Jackie hi welcome to Anglatopia's third podcast the the Christmas special yeah so we're Jonathan gonna take a break from talking about our trip from a few months ago and focus on British Christmas and yeah our experiences with it and what we love about it and how you can introduce some British Christmasy things to your own Jackie Christmas. Yeah, we're really excited. I think British Christmas is, we've been all different times of year, but I think that British Christmas is probably our favorite time of year to go. Jonathan Yes, we visited at Christmas time back in 2013. We were back in earlier in 2013. We were sitting on the couch and we were commiserating about the stress of the holiday season and not looking forward to the Christmas rat race, I guess. Speaker 3 And we thought, maybe we want to do something a little different. Jonathan And so I thought, well, why don't we go to England and spend Christmas there? Jackie With a two-year-old and a six-month-old. With a two-year-old and a six-month-old. Because we were insane. Yeah. Jonathan And so we wanted to have a quintessential British Christmas. And this was actually, I think, the longest trip we've ever taken. It ended up being probably the biggest trip we've ever taken in Nagletopia's history. We really wanted to spend Christmas in a cottage in the countryside. That's kind of what we wanted to do. So we got in touch with our friends who own Up Down Cottage, which is the cottage on Gold Hill in Shaftesbury Dorset that we try to visit whenever we can because it's our most favorite place. And that was open for Christmas, which usually wasn't. Jackie And let me just interject. If you ever get a chance to stay here for Christmas, it is an experience. I've never had a Christmas like it. Jonathan And we'll get to that. Jackie Yeah, we will. But I'm just saying, like, we'll put a link to the cottage. But if you ever get the chance. Jonathan owners Jane and Simon will they go all out to make it a special Christmas for the people who stay there at Christmas time they do so yeah it was available so we booked it and then I'm not gonna talk about the whole trip it's we've written about it ad nauseum before we even wrote a couple features for the magazine about it so but what the first week we were in London so we kind of had Christmas in London which was fun and then a few days before Christmas we went to Shaftesbury and that's where we stayed for like the next two and a half weeks. Speaker 3 It was great. Jonathan Yeah. So we were in British Christmas Wonderland for the whole holiday season and it was wonderful. Jackie Yeah, definitely. So why don't we dive kind of right into the nitty gritty of British Christmas? What is your favorite thing about British Christmas that is different from here? Jonathan I would say, like, we get a lot of our Christmas traditions from British culture. And so there's a lot that's the same. A lot of it came over with that Victorian resurrection of the Christmas thing from A Christmas Carol and all that. But I would say what I love most is the slight differences. I'd say my biggest thing that I like about it is that in Britain, the holiday season is a holiday season. There's, I've done a lot of business with British companies over the years, and most British companies shut down, like, the few days before Christmas, and then they don't reopen until after New Year's. People have time off. It's like... Jackie You're supposed to spend it with your family and friends. Jonathan You're supposed to spend it with your family and friends and go do things and go out and have adventures and go visit castles and stately homes and walk in the countryside. This is the seaside. Speaker 3 That's one thing that really surprised us when we did visit is as long as you have good weather, Jonathan and you can have really good weather in December in Britain, because Britain stays as much milder winters as we're used to here in the Midwest and the U.S. Granted, a hurricane hit Britain while we were there, but that's a whole other story. But so there's opportunity to do things. There's opportunity to have wholesome family experiences. Whereas here in the U.S., like on December 26th, you go back to work. Speaker 3 Yeah. Jonathan If you're... Speaker 3 It's like put away the Christmas tree. Jonathan Most people go back to work and then they work until New Year's Eve and then they're back, you know... Speaker 3 Well, you're off New Year's Day. You get off New Year's Day and then you're back the day after New Year's. Jonathan And like, so it's very much like you get a day off, but that's it. And so the entire country here runs around that schedule. People have Christmas, there's a day off, and then they go back to work. Speaker 3 And then it's, you know, in a lot of offices it's a lot quieter and a lot more low key. Jonathan But, you know, the focus is that the British appreciate that the most important things in life are family and friends. and enjoying your life and they really do it at Christmas at gusto. And a lot of places will shut down for Christmas and their employees will just have the time off. And it doesn't even count towards their allocated time off. It's just the office is closed, nobody's working, so what? Granted, there are exceptions to this. I mean, you go to a tourist attraction, there will be people working. The shops will be open. Speaker 3 Sometimes. Jonathan Sometimes. That's another thing. Speaker 3 Learning experience. That's a whole or an experience. Jonathan Retail hours during the holidays can be tricky, especially when you're not from there and you need food. But for the most part, there's a different conception of what the holiday season is supposed to be. And to me, that's what I love about British Christmas. So like, you know, it's just, you know, there you've got people are usually done with work a couple of days before Christmas Eve. They're off for Christmas Eve. They're off for Christmas Day. Boxing Day is a national holiday. Jackie Boxing Day lunch. Yeah, so Boxing Day is