There are a few Christmas traditions that are very British, some new Spanish ones that we have discovered and some Green/Davies idiosyncrasies that we are passing down to our children...
Something old...
The Christmas tree, which we put up when we feel like but NEVER before December. We have a collection of Christmas decorations from Doha the Uk and some holiday destinations, such as Germany. We have a great wooden tree, a wedding present form the Samys, who had lived in Germany for years and whose house resembled a magical Christmas grotto every year...our house still doesn’t quite measure up, but we have received a fair few Christmas decorations as gifts this year, so we will get there...
Something new....
A few weeks ago, as we were getting ready for school, my seven year old son came into my bathroom naked (he had just woken up and was in the process of getting ready for school; evidently this new was too important to wait for getting dressed). He said “Mum, did you know that in Spain, on the 6th of January, the three kings come with presents too..” Cunning, cunning boy, so now we have the joys of Christmas day presents, my daughter’s birthday on the 28th December and the day of the three Kings on 6th January and more presents...we have to put some shoes on the balcony and the presents will be left there...so my son tells me.
Something Green/Davies...
For some bizarre reason (we’re not competitive honestly...) Steve and I have got into a habit of leaving the ridiculous Christmas hats on after Christmas dinner for as long as possible. The person left with the hat on is the winner. I have no recollection how or why this started, but every year one of us will wear the hat until the other concedes defeat. This year, the tradition was explained to Owain and he wore the hat all day and to bed. When Steve and I woke on Boxing Day, Owain came into the bedroom and said “Have either of you got your hat still on?” When we blearily replied “NO”, he yelled “ Yay, I’m the winner” and so a family tradition is born...
I hope you all enjoyed a very festive time; we had a very large bottle of cava with the neighbours last night and are feeling a little bleary...getting myself ready for Aoife’s birthday tomorrow...
