For the sixth day of an Adventures with Sarah Christmas, we’re heading to the British Isles with our marketing team of Warren and Sara, a couple who grew up in the UK but now live in Italy.
First up is Warren:
“One of my favorite childhood memories of Christmas in Devon, UK, was the tradition of receiving gifts over two days. On Christmas Day, presents from my parents were the highlight, while Boxing Day was reserved for gifts from others.
As a young child, I remember feeling frustrated that I couldn’t open everything on December 25th—my parents would place all the gifts under the tree on Christmas Eve, building the anticipation. But as I grew older, I grew to love spreading the fun across two days. It made me appreciate each gift more deeply, which, I now realize, was exactly what my parents intended—or maybe it was their clever way of keeping me and my brother entertained a bit longer!”
And here are Sara’s Christmas traditions:
“As one of four children our Christmases were always hectic, but so much fun! On Christmas Day one strict rule was no one could go downstairs to the presents until everyone was awake, and if you were the one who woke up first (which was often me!) you weren’t allowed to wake anyone else up.
This was clearly our parent’s way of managing the chaos but it meant we were always hopping with excitement by the time everyone was awake. Brushing our teeth was also mandatory, as breakfast was always chocolate no matter how much Mum tried to get us to have some cereal or a piece of toast!”
“While I grew up in the UK, my parents were both Irish so our Christmas lunch always had lots of Irish elements in it. To start there were piles of Irish soda bread and smoked salmon, and as well as the roast turkey we had a big glazed ham served with cheese sauce along with the meat gravy, not to mention multiple types of potatoes. December 26 was ‘Stephens Day’ not ‘Boxing Day’ as it’s known in the UK, and in Ireland it’s a continuation of the holiday. We always saw some of the large extended family on this day and Mum would make her famous turkey lasagne – something my brother and sisters still ask for to this day!”
Now that Warren and I live in Italy, we incorporate elements of both of our Christmas traditions as well as new ones into our celebrations. We travel a lot and one fun thing we have started doing in recent years is finding tree decorations in each destination we visit. Our Christmas tree is extra special because of this, with new additions every year.”
Be sure to check back tomorrow for even more memories and Christmas traditions from around the world with the Adventures with Sarah team!
If you’ve missed any of the other posts, catch up on all the previous days of our 12 Days of an Adventures with Sarah Christmas here.