off. Jonathan Then people are usually off between Christmas and New Year's, and then New Year's Day is a holiday. And I'm getting emails from some British companies. They're like, we're not going to be back until January 8th. I'm like, that's great. That's great for you guys. We still have to work. Even though ACS has small business owners, we still have to work during the Christmas holiday season. So that's the long answer to your question. That's what I love about the holiday season in Britain is how long it is and how relaxed it is. And it allows you to focus on the meaningful aspects of what Christmas is supposed to be. Jackie Yeah, I think that was a big shock for us the first time we went over for Christmas because we had never, you know, we were both born and raised here in the States. And in a lot of ways, Christmas feels like an inconvenience. Jonathan Especially when it's in the middle of the work week like it is this year. Jackie Yeah, it falls on a Tuesday this year. That's a little rough, I won't lie. It feels like everybody's just kind of in a funk because it falls on a Tuesday, you know, trying to finish the work week today or tomorrow, depending on, you know, what your office allows. And then, you know, right back to work, you know, day after Christmas. It's an adjustment for sure. But I think my favorite thing about British Christmas is the food. I know that sounds like a really weird thing, but so many of my own traditions revolve around food. And the first time we went and experienced a British Christmas was the first time I had an actual mince pie. It was the first time I had mulled wine. It was the first time I had a Boxing Day lunch. I was introduced to pickle. And for those of you who don't know what pickle is, it's not an actual pickle. It's like a fermented, almost like a fermented chutney. It goes on pork pie. You can actually eat it on a lot of things, but it's absolutely delicious. And so there's a lot of those traditions that we've brought home with us that now have become part of our Christmas. And we just, you know, we, and we're always expanding. We're always expanding and finding new ways to bring Christmas traditions home. Like we do Christmas crackers. We've done Christmas crackers for years. And those are, they're kind of like these, I don't know, how would you describe a Christmas cracker? It's kind of like a firework, but not a firework. And it's got a goodie inside of it and a crown. Jonathan And a joke. Jackie Usually a really corny joke. It's, you know, you do it. A little gift. Speaker 3 crack them at dinner and it's meant to be a fun conversation piece it is um i would say the food Jonathan would be second for me there's just so much here here like our traditional christmas foods would be like a ham like i hate ham so like it's my least favorite of the holiday meals because i don't like it um the british favorite british food is probably like normally i dislike turkey at thanksgiving and for the british turkey at christmas is the normal meal it's either turkey or goose or uh to some extent christmas or a beef roast so i'm not a huge fan of turkey but at christmas and it's cooked right mostly by her it's delicious so like i think so there's that um And then there's Boxing Day Lunch, which is like Sunday roast on steroids. And that's just an excuse to either go down the pub and have a nice Sunday roast on Boxing Day or visit friends and have a Sunday roast at their house. And when we went in 2013, our friends in Shaftesbury invited us for their Sunday roast or for their Boxing Day Lunch, and it was a lovely experience. Jackie It was a great experience. It was our first Boxing Day Lunch ever. And what I liked about it, and I don't know if it's the same for everybody, but especially because we had two small kids with us, it was just kind of low-key. It was like, we have something called Friendsgiving here in the U.S. where you have like formal Thanksgiving with your family. And it's, you know, aunts and uncles and that kind of thing. And it's, I mean, every family does it differently. but you have something called Friendsgiving as well, which is usually a get-together with friends, and it's usually a little more low-key, and it's fun. And not to say that time with family isn't fun. It is. It's just different. And so I think the Boxing Day lunch that we did kind of reminded me of Friendsgiving a little bit in that it was just low-key. They were super accommodating with us having small kids. Tried so many delicious foods for the first time. really funny kind of anecdote about that is, so I mentioned pickle. So I had made a turkey for Christmas Day, and we had delicious leftovers, and we went to Boxing Day lunch at our friend's house, and then like later that evening around like eight or nine o'clock, I was like I was peckish, and so I can't remember if, I think they sent me home with like a jar from their cupboard, of just Brangston's pickle. And I reheated some of the turkey and made, like, a frozen side dish of, like, macaroni and cheese and put some pickle on the turkey. And, like, I sent them a picture, and I'm like, look, I'm eating pickle! And I think that they were like, well, that's a really interesting combination there, but it's delicious. I love pickle. What can I say? But, yeah. so Jonathan I would say my next favorite thing about British Christmas is the British TV yeah oh my gosh there's so Jackie much good British TV Jonathan here in the US at Christmas time all that's on TV is reruns Speaker 3 yeah everybody takes a hiatus Jonathan all the TV production shows they go on hiatus but in Britain Christmas time is like when the BBC and ITV and them will like showcase the best dramas of the year you know the Doctor Who special usually airs on Christmas this year it's going to be New Year's that's a big change but Jackie Call the Midwife Call the Midwife will be there Jonathan it's not as good anymore as it used to be Jackie oh I disagree Jonathan you know the they'll premiere their showcase drama the new year like