Hach End festive lights and jollity

 

Reindeer outside Sea Pebbles fish restaurant.

Commemorating Harrow becoming a London borough.

Izgara Restaurant has red, white and green, greenery, baubles and red and white candy canes, an idea making sticks of rock look like a shepherd's crook.

Sea Pebbles fish restaurant entertains with reindeer, blue white and gold baubles and greenery and hanging stars.

Tanna's pharmacy has a white Christmas tree on the door, and a white reindeer of the left window.

The Steak restaurant has lights on the trees by the board proclaiming the lunch offer.

Kiyoto Japanese restaurant has white snowflakes scattered across the windows.

Christmas Hats, Jumpers And Seasonal Jewellery For Travellers

 

Angela Lansbury, the author, wearing a Christmas jumper, brand F & F. Selfie Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Where To Buy Seasonal Outfits

You used to be able to buy Christmas themed knitted jumpers only from party shops and specialists. But nowadays supermarkets and chain stores have lots of seasonal jumpers, tee-shirts, and pyjamas, as well as socks, caps and jewellery. 

If you are travelling and can't pack buulky seasonal clothes, you can buy small items and travel with Santa hats and jewellery, such as ear-rings or brooches. Brooches which flash lights are in London's novelty and souvenir shops if you are out in town, downtown as the Americans say.. 

DIY Decorative Items To Wear

You can take headbands and childrens novelty head gear such as reindeer andlers and stick on flowers. You can cut pieces out of old birthday cards, spray them with glitter, and stick them onto hoop ear rings, or hang small novelty items such as cake toppings on hoop ear-rings.

Warmth While Travelling

I have worn my jumper to several events. It is warm for travelling, walking in windy streets even sitting at home at my desk. The alternative if you have only a tee-shirt is to wear several layers for outdoors when travelling, starting with a thermal vest, ending with a thick ski jacket.

My Jumper

Holly has prickly green leaves and red berries. The leaves and berries are still there in Christmas time in the UK.

Six set of holly designs have little red bobbles attached instead of the flat red knitting yarn berries.

This one, the label reminds me is from F and F. F & F is the brand of Tesco. 

On Christmas Day take photos of yourselves for next year's Christmas card. With Christmas trees and other displays.

I expect prices to come down on Christmas goods after Christmas Day. Time to stock up for next year.

Winter Celebrations Worldwide

 

UK

Turkey with stuffing.

Christmas cake

Christmas Carols

Christmas Crackers containing a paper hat and a riddle and usually a tiny toy or puzzle.

Christmas Pudding

Mince Pies

On Fridays a Toastasters International Club, Online Dynamic, meets to practice speeches. I gave a speech about winter festivals around the world. I also gave this in person at HOD the evening before.

Ice Skating on artificial Outdoor Rinks

Pantomime

Santa's Grotto in Department Stores

TV family films such as The Sound of Music and American movie Home Alone, a slapstick comedy about a child who beats a couple of bungling would-be burglars.

USA

Candy Cane. Red and swhite spirals of sugar, resembling a shepherd's crook. They recall the story of the shepherds who, as the Christmas carol goes, watched their flocks by night.

Plum pudding (like Christmas pudding) is available all year, although more prolifically at Christmas.

Turkey is eaten for Thanksgivingso most Americans don't want to eat it again at Christmas.

BELIZE

Used to be called British Honduras and still has British traditions with an added Central American flavour.

Christmas carols played by steel bands.

Fairy lights on palm trees. (The lights are not installed by cranes but by local agile young men who climb the tree, sometimes hanging upside down as a stunt to amuse and astonish passers-by. 

FRANCE

Yule logs cakes with chocolate topping, recalling the tree trunks chopped up for fires giving light and heat in winter before we had electric lights and heating..

GERMANY

Stollen - a cake or soft sweet bread with sultanans, shaped like a log, with a rod of yellow marzipan horizontally down the centre. 

Marzipan is ground almonds mixed with fine sugar, bound together by liquid such as egg white?

ITALY and Roman Catholic churches

Nativity scenes in churches.

Panettone, a large dome shaped soft sweet dough bread. Nowadays you can buy it not only with traditioal luurious cut dandied peel and sultanas, but, instead chocolate chips, and fillings ingredients and numerous flavours. 

Italians claim it comes from Northern Italy, specifically Milan, and a specific bakery.

SPAIN

Panettone, same as Italy.

Songs such as Feliz Navidad.

VENEZUELA

Panettone.