Christmas in Dixie, scratch - England

So, I had the amazing opportunity of spending Christmas in England, a bit outside of Birmingham close to Solihull. My friend Caroline invited me to spend Christmas Eve through Boxing Day with her family. When I arrived on Christmas Eve, she gave me an excellent tour of Birmingham which included lunch along the canals and a stop at Selfridge’s (hey, it’s the architectural highlight of Birmingham). The remainder and majority of the trip was filled with excellent food, drinks and conversation. So, what is an English Christmas like? As my Canadian friend Eunice suggested, “tell me what happens, if you sit around and read Dickens or what…” I was anxious to find out.

Firstly, the Christmas day food was amazing. We had a beautiful turkey, THREE kinds of stuffing, what seemed like a million vegetables, roasted potatoes and parsnips (am I dumb or is it American that I don’t know parsnips?). For dessert, we had homemade Christmas pudding, homemade chocolate bread and butter pudding, brandy butter and Christmas cake. I still don’t know if I agree with the whole mix a bunch of fruit together, throw on a bottle of alcohol and chuck it in the closet for three months idea, but it is supremely English. After stuffing ourselves, we chatted, played the Wii and watched TV (the Royle Family Christmas special (kind of like a British Roseanne – loved it!)). On Boxing Day, we grabbed our coats and scarves and headed to Broadway, a town in the Cotswolds (a scenic English country area) to watch the “hunt.” Traditionally in England, fox hunts take place on Boxing Day. Since banning fox hunting 2 or 3 years ago, people still gather and watch the horses and hounds as they hunt a fox scent. I thought it was great but it didn’t hurt that they walked around serving minced pies.

So that was my first English Christmas! No snow, no Dickens, but loads of fun and good food. Major thanks to the Wakelings and Smiths for including me. I attach a few pictures –(1) table setting for the Chrismtas meal (thanks to Caroline and myself). (2) a picture of Selfridge’s (told you it was an architectural highlight) and (3) a scene from the hunt.