this year they have a new Les Miserables coming out Jackie that's supposed to be six parts cannot wait Jonathan non-musical however and um yeah they the yeah it's just there's a wide variety of great british tv at christmas and then there's you know the stuff they show all every christmas the the classic british christmas specials like black adder's christmas special where he does a where he plays a reverse ebony's Jackie or scourge and oh and then there's mr bean's christmas special which yeah it's not christmas Jonathan We haven't watched that this year. Jackie No, we haven't. It's not Christmas without... I love the scene where he goes around with the collection kettle where the band is playing in the square, and he catches the boy who is pickpocketing and makes him put the wallet in the kettle. I think it's really funny. Jonathan Yeah, so lots of classic British shows, and I should have made a list before we started the podcast. And sometimes the Christmas specials aren't even very Christmassy, but it's become a tradition where they show great TV at Christmas time. So that was something I loved when we were there. I actually had our friend send us the Radio Times Christmas WSU before we left. And that's a big, massive magazine that has the entire schedule for the entire Christmas season. And it's tradition to go through and circle the things you want to make sure you watch. and yeah when we when we went i did the same thing and we we there was so much good british tv and then we were introduced to new traditions too like um while we were there i kept hearing this song and like it's a very emotive song and i kept hearing instrumental versions of the song i kept hearing the sung version of the song i kept hearing a little boy sing the song i kept hearing a grown man sing the song i kept hearing this song everywhere i never heard it before because a Christmas song here. The Christmas music here is like the top 40 which is you know Mariah Carey down to to you know songs from White Christmas and whatnot like it's not it's this song is a very British song and I never heard it before and it's called Walking in the Air and it's from a cartoon called The Snowman and I've never seen The Snowman either and so we planned our kind of trip around seeing the snowman for the first time and it's it's based on a book by Raymond Briggs which is a it's a illustrated book but there's no words in it and it's just a visual story about a little boy and a snowman who magically comes to life on Christmas and it was made into a an animated short about half an hour long by Channel 4 in the 80s and it like immediately became an iconic part the British holiday season, mostly because of the song that takes place in the middle called Walking in the Air, where the little boy and the snowman take off and fly through the English countryside at Christmas time. And it's a very nostalgic song, and it evokes emotions of childhood wonderment at Christmas. And I remember when I watched it for the first time and saw the song, I actually wept a little bit, and I don't weep. Speaker 3 No. It was very moving. Jonathan And so that was one of the highlights of the trip was discovering that. And then you hear the song everywhere. And you hear it everywhere because it's the little boy who sang the song became very famous. And he's a famous singer. He's now a presenter on Classic FM. And it's just a great song. So look up on YouTube, The Snowman. We'll link to it in the show notes. It's pretty easy to find. And it's great. It's become a beloved part of our holiday traditions. We've already watched it twice. Jackie Yeah, we do what? You know, we have stuff like that here too. You know, Charlie Brown and Rudolph. Jonathan Again, yeah, those are very American. Jackie They are. And so it was really neat to discover something different. And believe it or not, I actually heard a version of it on the radio the other day. Speaker 3 Really? Jackie I did. It was kind of like a pop version of it. I don't know who did it. It was very different. It wasn't like the traditional version of it, but it was somebody who had done a Christmas CD and put it on there, and I thought it was really interesting to hear it. I was like, oh, I know what that is. So, yeah. Jonathan So, it's, yeah, so definitely check out The Snowman if you can. One thing we don't have, we don't have a copy of the book. Why don't we have a copy of the book? Jackie I don't know. Jonathan We should, because we have this other graphic novel, Ethel Ernest. Jackie Oh, favorite. Jonathan highly recommend Jackie Ethel and Ernest Jonathan it was made into an animated film Jackie two or three Christmases Jonathan two or three Christmases ago and it's about an old couple not an old couple, not old in the show but Ethel and Ernest, it's about Raymond Briggs he wrote he drew and wrote the story of his parents' love story and their romance and growing up in World War II Speaker 3 and everything and it's such a lovely Jonathan quintessentially British story and lovingly animated and i don't know it hasn't aired here but i highly recommend finding it Jackie or at least getting the graphic novel we'll see if we can also put it if we don't find it we'll Jonathan put it in the show notes i've got the book somewhere in here in the library in here it's such a lovely story and it really evokes a lot of the things that i love about british history Jackie and culture and it's it's good so highly recommend that yeah i think um kind of not completely changing the subject but just um one of the things that really struck me about um the difference between british christmas and american christmas is the christmas tree itself have you ever noticed i'm like an american tree is like a very full like cone shape um whereas a British tree is more like branchy like they're not like full like a mirror but they're so Jonathan beautiful I think it comes down just to different kind of trees they have there yeah I agree but Jackie um our very first British Christmas tree was in up down cottage