The First Christmas Card – Victorian Britain
Happy Christmas from Everyone at Anglotopia! May your holidays be merry and bright!
Happy Christmas From Anglotopia!
December 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Happy Christmas from Everyone at Anglotopia! May your holidays be merry and bright!
AngloFiles TGIF: The Queen Mum’s Scottish Wartime Christmas
December 25, 2009 By 1 Comment
Glamis Castle, site of a convalescent Christmas in 1914.
Given the air of timelessness that surrounded her until her death seven years ago at 102, it’s hard to imagine England’s venerated Queen Mum before she entered the royal family. But, as a lighthearted adolescent, she sang ’round the piano, danced the Cake Walk, and endured her brothers’s teasing about girlish gluttony. (“Excellent lunch — beefsteak — 3 helps — ham and roley poley. I eat a good deal,” they graffiti’ed in her diary.) No episode better illustrates the warmth and noblesse oblige that motivated her family than the memorable Christmas of 1914, spent at Glamis Castle, their turreted country home in Forfardshire, Scotland, detailed in William Shawcross’s recently published The Queen Mother: The Official Biography:
In late summer and fall, writes Shawcross in his biography of the Queen Mother, “shooting was at the heart of life at Glamis,” parts of which date to the 15th century. Festive parties of 20 or more regularly descended, personal maids and valets in tow, to hunt partridge, grouse, woodcocks and other game. Loading into horse-drawn carts in the morning, they would ride up to the moor for the day, often shooting more than a hundred birds in a single outing.
Not yet wired, the castle was lit by gas jets, lamps and candles in the years before World War I. But legions of servants (including six in the laundry alone), ensured a life of ease and comfort for its denizens and guests. “The maid brings in tea — lights my candles & goes off with my sponge and towels” to prepare the bath, wrote one awed arrival, a new governess. “Arrived there, I find a huge hot bath set — the Bath is enormously deep — a large blanket spread on the ground & beside the bath a carpeted step ladder by which one mounts in order to descend into the Bath.”
Evenings during the hunt season “were also lively” at Glamis, Shawcross recounts. “The Castle was lit by hundreds of candles; there were immense fires; there was dinner in the great dining room, which the twelfth Earl [of Strathmore] had renovated in ‘Jacobean’ style and which boasted an enormous carved sideboard, family portraits and wooden armorial shields illustrating family alliances.” In the drawing room afterward, “the focus of the room was often the piano at which Lady Strathmore or one of her daughters would play in the evenings while the rest of the party gathered around to sing traditional Scottish ballads or popular songs of the day.”
Remarked one guest, there was “no stiffness, no aloofness anywhere, no formality except the beautiful old custom of having the two pipers marching around the table at the close of dinner, followed by a momentary silence as the sound of their bagpipes died away gradually in the distance of the castle. It was all so friendly and so kind … No wonder little Elizabeth came up to me once as my visit was nearing its end and demanded, ‘But why don’t you beg to stay?’”
Elizabeth had four brothers in the service.
Glamis was usually dark at Christmas. December 1914 was the first year in 20 that the family stayed for the holiday, to the delight of 14-year-old Elizabeth. With the shadow of war cast across her country and her family – her four elder brothers were off soldiering, two of them at the front — perhaps she relished the manor’s cozy familiarity. And she undoubtedly felt needed there, having helped to tend soldiers at one of the two convalescent hospitals established by her energetic mother.
By summer of 1914, Glamis was devoted to the all-out effort to defeat the Kaiser. “[T]he billiard table was stacked with thick shirts and socks, mufflers, belts and sheepskins to be made into coats and painted with a waterproofing varnish” to plug a shortfall in supplies of greatcoats, Shawcross writes. Lord Strathmore, Elizabeth’s father, turned his attentions to territorial defence, instructing local farmers on preparations for invasion.
Perhaps most important, Glamis, “like many great homes … was at once converted for hospital use,” and commended especially for its care of shellshocked patients, writes Shawcross. Elizabeth’s “task was generally to make the soldiers feel at home. She did rounds of the ward, talked to them all, made friends with many and went to the village shop to arrange large quantities of vital purchases — Woodbines, Gold Flack and Navy Cut tobacco.”
Like many great homes, Glamis was converted for hospital use.
