11 British Christmas traditions that confuse foreigners

Hi everyone, it's me. If you're new here, my name is Alayna and I'm a Canadian, but I live here in the UK. And if you're not new here, hey, how's it going? You may know that I have now spent 10 Christmases in the UK as a foreigner. And I gotta say, the British Christmas traditions, they're something else. So grab a seat, get cozy, put your feet up. I have 11 British Christmas traditions that any foreigners watching might be a little bit surprised, but any British people watching will think is absolutely normal. If I've missed a very British Christmas tradition, leave a comment down below. Tell me what I missed. I need to know. And also, engagement. Leave a comment on this video. Oh my God, it would help me so much. It's like a free Christmas present. I think it's only right to start off with Christmas pantomimes. How do you even describe a British Christmas pantomime to someone who has no knowledge of the concept? How? It's like a very chaotic children's play, but it also is very much for adults as well. And everyone is screaming. This is something that I had never heard of in Canada. I've never seen anything in Canada. I don't even think in North America as a whole, we have any sort of equivalent. It's just like something that is so uniquely British and strange and wonderful and chaotic and funny and wholesome and risqué and strange. Have I said strange yet? But also wonderful. It is very much a theatrical contradiction for both children and adults, wholesome and risqué. It's just, there's nothing else like it. Number two, something I've noticed here in the UK is that the Brits have a very strong opinion on when the tree goes up. And no matter which date you choose to put your tree up, you are wrong. I get into trouble with this every year. If you want to annoy a British person, tell them you're going to put your tree up in November. They will act like you have killed their child. I know there are historical and religious connotations on when the tree is supposed to go up. Spoiler alert, I don't care. I think November in England is so dull and grey and miserable. And I've got this cute little tree that I could put up. I already have all the bits for it. I could put it up in November. I could put the lights on it. It's cozy and it's nice. I'm going to do it. Number three of British Christmas traditions, we have Christmas crackers. And very specifically, wearing the crown from the cracker. Whether you are posh or not posh, it is a rite of passage. I went to quite a fancy Christmas dinner one time. We're talking Waitrose products, do you know what I mean? And everybody pulled their Christmas cracker and everyone took turns sharing the little joke. And then everyone put on their crown. It's just, you have to. There's no question of it. You're going to wear the crown. We never had Christmas crackers at Christmas dinner in Canada. It was just not something that we did. And it's so fun here where it's not even a question. There are going to be crackers, you're going to pull them, you're going to wear the crown. Which Christmas carol is about an animal with three legs? Little wonky. And I don't know what this is. Number four, a very strange British Christmas tradition, obsession with adverts. But of course, the Christmas variety. This is something I have fully embraced. I refused to watch an advert the other day. I have Amazon Prime just for the deliveries. I don't really watch stuff on Amazon Prime, but I was on it for some reason. I think this was when I was ill a couple weeks ago. And I was looking for something to watch. I found something. I watched it, right? I watched it. Watched it for a couple of minutes. I pay for Amazon Prime. And then I get hit with three minutes of unskippable ads. I closed it. I didn't watch anymore. I refuse. But there's something about British Christmas adverts that are so fun to watch. There's so much effort that goes into them and planning and budget. And every year there are like standouts that I actually remember the following year. Like that is so strange to remember a commercial, an advert. It's crazy. I reacted to this year's Christmas adverts. That video got copyright blocked, unfortunately. So big rip. Don't earn anything from that one. But it was really fun to make anyway, so who cares? But in particular, there was an ad that was like decent. You know, I'm watching it. I'm making jokes and stuff. And it actually made me cry. And then when I was editing that video, I cried again. Like they are really well done. Not all of them. Most of them are very well done. Very interesting. Memorable. That you actually talk about with people. You remember them. The years as they go by. You know, what I'm trying to say. Previous. You remember the previous ones, which I couldn't tell you a single advert that I remember of the last like five years. I just, you don't, they're not memorable. Does that make sense? I feel like I've been talking about Christmas adverts for a long time. I just love them. I think they're great. You do not get this in Canada. You do not get this in America. It is just wonderful. Number five, we have Christmas jumpers. It doesn't matter where you come from, what kind of background, posh, un-posh, serious, funny, outgoing, introverted. Like if you work at a really strict office building or you work at the pub, like I just feel like everybody embraces the Christmas jumper and I love it. It's wholesome. It's cute. Some of them are really funny. Some of them are like actually gorgeous. I just love, it feels like no matter what kind of background or where in the country you come from or whatever, so many people get involved in the Christmas jumper and I love it. Whether you have like a day where everyone wears them at work or you have a Christmas work party and people wear them out or you're at the pub and everybody's wearing them or my mom was here last week. We have a little like early Christmas celebration together and we did lots of walking and every time we were out walking, we were, you know, local or in London, on the train, wherever, there was always somebody with a Christmas jumper. I just think it's great. Number six, a weird British Christmas tradition. Try saying