it was really amazing to um yeah Jonathan I guess we get it's a good time to talk about the preparations they made for us because we you know we we we explained to them that we wanted to have a little British Christmas and And they do this for all the guests who stay at Christmas, but I think they went above and beyond for us. Speaker 3 Absolutely. Because they're our good friends. Jonathan Because they brought in the tree, they decorated the tree, put lights on it. They decorated the rest of the cottage with wreaths and whatnot. Jackie It was beautiful. Jonathan They provided presents for all of us, which was so thoughtful. Speaker 3 It was. And lovely. Jonathan And they put a lot of thought into the presents, too. I treasure my gift, which is a customized ordnance survey map from Up Down Cottage. Jackie Yeah. Jonathan That was, that's great. So I have a feeling. Jackie I still have my scarf? Jonathan You had something to do with that. Jackie No, I really didn't. Jonathan They didn't ask you? Jackie No, I don't, I don't think so. I don't remember. Maybe. Jonathan I think you said they did ask you about it. Jackie Oh, maybe they may have. I don't know. It's a haze of like new baby time still. Jonathan I mean, it was five years ago. Jackie Yeah. Jonathan So, but yeah, so they, they really went all out to make a nicely decorated cottage for us for Christmas. And so then, you know, so that way when we showed up, we didn't have to do anything like to decorate for Christmas. We had to wrap presents, but you know. Jackie Yeah. We went down to Southampton. They have a. Jonathan We went to a couple of places. We went to the new mall Westfield and that's. Jackie In London. In West London. And picked up some Christmas presents. Picked up some Christmas presents. Jonathan But we didn't want to pick up too much because we had to get it all home. Jackie So we kind of it was definitely our most pared down Christmas. Well, and the trip was a gift to all of us. Yeah. And like traveling with small children, the amount of gear that we brought with was just like we rented. never again. Yeah, right? We rented an Audi station wagon and we literally, we just, I mean, we filled the trunk. I mean, there was just, this thing was so packed. Yeah, it wasn't big enough and it was a station wagon. I know, that's crazy to me, but you live, you learn Jonathan kind of thing. Yeah, and then we went to Southampton. Yeah, that was a great day. Why were we there? Jackie We went to Southampton to finish our Christmas shopping. Jonathan Okay. Because we didn't go to the Apple store. We took the computer to Bath. Jackie Bath. Jonathan Yeah, that's another story. Little William, who's now seven years old, who was two years old then. Jackie Also known as Anglotopia Jr. Jonathan Yes, Anglotopia Jr. He spilled a cup of tea on my keyboard. Jackie On our laptop. Jonathan On my very expensive laptop. Jackie And when you travel, that's our business. Jonathan Yeah, I was literally running Anglotopia from that laptop. and the the tea fried the keyboard and like it was a disaster yeah and you know what's funny about Jackie that is you were talking about um how everything kind of closes down between christmas and new year so that presented a problem um and so like john took the computer into bath and like explained the situation and they told him they were they were amazing great customer service they said oh Jonathan we'll do a really quick turnaround service for you i think we got it back the day before new year's Jackie Yeah, I called, and I was just, which I always feel really weird as an American, whether I'm there or here, calling somebody British on the other, and I always feel like they don't expect to hear my accent. And so, but they were amazing. They worked really hard to get it back in time, and they did, and that was great. Jonathan Yeah, and then that computer had a British keyboard from then on, and believe it or not, British keyboards are different despite speaking the same language. The keys are slightly different, so that was fun. Speaker 3 Yeah. Jonathan I had to learn a new keyboard. Speaker 3 Yeah. But anyway. It was definitely interesting. Yeah. Jonathan So, yeah. We did a little bit of Christmas shopping. We wrapped presents. Put them under the tree. You know. We tried to keep up the show of Santa having to come. And we explained to the kids that Santa knew we were leaving. So he knew where to find us. Jackie But Will was too. I mean. Jonathan Yeah. Jackie Mabel was only interested in her own hands. But she sat up for the first time all by herself in that cottage. Jonathan She also transitioned to that wake-up phase where the baby's suddenly aware of things. Jackie Yeah, she went from, you know, just kind of... Jonathan Just being a ball of flesh to being aware of our surroundings. Jackie Yeah, yeah, it was, that was really cool. Jonathan Yeah, now she's five. Jackie Yeah, what is her nickname? Jonathan Ms. Anglotopia. Jackie Ms. Anglotopia, yes. Jonathan Yeah, and then, so after the decorations were sorted, the presents were sorted, we had to sort Christmas dinner. Jackie Yeah, that was really neat. Jonathan Yeah, so we got a line on a butcher nearby, and we were told, it was recommended to us by the cottage owners that we have to order our bird in advance. Jackie Yeah, that's something like, you could go find that anywhere in a kitchen store here. Like, that's not a thing. Jonathan So we got in touch with a butcher nearby Shaftsbury, we ordered our bird, and, you know, here in America, the turkeys are gigantic yeah i mean they're they're so gigantic they practically have diabetes themselves oh my god they're just they're gigantic turkeys and even if you get a small turkey it's gigantic to the british the turkeys are not gigantic they're they're much they're like large chickens or like a goose they're very they're still big but they're not they're not obese like a turkey is here. All I could think is a turkey my dad had that could barely walk. Jackie Like delicious, delicious