Ah, so sweet! Hey, what is it with everyone today? Oh. This is the Happiness Thread I'll let you off. Just watched the Richard Curtis film 'Yesterday' about a struggling musician who comes round after an accident to find himself in a world that's never heard of the Beatles. It's brilliant
What the heck is that? Is it like a Christmas pagent, or are their a bunch of mimes doing Xmas things. If so, I hope they had alcohol.
Pantomimes are wonderful! I can't wait for this year's! Do you seriously not have pantos in America? They're plays, I suppose, in the loosest sense of the word. They're a fairytale, like Sleeping Beauty or Jack and the Beanstalk, and they're full of jokes, slapstick routines, and songs. The songs can vary based on the production, but in one panto I used to go to, they were current chart hits, in another I went to, they were current chart hits with the lyrics changed to fit the plot, and in the one I normally go to, they're Motown songs. Ours is a "Rock 'n' Roll Panto" which means that rather than having a band in the orchestra pit, the instruments are played by the characters, tucked away at the side and back of the stage. A character may come on, unacknowledged by the characters who are actually in the scene, to do a guitar or saxophone solo. There's always a "dame" - a man in drag - who's very flirtatious and usually fancies either the villain, the king, or both (depending on the gender of the villain) and ours always drags some poor male audience member up onto the stage and does a rather embarrassing comedy routine with him (she then flirts with him occasionally throughout the rest of the performance). There's lots of audience interaction, such as the famous "he's behind you!" (usually answered by "Don't be silly; no, he's not!") and back-and-forths like "Oh, no I'm not!" "Oh, yes you are!" There are also a lot of rude jokes, though it's definitely family entertainment. In our panto, the dame, the king, and the fool are always played by the same actors, so they have a lot of banter and often make self-deprecating jokes about their own and each other's perceived incompetence ("And this time, we've actually read the script!") and their frequent appearances ("My name is Dame Dolly Dumplings...this year.") At the end, the prince and princess get married, everyone takes a bow (even the villain), and they sing another couple of songs. It's fabulous. @Lemie, I hope you really enjoy yourself. I'm sure you will.
I was also a newcomer to the UK, back in 1986. And had to get adjusted to lots of things, including how Christmas happens. It is quite different from the USA. The obligatory dinner, paper hats, Queen's speech. And yes, the Panto. Hmmm. I can't say I've taken any of this on, to be honest. In respect of Christmas and the Solstice period, I pretty much tread my own path. I think the Reformation had a lot to do with the proscription of the older Christmas holidays in the UK (which used to be quite riotous, I believe) and the reintroduction of them, after most people had forgotten what they used to be. The paper hats found in the 'crackers', cut in the shape of crude crowns, are a remnant left of the topsy-turvy notion that for one day (or one period) ordinary people got to take the place of royalty and privilege, while the royal and privileged were obliged to pretend to be peasantry and servants. This tradition went back a long way (all the way to the days of the Roman Empire) but it got squashed by Oliver Cromwell and the Reformation. By the time that was over and the monarchy restored, a couple of generations had grown up without those traditions, so the attempt to revive them was a tad feeble. So now it's tissue paper hats and resigned faces glowering at brussels sprouts at the dinner table—which is graced with a New World bird instead of the older goose/wild boar, etc. Followed, at 3pm sharp, with the Queen's Speech (recorded many months before!) However, England and Wales certainly still have many rich traditions surrounding Christmas, many of which DID survive the Reformation. I love some of the traditional songs and carols, which are still being sung. Many of which are different from the ones we sang in the USA. And I think folks in England and Wales do celebrate Christmas in fine style, and keep many regional traditions alive. Scotland is more complicated, having clung to the Reformation notion of no Christmas longer than the rest of the UK. In fact, a woman of my acquaintance who was born in 1908, remembered clearly when Christmas Day wasn't observed at all. It was a working day, in fact. All of the Scottish midwinter celebrations centre around New Year. That's a period that goes on for several days (there is still a two-day public holiday here) and isn't just about couples going out to parties on New Year's Eve, and that's it. The celebrations involve the whole family, and in smaller rural areas, the entire community. Scotland's New Year is quite a jolly time, actually. Yes, drink is taken, but lots of other things happen as well, including visits to other households, food and companionship, ceilidhs, etc. You say Happy New Year to everybody you meet afterwards, even if it's weeks after the event before you actually see them. Folks phone each other afterwards to say Happy New Year. Most folks in Scotland have Christmas trees, but they are nearly always artificial, and usually decorated to some 'theme' which can change from year to year. One year it's tartan ribbons, the next year it's all blue lights—and lately those horrible fibre-optic things. It's quite common to throw away decorations after a year or two, and buy entirely new ones. The concept of traditional ornaments handed down through families doesn't seem to be quite as popular here as the USA or the rest of the UK. Folks in Scotland, lacking an ingrained tradition, tend to be quite influenced by the commercial