that five times fast. Pigs in blankets, everything. Here in the UK, I feel like every year there's more and more, like the obsession with this flavor profile, just more and more. Obviously you have pigs in blankets, of course, absolutely wonderful, fantastic. I want them A+. But when they start hauling out like all of the other Christmas stuff, like the sweets and the crisps and it's just like everything is pigs in blankets flavor. Did you know that we have pigs in blankets in North America, spoiler alert, yes, but they look like this. Similar, not the same. So instead of the bacon, they're like wrapped in a pastry. To be honest, they're absolutely wonderful. I haven't had them in so, you know what, maybe I'll make them this year. I don't think I've ever actually made them. Normally, like in the supermarkets, you can buy packages of British pigs in blankets. You can, in North America, buy them like rolled up and stuff. Obviously you're not going to get them here, but maybe I make them because they're good in their own way, absolutely fab. But in North America, you're not going to get pigs in blankets flavored crisps. That is uniquely British. While we are talking about food, number seven is simply food choices. Now Christmas dinner in Canada, in America, in the UK, there's definitely some overlap, but they are not the same. There's a lot of interesting food choices around Christmas here in the UK, not just like Christmas dinner, but just like Christmas in general. Some of them I absolutely love, some I will hate until the day that I die. But whether I love them or hate them, some of the ones that stand out to me are parsnips, Yorkshire pudding, Brussels sprouts in any variety, bread sauce, Christmas pudding, not to be confused with Christmas cake, mince pies, custard, brandy butter, not to be confused with brandy cream. A very small selection of ones that I feel are uniquely British, whether you love them or hate them, they're special. Except parsnips. I hate parsnips. I don't understand people who like parsnips. Okay, it's come that time of the video where I'm starting to lose feeling in my legs. What number are we on? Eight. A British thing that is quite interesting that I'd never experienced back in Canada, and that is sending cards to everyone. I don't think I had ever sent a Christmas card in Canada. Not one. And the thought process is like, well, what's the point of sending my grandma a Christmas card when I'm going to see her at Christmas and give her presents? Why am I sending her a card? It makes no sense. But here I find in the UK, whether you are seeing that person at Christmas or not, you are still sending a Christmas card. And if you want to be quintessentially British, you're going to write really personal family information about your parents or your kids or yourself in these cards. It combines the British love of Christmas and gossip into one activity. Number nine, this is one that I hate. Okay, I'm going to say that. I hate it. People get upset when I talk about stuff and I'm like, I don't care. I hate it. And that's Christmas dinner at 2 p.m. I don't want it. Any time I am privileged enough to go to a British person's for Christmas, I'm very honored. I appreciate the invite. And it's at 2 p.m. And I'm like, honey, that's not dinner time. That's 2 p.m. So you have this massive, wonderful Christmas dinner at 2 p.m. And then you're like hanging out in the living room or whatever. And people are just like in a food coma. And you're drinking and you're having a little bit of chocolate. And you're so full, you feel like you're gonna throw up. You're trying to like hold conversation or maybe like play board games and that kind of stuff. But you're just like food coma time. But then by the time I get home, like nine o'clock, 10 o'clock, I'm hungry again. And it just totally throws me off. Maybe I'm just very sensitive when it comes to food. But when my partner and I do Christmas dinner, we do it the North American way. So when my mom was here last week, we had like a mini Christmas dinner and we ate at 6 p.m. Thank God. Number 10, a weird British Christmas tradition, preference, whatever you want to call it. People are very passionate about Christmas boxes. Growing up, we never had a box of chocolates at Christmas. I know. Oh my God, who is she? We just, we don't, we didn't have them. We didn't have just a box of chocolates out. And yet here, everyone's got a box of chocolates. And not only that, they are very particular of which box. Are you a quality street family? Perhaps heroes? Roses? Celebrations? I feel like every British home has a preference and everyone else is wrong. Number 11, we have watching the king's speech. I would say from what I've seen, maybe you've seen something different. Most people are not pro royal since the queen died. R.I.P. But even still, I feel like so many families make the effort and the time to sit down and watch the king's speech, which of course is something I had never done living in Canada. It feels like a British touchstone, no matter what your thoughts are on the royal family, on the queen or the king or whatever. I feel like people, whether royalists or not, take the time to watch the king's speech. Whatever you get up to, I hope you have a lovely Christmas. Because my mom was just here and we do like, we do open some presents, we do like Christmassy stuff, we have our little mini Christmas dinner. It kind of feels like Christmas is done for me, even though we are not there yet. But I hope you have a wonderful December, no matter what you get up to. If you're having a quiet Christmas this year, I usually live stream on Boxing Day on Twitch, twitch.tv forward slash adventures and apps. I live stream every Wednesday and Sunday night, no matter what. But I usually stream a little bit extra around Christmas. So if you don't have family to hang out with or you are avoiding your family because you don't want to hang out with them, join me on Twitch, it's free. Just saying, I'm always there anyway. If you like to watch something else, it would be so wonderful. How about my copyright claimed British Christmas adverts? It's not clickbait, I really did cry. But as always, thank you guys so much for watching and until next time, bye!