The teen-aged Elizabeth’s ease and curiosity endeared her to soldiers from all classes, homesick for towns in Britain and Commonwealth countries alike. Arriving with horrible stories and frightening wounds — to the stomach, the lungs, the “nerves” — the soldiers were lovingly tended at Glamis, only to be sent back to the front as soon as they recovered. A new lorryful of broken men arrived for every group that left.
It was in this atmosphere that Elizabeth “jumped up in delight & kissed her Mother exuberantly” on learning that Christmas would be celebrated at Glamis, with a diminished family of five, absent its soldier sons. With 20 wounded soldiers in their care, as Shawcross describes it,
family and staff at Glamis did their best to bring good cheer to the soldiers, setting up an immense tree in the crypt and distributing presents. ”The fun was fast and furious,’ according to Elizabeth. Everyone ate too much and she and [younger brother] David danced wildly with the soldiers in the ward. All in all, she said, it was ‘a dandy Xmas, you bet your bottom dollar’.”
Christmas candlelight photo by GearedBull.
A Pint of Bitter: England’s Snow, Pies and Nick Clegg’s Present
December 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment
What’s your image of Christmas in England? I bet it involves a crisp layer of snow underfoot, or at least a white scene visible from the windows of a cosy house as you tuck into your eighteenth mince pie (my mum’s are especially good). Much as we’d all love a white Christmas here, it’s a most rare, elusive thing. I can’t remember one – in the sense of there being fresh snow on the ground on Christmas Day itself – since the early 1970s. Whether it’s the global warming they failed to tackle at Copenhagen, a shift in the earth’s axis or something, Christmas just seems a tiny little bit early for snow in England these days, although snow by early January is not nearly so uncommon. That week or two seems to make a lot of difference.
Northwick Park underground station
And perhaps it’s just as well, because another great English tradition is that as soon as it does snow, the entire country’s infrastructure instantly collapses and no one can go anywhere. This year, as you know, snow has come early for a change – and so has the resulting “travel chaos”. I’ll be driving from London to not far from Manchester on Christmas Eve, and expect the normal three to four hour journey to take more like six hours. I suppose it allows us to have a good old English moan. And at least the pre-Christmas tradition of parties and boozing wasn’t interrupted: my main Christmas “do” this year was in Pinner – on the very north-western edge of London – with colleagues from the hospital radio station I volunteer for, Radio Northwick Park. We got through an unexpected amount of Europe’s wine at Café Rouge before carrying on with beer at the Queen’s Head pub, where they were serving an excellent rich and ruddy Christmas ale, Batemans’ Rosey Nosey.
From yuletide traditions to political traditions, and one we’ve not had here in Britain: TV debates at election time. Unlike in the States, where Presidential debates are expected, they don’t happen in Britain, mainly because the leader whose party is ahead in the polls has felt they had nothing to gain, and everything to lose from such an encounter. But perhaps because Gordon Brown is so far behind in the opinion polls, he’s decided he should take the big risk of agreeing to debates; and his Conservative opponent David Cameron can’t afford to run scared. So at next year’s general election, there’ll be a series of three 90-minute debates, one on each of the BBC, ITV and Sky. And each debate will in fact be a three-way affair including the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, as well as the two main contenders.
Nick Clegg | Liberal Democrats | CreativeCommons
That in fact is the least discussed yet I think most important effect of the debates: they will give Nick Clegg exposure on equal terms with the two main party leaders, and (unless he performs abysmally) are bound to boost his standing and that of his third party. In an election that could yet be very close, that effect may be significant. If I were Clegg, I’d also be pressing for an economic debate between the parties’ Treasury spokesmen (something that has happened before) which would be a great showcase for Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrats’ strongest asset, whose reputation has risen throughout the recession. Anyway, the debates are Nick Clegg’s best Christmas present for many years. Of the “big two”, David Cameron is the one with more to lose: the long format may help Gordon Brown demonstrate some of the substance and depth his supporters claim, and they must hope he can expose Cameron as superficial, glib and arrogant in comparison. Is Brown capable of landing a killer blow? He is a heavyweight, and anything is possible: the debates are a risk well worth his taking. But he needs a knock-out blow. If I were advising David Cameron I’d tell him to keep calm, float like a butterfly and just make sure the desperate Prime Minister’s big clunking fist doesn’t connect with his chin. If he stays on his feet and does not allow Clegg to outshine him, he’ll have achieved all he needs to.
