The holiday season is, for so many, the perfect time to relax, celebrate and enjoy a festive few weeks with family and friends. In this blog, the Culture and Inclusion team invite you to read about how Christmas plays a big part in lots of our traditions, and also how each of our celebrations is unique... showing just how special winter can be in so many different ways!
Abi Phillips (Deputy Director - Culture and Inclusion)
Christmas is one of my happiest times of year. Co-parenting with my children’s father brings a different kind of Christmas celebration for us. My children and I will spend Christmas Eve together, making mince pies to leave out for Father Christmas, and we always do a jigsaw puzzle just before bed (we have been doing the same one on Christmas Eve for 12 years now; my children insist it isn’t Christmas unless we do the puzzle!).
Christmas morning they'll sit at the top of the stairs, and I check if Santa has visited. I have video of them every year bouncing down the stairs and the reaction as they walk into Santa’s grotto in the front room.
The children’s father collects them at 11am and they have Christmas lunch with his family, returning to me 11am Boxing Day. This is the Christmas I’ve come to know and love. Of course I’d like to spend the whole day with them, but I feel having them for the morning is the best bit - it's our way of celebrating.
Jessica Price (EDI Coordinator - Culture and Inclusion)
Since moving to Bath I've always travelled back to Cardiff, my home city, to visit my family for Christmas, and although it isn't very far the journey back always feels a little special! My family are half-Italian on my mum's side so we've inherited a lot of our traditions from this, including Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve and a 9-course (no, I'm not kidding!) dinner on Christmas day. Since my parents care for my grandmother, she'll be there to join us for lunch on the day and once we've napped away our food-induced haze, we gather around the tree to open presents in the evening. I have two younger brothers, one who turned 15 this year, so it's a great chance for me to spoil them and be spoiled!
On Boxing day, we travel to my uncle's house and get treated to another huge family meal where we share gifts and even more traditional Italian cooking - including minestrone, tortellini in broth and panettone, my favourite! Christmas is a chance for family who don't usually get to see each other to gather and celebrate, and wish each other 'Buon Natale' and 'Nadolig Llawen', bringing both of our cultures together.
Nyika Suttie (Training Officer - Student Policy and Safeguarding)
My partner is Jewish and I am not religious, so this year we will be blending traditions for the first time. I generally put the Christmas tree up a week before Christmas, which this year will be the same day as the first day of Hannukah, so we'll have the lights of the Christmas tree and the menorah to cheer up our evenings. Despite the fact neither of us are Christian, we both enjoy singing a Christmas carol so will go to the carols by candlelight service to support our local church.
We're quite laid back about Christmas and generally use it as an opportunity to rest, but on Christmas Day we'll exchange gifts, cook a roast dinner, and watch a film. I will facetime my family as they live in the other side of the country, and we had our family Christmas back in November. We usually try to go on a day out over the Christmas period as well; last year we went to see some seal pups at the beach and then had fish and chips on a pier; this year we're trying a warmer option: the Eden Project.
Katie Sproston (Communications Officer - Culture and Inclusion)
I’ve got a young family, so Christmas is all about them. It’s fun living the excitement through the eyes of a four and seven year old − apart from when the excitement gets too much and they argue! We start the day with the boys opening their stockings on our bed. Then we head downstairs for breakfast and a few more presents, before heading out to a nearby park for a walk.
Growing up, it was tradition to open most of our presents after lunch, while Top of The Pops was on. I’ve tried hard to carry that on (as it spreads out the fun), but the boys still need some convincing. We try and stagger the boys’ unwrapping frenzy so everyone opens one in turn, starting with the youngest – as is tradition.
Once the boys are in bed, we’ll watch something funny with my mum, who comes to visit. It’s always nice to end the day on the sofa with some cheese and biscuits and have a laugh at whatever’s on.
Aiste Zubiniene (EDI Officer - Culture and Inclusion)
My family is based in Lithuania, and while people my age and even my parents’ generation have less affiliations with religious beliefs, during Christmas we follow the Catholic traditions practiced by the eldest members of our family as a sign of respect. For many people in Central and Eastern Europe, including my own family, Christmas and Boxing Days are seen as additional celebrations, but it’s the Christmas Eve that is the most significant day over the festive period. It starts with a big family dinner that consists of twelve (to represent twelve apostles) dishes on the table, including poppy seed milk, freshly baked bread, appetizers with mushrooms, cabbage and other vegetables and loads of fish, in particular herring. There cannot be any meat, eggs and dairy products, however many kids like me had a grandpa who would sneak them chocolates at the end of the dinner from under the table when grandma wasn’t looking! If a family member has died that year, a plate will be placed on the table and a chair drawn up, with a small candle placed on the plate and lit during the meal. The meal starts with the eldest member of the family starting a prayer, followed by each person at the table noting what they are grateful for and what they wish for each other over the next year. We then pull a stem of hay from under the tablecloth (the one who picks the longest straw will have extra luck next year!). After dinner, we go to a local church for an evening Mass and exchange presents upon return, breaking fast with treats at midnight and having the cosiest chats with only Christmas tree lights turned on.
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