turkey. Jonathan Is your mouth watering over there? Jackie Yeah, it makes me think of the movie A Christmas Story. No turkey cacciatore, no turkey hash. Yummy turkey. Jonathan So we ordered a turkey and it was a fairly large bird. It's only the four of us. Jackie Yeah, and Mabel wasn't eating solids yet. Jonathan you know yeah so we we also conveniently he's a butcher we're gonna need meat while we were there and the stores were gonna be closed so we ordered a bunch of meat from him yeah we ordered bacon we ordered bacon and british bacon ordered uh some steaks i think we ordered a chicken as well and the that the best part of that was he delivered it to the cottage like we didn't Jackie have to go get it yeah which was like and then the funniest part of the whole story i think is we had driven in to to shaftsbury in in the station wagon that i mentioned earlier and apparently we had driven like right past the turkey farm and he was like we were talking about like where his farm was just kind of making small talk as he delivered the turkey and he was like oh yeah you went right past my farm in fact he went right past this bird like two days ago when i was like Jonathan wait what yeah it was literally a farm fresh bird yeah and after you worked your magic on it on Jackie Christmas Day it was bloody delicious oh watch your mouth now it's the best turkey you've ever made oh thanks that that was like oh we had our first yule log too like I I that I think even though we were there and and I may try to recreate a British like a British dinner or Christmas dinner I think it was still very American. I would say the dinners we have now are probably more British, just because I've learned so much more. But one of the things that we were introduced to was a Yule log. And you will find them everywhere. It's like a cake or what I would call a Swiss roll. And you eat it after dinner and it's delicious. It's so good. Jonathan yeah so I'm sorry that screaming noise is not anything we're keeping trapped in the basement it's our water filtration system recycling yeah I doubt it caught it but if it did that's what that noise is it's a very sensitive microphone yeah Jackie yeah so then yeah well we had the time that we spent there and then like there so many great British Christmas things like there's great British Christmas movies like love actually yes I think we watched it before we left on the trip Jonathan and we watch that every year at least twice yeah although we haven't watched Jackie this year we've got a lot going on this year it's been a tough Christmas season we haven't gotten to it yet yeah but yeah and then the holiday we watched the Jonathan holiday last night we didn't finish it though no i fell asleep i was busy making mince pies all day Jackie yesterday so delicious delicious mince pies um i actually made a video yesterday on how to make mince pies and so um let's go out before the podcast it will it will i'm gonna put it up today and um put a link to it in the notes and so i have to say they smell so good sitting here like it is taking every bit of self-control i have not to like dive in and like but i don't want to chew into the microphone my mouth is literally watering thinking about these delicious mincemeat pies Jonathan but yeah yeah so yeah british movies british specials um like we already talked about the music with walking in the air there's but that's that's there's more music to talk about there's Speaker 3 Tons of British Christmas music. Jonathan Their Christmas music is more based on traditional carols more than it is here, and their carols are different. So we learned a lot of different British Christmas carols that we really liked. If you want a good survey of what those sound like, watch Carols from Kings. Jackie I was just going to say. Jonathan Which is aired every Christmas Eve, I think, in Britain. you can watch it now on BritBox with the British TV streaming service. They usually have it. And it's the Christmas service and choir from King's College in Cambridge. And they cover the gamut of British Christmas carols. And they're really good. I love English choral music so it's good. I highly recommend that. What are some great Jackie things that you think that people can do to just bring British Christmas traditions to their own family? Jonathan okay uh i would say get christmas crackers yeah i found those at target yeah they're pretty easy to find here in the u.s now um costco has them uh cost plus world market will have um target had Jackie them yeah they're easy well and your local british import store will probably have have them or know Jonathan where to get them i think 38 states in the u.s have at least one british import store in them according to our stats. Speaker 3 Yeah, we do have a list, too. We have a list on the site, which we'll link to in the show notes. Yep, so you can get all of your British. Jackie Yeah, that's actually a great place to go Jonathan if you want to stock up on British stuff for Christmas. Jackie Ooh, like Stilton. Jonathan Oh, yeah, I get some British cheese and some... Jackie Listen to us. I think we're going to have to have lunch after this. Jonathan Make some mulled wine. So, yeah, buy crackers. Jackie Make some mince pies. Or buy some. Jonathan mince pies or you can buy them you can buy the most like the main brand british like walkers walkers who does the shortbread they yeah they do mince pies you can get them they're pretty good Jackie i mean they're not they're not homemade but you can get them on amazon yeah they work i mean it Jonathan works in a jam there's also british corner shop oh yeah uh the big online supermarket that ships worldwide pretty reasonably too they'll have all the they'll have everything from christmas putting the mince pies to any British food you would want. So find some British foods to bring in. If you're going to do a traditional Christmas dinner, British Christmas dinner, have Yorkshire puds. Jackie Yummy. Jonathan Those are so good. Jackie The trick is not to open the oven