side of things, including copying shop window decorations for their homes. Folks also tend to start celebrating with seasonal parties, dinners out, etc, at the start of December. Christmas Day is actually rather an anticlimax. Most folks keep their decorations up till New Year, but not all. Some people take their decorations down during that week between Christmas and New Year, so as to have a 'clean start' to the New Year. As I don't start my own celebrations till Christmas Eve (with an earlier nod to the Solstice on the 21st), and carry on through to Twelfth Night, this puts me at odds with folk in this area. People always want to visit the house BEFORE Christmas, while I'm in the process of getting ready. I'm trying to do my cookie baking so the cookies and other food will be fresh for Christmas Day, and people want to come visiting in the middle of December. It's very frustrating to have nothing but store-bought shortbread to offer them. And I often need to scrape off a place for them to sit because I'm in the middle of pre-Christmas cleaning, or—during the last couple of days before Christmas—am getting the tree and decorations up. Where I come from, it was considered a breach of etiquette to pay visits just before Christmas and expect to be invited in and given treats, etc. If friends and neighbours came to the door it was just to drop off presents, etc. The holiday visiting didn't happen till after Christmas Day, which was a day reserved for family. The visiting continued through New Year. I remember these visits were referred to as 'Christmas Calls' or 'going Christmas calling,' and we used to receive visitors and go to visit other houses during this time. We were usually invited in with the words, "Come and see the tree." As children, this was also a time to display our main presents ...if we got a new doll from Santa, or something like that, it was something we were encouraged to 'show' to the visitors. Here in Scotland, after Christmas—during Christmas Week—when I'm all ready, tree lit up, drinks, food and baking set out—nobody wants to know. However, I persevere! I think I received a Pantomime Bypass, growing up a Yank. I've attending two pantos and been left unmoved. It's just not part of my own tradition for the time, although it is a VERY old tradition, linked to mummers, etc. So, @Lemie, I hope you have a wonderful time and you might well enjoy yourself at the panto. But if you don't 'get' it, don't feel like an outcast. I think you need to grow up with pantos at Christmas and New Year, before they become part of your own expectations of the season. I would say stick to the traditions you were brought up with—the ones that mean something to you. And participate in the new ones, as you wish. But you are unlikely to feel much of a connection to all of them. That's just the price we 'immigrants' pay, when we come here. We will be accepted, but never fully understood. This disconnect can be mutual.
Always yearn for the ‘traditional Christmas,’ moping past the church wall, inhaling all wistful, dreaming of the ancestors. Dysfunctional Xmas the last couple of years so I’m doing the 12 hour night with the ‘service users’ which is more my scene. Though would never inflict pantomime on the folks, fekking ghastly thesp crime. (tapping, at work)
I think Christmas is one of those times that other people's expectations can certainly wreck. And that's odd, because it's traditionally a time when people are supposed to get together, forget troubles and worries, feast and frolic and enjoy themselves. But there are so many obstacles to trip over. Family weirdness. Illness. Work obligations. Exhaustion. Disconnection. Expectations of children and others. Absences of people you miss; presence of people you'd rather not spend time with. Lack of finances to do a 'feast,' whatever form that feast may take, etc. And there's always bad weather as well ...which can turn 'visiting' into a nightmare. I made up my mind, years ago, that I would do Christmas my way, and not let other people's expectations or restrictions govern me. I now love to spend much of the time on my own, or with my husband, in front of my warmly-lit, colourful tree, with all the little demons and sprites tucked inside it, listening to the music I like, having a drink of my favourite substances, eating seasonal food, etc. Presents are no longer central to the celebration, and I DEFINITELY don't travel. I have been known to go out for a walk on Christmas Day, which, if the weather is good, can be a lot of fun. Lots of greenery in this part of the world and snow is rare. Very different from 'back home.' But the peace and quiet of Christmas Day in Scotland is nice to experience. I will continue to do that as long as I can.
The best boyfriend in the world has gotten us tickets to see Baga Chipz two days after the finale of RuPauls Dragrace UK... And there's a big chance she'll be crowned the winner!
Just finished teaching a particularly challenging class. Less stress, more free time. Spoiler Less money as well, but I can use the occasional evening off of work.
Ah! I have goaded the most repugnant rampallian of all! Bring out the fisticuffs, cur, I'll be your huckleberry!
Speak not of your firmness to me, sir, for I am still a lady. But it thou'st a wish to jab me, one needs a wit sharper than a well oiled herring.
"Then! When you have found the shrubbery, you must cut down the mightiest tree in the forest wi-i-i-i-ith a herring!!"
Methinks a pompous rapscallion as such, Lacks layers thicker than a shallot's shell. Thou art beguiled by my peeling touch, Unwitting to thou acid I shalt quell. A cretin's chest may hold so stout a heart, While walnuts best resemble heads so dense. True knowledge of that station I impart Of transgressions thrown by such impudence. Without regard to food soe'er akin, Thus fry thy banter much to your chagrin!