Symbols of Christmas in Different Countries -

I have to confess that I still get seized with a childlike excitement at the thought of Christmas! But as an adult, my excitement is generally mixed with a large helping of anxiety, bordering on panic when I realise how much there is to prepare and how little time left to do it! I’m not, however, quite as frantic as a neighbour from years ago, who would pronounce herself ‘behind’ with Christmas in September! 

The year that we had builders doing a major refurbishment of our Edwardian house in Norwich right up to and including Christmas Eve afternoon, taught me that it’s possible to cut some corners – such as buying the Christmas Cake and Christmas Pudding instead of making them! – and still have a thoroughly enjoyable Christmas.

But, although I have recently ‘cut a corner’ and succumbed to an artificial Christmas Tree, I still enjoy decorating the house and I’d almost go so far as to say that a reason that I love living in Victorian or Edwardian houses is that they seem to take to Christmas decorations 'like a duck to water'! 

 

But mixed in with the excitement, there are a number of regularly surfacing ‘tensions’ to do with Christmas that have virtually reached the status of Christmas Traditions! So I’ve created a series of Christmas cards on the theme of these ‘alternative’ traditions'.  Maybe some of the humour won’t be fully understood by anyone who hasn’t spent Christmas in the UK. But then there are also things that have surprised me about US Christmases since I joined Greeting Card Universe.

I suppose it was the different category choices available on GCU that drew my attention to the differences between Christmas here in the UK and Christmas in other countries.

Whereas we would have a major category for robins – one year nearly half of the cards I received had robins on them – I don’t think we would ever dream of having ‘candy-canes’! Previously I didn't even know what they were though maybe they’ll cross the Atlantic at some point... ‘Happy Holidays’ is a greeting you’d never find in the UK and I’d never heard of ‘Secret Santa’ until I joined GCU - but I think it's beginning to take root over here. And ‘Father Christmas’ is used far more commonly than ‘Santa’ in the UK - for now!

It took me a while to work out that ‘ornaments’ are what we would call ‘decorations’ and Greeting Card Universe doesn't seem to have a category for 'candles', (unless I've missed it!) which are a common feature of our Christmas Cards. I’m still not sure what a typical Christmas dinner consists of in any part of the world except the UK. Of course, all these differences matter when it comes to designing Christmas cards for sale worldwide. For instance, this Christmas card that I received a couple of years ago would only amuse someone who lived in a country where mince pies are an integral part of Christmas.

This year, many of my online sales have been Christmas cards with their captions in a foreign language but I always wonder whether what we here in the UK look upon as the traditional Christmas subject matter, would also be appreciated in other countries.

So I’m requesting that you all do me, and hopefully other readers, a favour by writing  your countries' traditional symbols of Christmas in the ‘Comments’ box. I think it should be really interesting – and helpful when it comes to next year's Christmas card designs too!