Christmas with the Pooleys

Ah, the long awaited English Christmas post; I have been inundated with requests to share and so, after arriving home from my Christmas holiday, here it is.

On December 22 I took the train from Egham to Dartford which is a fairly good sized town in Kent and is located on the fringe of London. I was invited down by Rachel and her family to spend the 22-27th with them and was ecstatic when the day finally came to visit. After being greeted with a giant bear hug by Rachel (whom I hadn't seen for two weeks, which honestly felt like an eternity) at the station I was driven home by her mom, Liz to her house. Once there I met the rest of the Pooley family, her dad Simon, brother Jim, and sister Helen, all of which were instantly welcoming and hilarious to be around. Her family is a tight knit one but they easily welcomed me in as if I had known them for years. The first night consisted of a visit to Rochester cathedral for an evening church and carol service in the beautiful nearly 1,000 year old building. The carols that were sung were not completely recognizable to me and others like Oh Little Town of Bethlehem had completely different tunes and thus confused me a bit.

The 23rd was Rachel's 20th birthday and we spent it roaming around SoHo in London with Helen and Simon, complete with birthday lunch at a 1950's style American diner and later a big dinner and presents. The 24th consisted of spending the day at the nearby shopping centre, Bluewater, as Christmas Eve is not really celebrated as Christmas in England.

Christmas in Covent Garden, London

Rachel and Helen

Rachel with her dog Meg

It's a hard life for a dog

Now to the good stuff: Christmas day. I keep getting asked "what do they eat in England for Christmas?" and surprisingly (or not) the meal is not that different from what Americans eat as well. The staples of turkey, ham, potatoes, brussel sprouts, assorted veggies, cranberry sauce, sausages, and stuffing are all there. What is different is the way in which some of the dishes are prepared. Stuffing for example is usually pork based and not bread based, so you make it with minced pork rather than bread. It  creates a much thicker stuffing that is not crumbly. The puddings (desserts) were the biggest difference that I noticed on the dinner table. Christmas pudding is the main dessert at Christmas and it is unlike anything that I have ever tasted. It is made with suet, dried fruit, flour, assorted Christmasy spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, or ginger, apples, oranges, and the loads of brandy, rum, or stout (whichever you prefer). The pudding is soaked in the alcohol and then steamed in a pudding tin to form a sort of gummy mass that is eaten with brandy flavored cream. The best part of the Christmas pudding (because, to be honest, I hated the taste and consistency of it and had chocolate mousse instead) was that it is lit on fire by first lighting brandy in a spoon on fire and then dropping it onto the pudding; it was really cool to say the least. 

    The video above is the lighting of the Christmas pudding, don't forget to watch it! The rest of the evening consisted of lounging on the sofas in the living room and watching the traditional Christmas tv specials that are so near and dear to Britons. Most major television programs air a special Christmas show on the 25th and this year the blockbusters included Eastenders, Strictly Come Dancing, Doctor Who, and my personal favorite Downton Abbey. Remakes of Charles Dickens classics dot the holiday season as well to mark the upcoming 200th anniversary of his birth in 2012.  We opened gifts and there were even a few under the tree for me including the new Claire Tomalin biography of Dickens which I had nearly bought a few days before. It warmed my heart more than I can say to have been including in the gift giving because I honestly had not expected to be at all. I had already been invited into their home for the holidays and considered that present enough and was overwhelmed by their continuing generosity towards a person that they barely even knew. 

The Pooleys (minus Liz) and I having the big dinner

lounging after presents

Rachel's favorite present, a crocodile hand puppet :)

The 26th of December is a bank holiday in Britain and is labelled Boxing Day. We took the traditional Boxing day walk in a beautifully quaint Kentish village called Shoreham a few miles away from Dartford. The countryside was green and lush and the air was filled with mist and fog. It was in the 50s on Boxing day and for the first time in my entire life I was able to go for a long country walk in late December without a jacket on and was still warm. I was in heaven. Boxing day called for round two of the heavy eating and I once again packed my stomach full of turkey, stuffing, etc. Every meal finished with dessert and Simon remarked that I wasn't allowed to leave without putting on two stone  (which is about 28 pounds); I don't think I quite managed that but I know that I left with at least a few extra pounds gained. Boxing day was another rather lazy day spent playing games, resting, and watching Christmas tv. I left the morning of the 27th with a bag full of Liz's homemade raspberry jam and a tin of mince pies (another holiday tradition, they are mini pies filled with dried fruit and a sort of mulled wine flavored orange and cranberry sauce) and thoroughly disheartened at having to leave so soon. They days flew by but it was time to go back home and prepare for the impending arrival of Rachel McLean from America. I won't see Rachel Pooley again until January 8th and I am already sad at having to be without her for so long. She and Nikki keep my days interesting and vibrant and life is never quite as good when they are not around. 

My first English Christmas was a gift in and of itself; I've been waiting to have one for many years and I was not disappointed. If anything my time in Dartford strengthened my already overflowing love for Great Britain and her culture and I find that I love living here even more than I could have before. It is such a pleasure to be invited to learn about a culture through the eyes of its people and I love to learn about anything and everything to do with Britain. I hope that through this post I have given at least a slight taste of what Christmas is like here in England; it is a magical time and all I can say is that the British know how to celebrate the holidays! I thought Americans knew how to gorge over the holidays but we can't hold a candle to the Brits! They know how to do holidays properly.