One thing I noticed last year was that the Brits love Christmas. And notice I wrote "Christmas," not "the holidays" or "this festive season."
Despite the fact that less than 10 percent of Britons regularly attend church, the country is still culturally tied to its religious heritage, even as minority religions like Islam and Hinduism rapidly increase along with the immigrant population. It was a British monarch who invented Protestantism, after all, even if Henry VIII had less-than-pious reasons for doing so. It's a land where Christian presentations are welcomed and even encouraged in most state schools, and where one of the year's biggest holidays, the 5th of November (or Bonfire Night), came about because of religious tensions, albeit religious tensions deeply intertwined with politics. Therefore the British aren't at all shy about wishing one another a hearty "Merry Christmas!" at the shop or referring blithely to their children's "upcoming Christmas holidays." There's none of that Happy Holidays or Winter Break business here.
Although I am a Christian who celebrates Christmas instead of one of the other winter holidays, I was a bit taken aback last year when I first experienced these full-on Christmas celebrations. The Christmas preparations actually start in early autumn, when pubs and restaurants begin advertising their premises as places to host the office Christmas party. I clearly remember taking a bus trip to the Peak District with two friends on Nov. 3, 2007, and how one of them whiled away the hours by asking, "So, what is your favorite Christmas tradition?" As it happened, I spent last Christmas with my family in Arizona and the New Year in Chicago, where I was in a friend's wedding. This year, however, I'm spending Christmas Eve and Day with my "English family" before heading off to visit friends in Northamptonshire, London and possibly even Cambridge the rest of the holiday.
This year I was more prepared, and I am happy to embrace the Christmas spirit that seems to have danced right off the pages of a Dickens novel. Allright, I thought it a bit ridiculous when the hardware/drug store Wilkinson's started playing the National British Christmas Anthem "All I Want for Christmas is You," by Mariah Carey (I'm telling you, they adore this song with a burning passion), on Nov. 1. And that was the same week they hung the Christmas lights in Nottingham's Market Square, but I guess since that was when Starbucks started offering their Christmas drinks specials that it was all justified, really. However, I've found myself throughly in the Christmas spirit already. After doing my expat duty by tucking into two Thanksgiving dinners, I was ready to play the Chrismtas music, think about shopping, and visit the very charming German Christkindel market in Market Square, which isn't quite as slick as Chicago's version but seems to have more real Germans in attendance.
The festive spirit has been flowing more and more freely around Trent Vineyard, the Nottingham church I serve at, this week, and it's all culminating into an apex of Christmas joy right about now. That's because a dedicated crew of about 50 has spent two days transforming our main meeting area/auditorium into a winter wonderland in preparation for this evening's annual Christmas party.
700 people have bought tickets for the big event, which features a hog roast, bar, live soul/funk band, games, dancing and festive fun. For days my friends Jen and Ruth, who are running the affair, have been making elaborate paper snowflakes to hang from the ceiling, and this morning a group of 10 spent over an hour stacking hundreds of mini chocolate yule logs and tiny mince pies on platters. Right now I'm sitting at my desk working on plans for next week's trip to Istanbul so I can't join in the decorating fun, but frequent snatches of Christmas music waft in each time a friend opens the door to pay a visit (and when she stays to exclaim in girly fashion over the party dress I hung up next to me as the sole man in the office rolls his eyes). One of our senior pastors just excitedly ran a power cord through the office window near me to an outlet (called a socket here) and attached the other end to the fake snow machine just outside the window. Those of us actually inside the office are having fun playing God by turning the machine on and off at random.
Tomorrow night I'm running an American-style bachelorette party for my housemate and "English sister" Julia, who's having a Christmas wedding, and then on Sunday it's the church's two carol services, with an expected attendance of about 1,600. This is all marvelous fun, but the thing I don't really understand is why it's all happening so soon. It's only the beginning of December, for crying out loud. There are still 20 whole days until Christmas! What are we going to do the rest of the month?
But that's just the American Grinch in me talking, and he's fast being swallowed up by the reborn character of the very-English Mr. Scrooge. Just give me a few days, and I'll be running out onto the street beaming at passersby and shouting, "Merry Christmas, dustman! Merry Christmas, noisy bus driver! Merry Christmas, drunk university student! Merry Christmas, little old lady in a plaid skirt! It's Christmas! Merry Christmas, everyone!"
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