once you put them in, I've learned, and to let your batter rest before it goes into the oven. Jonathan And I would say ditch a ham and do like a turkey or do a roast, a beef roast. Watch some British Christmas specials. I'd stick to the Christmassy ones rather than the ones that have aired at Christmas. So Mr. Bean, the Black Eyed or Christmas special, the Snowman. Jackie The Queen's speech. She gives a speech every Christmas. Oh, yeah, we haven't talked about that. Jonathan Yeah, one of the traditions is started, I think, by her grandfather, George V. I may be wrong there. Royal watchers may correct me. But they started the tradition of every day or every Christmas day, the queen will give a speech. Speaker 3 It's very short. Jonathan It's apolitical. It's just really a message of greetings and joy. Speaker 3 Well wishes. Well wishes from the royal family to the British people. Jonathan And, you know, even though and even in the modern day, the British will stop and watch it. There's people joke that when they were growing up in the 50s and 60s, people would stand up when the cream was on TV for the for the Christmas speech. Jackie What a market of respect. Yeah, people don't really do that now. Jonathan And they've they've adapted to the modern age. Like the speech airs on all the British TV networks. They put it on YouTube now and you can watch it on Brit Box. And it's pretty easy to find. ABC America usually airs it too. It's always on at 3 p.m. on Christmas Day, 3 p.m. British time. So that's 9 a.m. U.S. Central time or 10 a.m. U.S. Eastern time, 11 a.m. Mountain time. Jackie No, no, no. Jonathan 8 a.m. Mountain time. Jackie 7 a.m. Pacific. Jonathan I am in L.A. time. Yeah, Pacific time. But you don't have to watch it when it airs here. It'll be on YouTube when it's done. Jackie But what's funny about that is, so back when we started Angletopia back in 2008, I can honestly tell you that every Christmas morning has literally stopped. Like, no matter where we are, what we're doing, like if we've been at family's house, or we've got the kids opening Christmas presents, like, everything stops for the Queen's Speech in our house. Jonathan And then I publish it on Angletopia. So we'll publish it as soon as it's up. Jackie Which is super cool, I think. Jonathan Yeah, and the message is always nice. I mean, our presidents do a Christmas speech too, but everyone likes to queen more than our political leaders. So it's a very nice apolitical thing to have on Christmas Day. Sometimes she'll talk about something specific. but at the end of the day it's just the queen saying merry christmas to the whole country and that's nice yes um and i'm sure it's you know it's it's a new tradition started when radio started but i think it's going to continue because it's it's nice um so yeah so christmas specials to bring into your british christmas um we have a list on the website of our favorite british tv Christmas specials so we'll be sure to link that in the show notes and I would say watch some British movies um there's you know the easy ones like uh uh Love Actually Love Actually um I like The Lion in Winter at Christmas because it's a takes place at Christmas and it's one of the best Catherine Hepburn movies for sure um there's we also have a list on the website we'll link to that yeah and then um uh deuce did we talk about bringing in british music yep we talked about british music and then um bring some traditions and then you don't have to you don't have to like make your whole american christmas british but no we like to bring in a Jackie little tiny little things here and there too we definitely have a good blend to blend it to to Jonathan you know my anglophilia is like the most important one of them is after wife and kids is like the most important thing in my life so I like to incorporate it into Jackie into the holiday celebrations because it's just nice well what's really cool about that too is so we we've kind of become the honorary hosts in the family we have a dining room big enough that we can accommodate the family and so last Last year, I did really a full British, British American, I guess. As British as I could do it here. A full British Christmas. Jonathan Brussels sprouts. Jackie Yeah, we served sprouts. And we did roast beef and Yorkshire puds. And red cabbage. And just, I mulled a bottle of wine. And we did Yorkshire puds. And, you know, we really just went all out. And what was really cool is our family seemed to really like it. Jonathan So we're going to do it again this year. It's just something a little different. And, you know, because Christmas can get pretty stale if it's always the same every year. Jackie Yeah, but I wanted to share that when I was in England in September at the end of the drive, we had one day in London. And one of the places that I always visit every time we go to London is Fortnum & Mason. I usually don't do my shopping at the brick and mortar store. I usually do it at the airport, duty free. Just a tip for you. But this time I did do it in the store. And I picked up some awesome goodies. I picked up, so I just want to show for those of you who are watching, this little bag, it's Christmas Mulled Wine Spice Bag. So I had mulled wine for the first time ever when we went to spend a Christmas there. And the only time you ever hear of mulled wine really is like at a Christmas market here or like they talk about it in a It's a Wonderful Life. I think, what is it? Clarence orders mulled wine, like light on the cinnamon or something like that, heavy on the cloves. Anyway, I went in and they had just put out all their Christmas stuff. you can you can do mulled wine here without a nicely made spice packet but it's a little harder to do and so I stopped one of the sales associates and just asked if they had any and he said oh well they're not out on the sales floor yet I think they might be in the back you'll have to come back later and I said well I would love to but I live in Chicago and so he stopped like the there was a line of