The Speaker, Westminster
Talking of Westminster things, one of London’s very best pubs and an excellent place to visit if you’re near Parliament or Westminster Abbey is The Speaker, on the corner of Great Peter Street and Abbey Orchard Street, which was looking very seasonal and celebratory last night as I downed yet more Rosey Nosey with some old civil service friends. If you’re interested, the beer is available outside the UK now; the pub, though, remains firmly in Westminster. It’s named after the Speaker of the House of Commons, of course.
Infuriatingly, it looks as though the cold patch will be over by Thursday, giving way to the usual grey and damp rather than white Christmas, with just a bit of slush to remind us what might have been. A pity. Midnight on Christmas Eve, when everyone’s arrived wherever they’ll be spending the next 48 hours, would be the perfect time for the air to chill and the flakes to fall. It could happen one day. While we wait, have a good Christmas 2009. I expect to: I’ll be reading, watching the BBC and downing Christmas pudding (if I can manage it after the turkey, pork and stuffing) and a lot of those mince pies. I’ll see you again in general election year, 2010.
Dispatches from the North: An Expat Christmas
December 23, 2009 By 4 Comments
The holidays are really a dilemma for expats, especially those of us who are here as spouses, you simply can’t be two places at once and holiday travel is expensive.
There are many challenges when it comes to managing the holidays. First of all, if you are spending the holidays in the UK, how do you get gifts to family and make an effort to be a part of their celebration overseas? If you are going back to your home country for the holidays, when can you start your Christmas shopping? How much can you fit in your suitcase? It takes a lot of juggling and no matter where you are, there is always going to be a bittersweet feeling that you can’t be somewhere else.
Christmas Day in Hartlepool 2008
Last year my husband and I stayed here and celebrated the holidays with his family for this first time. It was great, I thought it was going to be really difficult but on Christmas Day I wasn’t missing my family as much as I had expected to. This year I am returning to my parents home in Metro Detroit for the first time in 17 months. Here are some of the ways I have dealt with the challenges.
Gifts
So what to do about gifts. There are tons of options, everyone does it differently but this is how I played it. Shipping internationally usually costs more than the value of the gift, so my first step was to order things online from American stores and have them shipped to my parents’ home. Most UK banks will do the currency exchange for you so if you have a credit or debit card you can order from many US sites and pay with your credit or debit card. I did a lot of this for this year’s gifts and just let my mom know to expect a box and not to open it. When I get home I will have a stack of boxes waiting to be opened and for gifts to be wrapped.
Last year I ordered from sites like Amazon that offer a wide range of products with gift wrapping so the gifts arrived at my parents’s house gift wrapped and ready for Christmas morning. There are gift wrapping options on many US stores so its easy to ship gifts directly to family and friends without spoiling the surprise.
But what fun would it be if I only gave them stuff they could get in the US? I have also bought certain special British items to take and share with my family. I bought a tin of Cadbury’s chocolate biscuits, a tin of Scottish shortbread, some After Eight chocolate mints and a tin of Earl Grey from the Harrod’s Tea Counter. I tried to find things that are cleared for customs, which means they mostly need to be packaged and the ingredients should be identifiable. Also, lightweight so I don’t go over the weight requirement. Another thing to remember is that buying electronics and media in the UK and gifting it to family and friends in the US can be tricky. DVDs, video games and other media have region codings that won’t work in most US DVD players and game consoles. They are lightweight and small so they are easy to trasnport, but sadly when you get it there it probably won’t work on American media players.
Communication
I use Skype to keep in touch with my family throughout the year, we have a standing “date” every Sunday to make sure we stay in touch regularly. Also with my husband being deployed I have been able to use Skype to keep in touch with him as well. Our Christmas Day plan is to get on Skype at about 8-9 am EST and my husband and I will open our presents together. He has also sent my gifts ahead to my parents house and I shipped his gifts to him so we can open them “together” on Christmas morning. Its taken quite a bit of planning, but its totally worth it to have the closest possible thing to being together on Christmas and if all goes to plan we will still be able to see the looks on each other’s faces when we open our gifts.
