjoying Christmas as kids of their age should; I’ll cook a nice meal for us, and things will continue as they do for us 1 year in three any way. We go to her parents, her parents come to us, or we stay home and have a quiet day.

  24. We haven’t spent Christmas in the UK for 10 years because it’s a good time to get a holiday in and there’s nothing worse than that awful week between Christmas and New Year (aka ‘The Perineum’) in the dark, damp chill of England.

    Consequently we haven’t really ‘done’ Christmas at all, as it’s a family thing wherever you are in the world, if it’s observed at all. We did have turkey and roasties in Mandalay a few years ago, with chopsticks and whisky. In South America it’s more of a church thing than a celebration of gaudy knitwear, and on the banks of the Ganges they give Jesus a special shout out in their dawn ceremony, which is nice for him.

    So this year it’s a slightly daunting prospect of family and sprouts, but actually not family so much as we’re probably the fifth household on everyone’s list (if you’ve got two grown-up kids, plus two grandmothers, that’s four already, and you’re already looking at difficult choices before you even get to aunties and uncles). So we’ll be mostly sitting around eating Quality Street and thinking that that sherry’s never going to keep so you might as well finish the bottle.

    • Oh I like that bit between the two. We nipped off to the Canaries one year but it just felt like another holiday where in the UK it’s a period of enforced idleness when there is no obligation to do anything and you can just chill. I did go skiing in that period once which was OK – probably the snow. But I like taking it at home. Nice lie in, afternoon movie, no guilt at having a snifter in the afternoon (I never usually drink during the day because invariably you have to do stuff).

  25. The fact that Covid case numbers in Canada have more than doubled since the country celebrated its own thanksgiving on Oct 12 does not bode well for the New Year in the UK and Ireland.

    With Feb traditionally the time when the NHS is most over-stretched, people should be shitting bricks rather than stuffing turkeys.

  27. For those who want to enjoy Xmas (I’m one of them, although just that 1 day not the massively stretched season) then good luck to you. For those who don’t like it, fair enough and good luck to you. I think some on here doth protest too much about not being a Scrooge for not enjoying Xmas whilst sneering at those that do

    Oh and ignore the government. There’s very low risk, families mixing are not going to cause a Covid wave. Being told not to spend time with your family is a decision for those people to take, not for the likes of SAGE’s “let’s prevent a single death by locking up and scaring everyone else whilst driving people to suicide policy”

          • The great proclaimer, maybe?
            And shall we clarify SAGE as let’s reduce avoidable contacts that may provoke hospitalisations and potential excess deaths.
            “Thank goodness we saw Granny and Grandpa before they died and could remember their final Christmas with us all. And they looked so well.”

            • I’d rather not clarify SAGE no. They have 1 thing in mind to prevent any death at all costs. Which is commendable but misses so many other factors.

              It’s almost as if people are so brainwashed as to have lost rational thought.
              You really aren’t going to kill granny and grandad. If you want stay inside your bunker until god knows when SAGE say the risk is over (clue – they’ll never be no risk) then go for it.
              But I think granny and grandad can also weigh up the risk themselves and make the choice.

              • It’s almost as if people are brainwashed as to have so sufficiently lost the capability for rational thought that they voted for Brexit and then for the clueless blond chump. You can’t possibly expect them to cope with risk assessments, so just keep pumping out the mindless instructions so weighted down with caveats and exceptions that no-one, not even the ones still paying attention, can actually work out what the advice is beyond ‘staying alert’. Oh, sorry, that was last month. Or July or something, I dunno, I’ve lost track….

  29. Now Berkshire is in Tier 3

    I can’t go to the pub or a restaurant
    I can get my hair and nails done
    I can’t mix indoors I can have the family over for Christmas
    I cant go to a football match outside
    I can go to a gym
    I cant go bowling
    I can go swimming

    What a shit show

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