people behind me waiting to talk to him and he was like, hold on, I'll be right back. And he came back out and he brought two of these spice packets out for me and he's like, they're technically not for sale yet, but since you're living in Chicago and you're here now. So I left absolutely thrilled with my little spice bags of mulled wine. Definitely enough for two pots of wine. And it's so easy to do mulled wine. I'll actually do a video in a day or two here about how to do it at home with a spice bag and without a spice bag. You just want a good fruity red wine. So it's really good. And then I'm so excited. So excited. I bought, if you can see on the video too, if you can't, that's fine. I'll just describe it. A figgy Christmas pudding. So we're going to do this for dessert. We've never served figgy pudding. Like I've never even had a figgy pudding. Have you? No. so um it's really funny like bringing this home um because this pudding probably weighs like eight pounds i'm not kidding like my luggage was eight pounds heavier from this pudding but i forgot to buy the brandy butter that's supposed to go on top so which what's funny is you always see on on bake off great british bake off they always have to make brandy butter and like it separates and I'm going to make brandy butter, which that could be really, really interesting. Jonathan And do our crackers? Jackie Sure. I don't know where mine went. Oh, okay. All right, so don't we traditionally, you kind of cross your hands, and here we go. One, two, three. Jonathan You hear that pop? That's the gunpowder. Jackie Yep. All right, let's see. Let's share our funny jokes. Oh, I got a little magnifying glass. That was my gift. Jonathan Oh, I got a luggage tag. Jackie Oh, hey. How fitting. Sorry for those of you who are listening only. The noise has got to be pretty awful. Jonathan I got a red paper crown. Jackie Oh, you got a red paper crown? All right. Oh, mine's green. Hey, look at that. We've seen them come in all different colors. That's the noise of the paper crowns. Let's see. How do I look? Beautiful. Oh, okay. Thank you. Jonathan Alright, here's my joke. Alright, what's your joke? What do you call just married spiders? Jackie I don't know what. Jonathan Newlywebs. Jackie Okay, here's mine. Jonathan Oh, and there's a charade, but we're not going to do charades. Jackie Which is also a very British Jonathan Yeah, it's a very British thing to do charades. Jackie Okay. Oh, hey. Listen to this. What has eight arms and tells the time. Jonathan I don't know what. Jackie A clocktopus. Jonathan Ha ha ha. Jackie How funny. Jonathan Why don't you hand me the book? Let me talk about the book. Jackie Yeah. Jonathan So a lot of British Christmas traditions Speaker 3 that Americans have adopted Jonathan actually come from the royal family in Britain during the Victorian age. And a lot of those actually came from Germany. So we got this great book a few weeks ago called A Royal Christmas, and it's put out by the Royal Collection Trust, and it's distributed here in the U.S. by the University of Chicago Press, and it's a great guide in history to the royal family at Christmas and the traditions that they started. Speaker 3 There's recipes in there. It's a gorgeous book. Jonathan There are traditions that a lot of regular British families adopted, filled with tons of great pictures, And it's just a wonderful trove of information about British Christmas. So if you wanted some ideas on how you can add some of the royal family celebrations to your own Christmas, I highly recommend this book. It's on Amazon. It's not that expensive either. Speaker 3 Yeah. Jonathan Well, why don't we finish up with each of us talking about our favorite memory from the time we went at British Christmas? Okay. You go first. Speaker 3 Or you want me to go first because I've been thinking about it. Okay, you go first. Okay, I'll go first. Jonathan So my favorite memory, besides all the stuff. Jackie All the stuff we did. Jonathan All the stuff we did would be Christmas Day. To give you some context, Christmas Day was rainy. Jackie It was chilly. Jonathan It wasn't that cold, but it was rainy and wet. Gold Hills were treacherous in the rain. But my favorite memory is when the church bells started keeling. because you don't really have that here because most churches don't have bells anymore. So like on Gold Hill, at the top of Gold Hill is the church, is the town church. And so we heard loud and clear as the bells started pealing for Christmas, and they just went on and on and on. Speaker 3 For Christmas morning. It was incredible. Jonathan It was incredible. And then there were several more churches in Shastbury, and then their bells started. So then you had this symphony of bells echoing through the English countryside. Jackie It felt like something out of a Charles Dickens Bible. Jonathan It was simply magical. Speaker 3 Yeah. Jonathan I'd say like it's a hackneyed phrase to use, but it was magical. And the only thing that would have made it better would be if there had been snow. But it was, you know, so we stood there with the door open and William came crawling out. And, you know, we listened to the bells peal and it was amazing. That was probably my top experience when we were there at Christmas. And, you know, it's been five years since we did that. I would love to do Christmas there again. So maybe we'll do that in the next few years. Jackie Yeah, I think the kids would really adore that. I think, I know I kind of sound like a broken record here, but really kind of, it was my first foray into cooking British Christmas food. I made, we call them devils on horseback. It's like a little sausage that... In a blanket? No, it wasn't in a blanket. It was wrapped in British bacon. and, like, I had never cooked something like that before, and, like... Jonathan A sausage wrapped in bacon. Jackie Yeah, it was... That sounds amazing. It's so good. It's so good. But what was really cool is, like, I went to the store to prepare for British Christmas, which, if