Travel
I faced the full brunt of European weather delays Monday and I have one lesson learned. Be patient. As I stood in a line at the lost baggage desk there was a woman in front of me who had just flown in from New York. She was shaking with anger that her bags had been lost, little did she know that the entire line behind her had just disembarked from an 8 hour flight, many who had been travelling for well over 24 hours from destinations in Africa and Asia. Most of us handled it graciously and when I tearfully greeted my parents the last thing on my mind was that I had nothing but the clothes on my back and my laptop and cell phone in my carry on. Taking all the frustrations of the day in stride was the difference between enjoying my reunion with my family and seeing Detroit for the first time in 18 months and this irrate woman who was so distracted by her anger she couldn’t experience the satisfaction of knowing she would get to spend the holidays with her family. Holiday travel is infamously rife with complications. The key is to expect it so you won’t be angry and let down when it happens to you. Plan ahead for the worst case scenario and don’t leave your Christmas to the mercy of the airlines and you will find you can manage any travel frustrations with nothing more than a few deep breaths.
When this post goes live on Wednesday, I will already be in America reunited with my whole family and seeing most of them for the first time in 17 months. I can’t wait to finally be able to share all of my adventures and tales of my experiences with them in person.
I wish everyone who reads my column here a very Happy Holiday and I really want to take a moment to thank Jonathan for allowing me to write this column, its been a great way for me to share my experiences with people and to look at every new experience I have here a little closer. I think my eyes have been opened to a lot of things I might not have bothered to remember if I wasn’t thinking of a potential post. I am really excited for what will happen with Anglotopia in 2010 and I am looking forward to sharing lots of new experiences with you.
From the Heart… of England: England in the Snow – England To Get a White Christmas
December 18, 2009 By 3 Comments
It’s below freezing here in Blighty now and according to the Met Office, we’re due for snow tonight and all over the weekend. And here’s how my house will look again!
When I was a kid, I used to dream of snow. My godfather was a carpenter and he lovingly made me the best sledge anyone ever had; big enough for three of us with metal runners for a super-fast descent. He painted it bright red with a white lightning flash on the side and I loved it. Trouble was, we barely had enough snow to scrape together a few snowballs on our way to school, let alone enough to use my beautiful scarlet sledge. So there it stayed, hanging on the wall in the garage.
When we moved to our village twelve Christmases ago, our neighbours asked us with a worried expression, “Do you not have a four-wheel drive?”. Oh, how we laughed. As IF we’d ever get snowed in! And I hung up my sledge on the garage wall and patted it gently, never expecting to be able to use it.
In February this year we got snowed in for eight days. We’d stocked up on food, we all went skiing on the hill and gathered afterwards in the pub (very handily located at the bottom of said hill). “So this is global warming?”, I thought to myself. The schools were closed, the buses stopped and England ground to a halt.
Our village piste, conveniently ending at the pub
You see, we just aren’t any good at snow in England. We’re pants at it, actually.
Anywhere in Europe, and anywhere in the US where you get snow regularly everything just carries on, albeit looking rather prettier than normal.
But because we usually only get a cosmetic dusting of snow each year, we just never bother to gear ourselves up for it. We do a bit of extra grocery shopping, pull out the ski gear and get the logs ready by the hearth. And I think that’s about it!
So here we are, wondering if this weekend will simply bring us large, pretty, fluttering snowflakes to make everywhere look all Dickensian as we meander through the village to our carol concert at the church on Sunday, or whether we should be expecting the worst and stockpiling rocksalt, shovels and…
…well what should one do, exactly? You see, I am a complete amateur at this (as are most Brits). Maybe I should be waxing the runners on my lovely sledge? Buying chains for my car tyres (can one buy snow chains in England)? Making hearty soups?
It feels VERY unBritish to not to simply “keep calm and carry on”! That’s what we’re supposed to always do. Effortlessly. No fuss. Just do it.
Do what, exactly? Could anyone from the Northern States who’s ‘good at snow’ give me a few tips here, please?
Ta awfully!
Anna x
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Anglotopia was founded by Jonathan and Jackie Thomas for people who love Britain - whether it's British TV, Culture, History or Travel - we cover it all. Anglotopia was started to get us back to the UK for a trip and it did that in 2009. Now, the goal is for Anglotopia to make our dream of living in the UK a reality.