you are going to spend a Christmas there, nothing will be open on Christmas Day. Very few things will be open on Christmas Eve. Like, you have to have your shopping done. Jonathan There will be limited shopping on Boxing Day, but... Jackie Exactly. So you've really got to have everything you need. But, like, I went and, like, bought British cheeses and stuff like that. So, like, we had, like, Christmas, like, appetizers before dinner. And so that was really cool. Like, even though, like, the sausages were, like, horribly burnt, they were still delicious. And there's just, like, I feel like there are so many traditions that we learned and things that we learned that Christmas season that have become staples in our household. Jonathan And I don't want us to sound like we know everything about British Christmas now. If we went again, we would learn a whole raft of new things, and that's what I love about. Jackie If we go again, let's host a Christmas party and invite our friends. Jonathan That's a good idea. Yeah, I think... Jackie Everybody's been so generous and has welcomed us to their table. Jonathan Yeah, I think that's a good idea. I think it's just a magical time to be there. I don't know. Jackie And we haven't even talked about how beautiful London is Jonathan with all the lights up everywhere. Jackie Oh my gosh. Jonathan Going into Hamleys to do some Christmas shopping or Covent Garden all decorated. Jackie Well, and that's the thing is that a lot of the sites in London that you would go see done up for Christmas are free. Jonathan Yeah. Jackie I mean, Oxford Street. Christmas markets. Jonathan And most of the major British cities will have a Christmas market. There's nothing more British than a German Christmas market. Jackie but you have to go you have to go and you have to get mulled wine and just it's beautiful yeah Jonathan so beautiful think of the if you're from the midwest think of the chris kindle market in chicago yeah the british did these markets first or after well the germans did them first yeah wait a minute the germans did it first but the most of the major british cities will have Jackie a christmas market glendon will have several yeah and you can ice skate um where do you go to ice Jonathan skate i can't remember the name of it there's dozens of places to go ice skating in london but Jackie the famous real famous one with the mansion in front of the mansion oh um longley oh no that's Jonathan not longley oh somerset house thank you yeah longley stone it's not a house it's a yeah it's somerset house but it's not a house but yeah you can ice skate there uh gorgeous just gorgeous there's yeah there's several like the natural history museum has an ice skating rink there's the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, which is... Jackie Like a Christmas carnival. Jonathan Yeah, it's basically a county fair in the center of London that has rides and markets. Speaker 3 But it's Christmas themed. Jonathan It's Christmas themed. I actually posted about it on our Instagram of the day, and people were like... People weren't very nice about it. We liked it, though. It was fun. Jackie Yeah, I mean, we were... We just happened to do a different trip another time where we went right after Christmas. Jonathan Yeah, it was last year. We arrived on the 29th. Jackie Yeah, and all of it was still up, and it was just, it was neat. Jonathan Yeah, so it was nice to get to kind of the tail end of the Christmas season. Speaker 3 Yeah. Jonathan And that's one of the things we love about going that time of year is it's an excuse to be inside and cozy with a fire burning and listening to music or reading or working on our writing. It's just such a nice time to do that. You don't have to feel like you're rushed to go anywhere or do anything. And it's just, you know, maybe that's why we love it so much because here it's rush, rush, rush. Kids in school and work and everything. So when we're there, we get to focus on experiencing Britishness, which is what we love so much about going there. Jackie There's nothing better than being like, it's a cold rainy afternoon and you can like tuck into a pub and they've got the fire going. And there's a Labrador somewhere sleeping on the stone floor. Jonathan Yeah. Jackie It's just, it's magical. Jonathan It's wonderful. And I think, I'm going to start looking at airfares. Speaker 3 No, you're not. I'm not kidding. Jonathan We're actually going to take some time off from traveling. But yeah, it's just, it's, it's wonderful. And I think it's safe to say that British Christmas and the holiday season and going at Christmas time probably encapsulates most of the things I love about British culture and history. Jackie It's a treasure trove. Jonathan It's a treasure trove. And it's just, I can't wait to go back. Jackie That's what they're going to put on your tombstone. Jonathan Yeah, right. Jackie That's funny. So, well, from us here at Inglotopia, we wish you all a very happy Christmas. Jonathan Happy Christmas. We didn't talk about that. They like to say happy Christmas is the traditional salutation at Christmas. A lot of people say Merry Christmas now. They don't really say Happy Holidays. Jackie Well, because they don't do Thanksgiving. Because they don't do Thanksgiving. Jonathan So they'll say Happy Christmas and Merry Christmas and then Happy New Year. And then it all comes to an end at Twelfth Night. That's the traditional night. The Christmas decorations come down. The 12th day of Christmas. Speaker 3 Yeah. Jonathan But I think we'll wrap it up there. Speaker 3 Yes. Jackie Happy Christmas. Have a happy Christmas. Jonathan And we will see you... Jackie Two weeks. Two weeks. So we're going to be off next week because of the holiday. And we'll be back after the new year. Jonathan All right. And we'll be talking about Scotland. Jackie Yes. I cannot wait. Oh, my gosh. So much fun. Jonathan So, all right. Jackie Thank you. Happy Christmas. Jonathan Happy Christmas. Продолжение следует... Продолжение следует...