But, I Will Miss That Christmas Is a Big Deal

Despite my last blog post on the shock of no separation of church and State in Scotland  (and my continuing surprise that my 3-year old is coming home from supposedly secular nursery school singing Christmas songs that talk about Mary having a baby and asking the innkeeper for room at the inn), there are some good things about the ubiquity of Christmas here.

While the anthropologist in me thinks about the Muslims who are feeling left out, the Christian in me really likes the fuss made over Christmas.  Without Thanksgiving to postpone celebration, the Christmas season (or Festive Period) starts here in mid-November and goes all the way into early January.

Edinburgh gets a Christmas market, complete with an outdoor skating rink, and stalls selling spiced wine, hot chocolate and chocolate-dipped marshmallows. But Dundee kicks off with Christmas Light Night, then the West End (the neighborhood where we live) has its own West End Christmas Light Night.  This is a free event, put on by the city/neighborhood, and it involves a concert in the local church, a pipe band to start things off (they even had Christmas lights on their bagpipes but I couldn't get a good picture), the lighting of the Christmas tree, a fireworks display, and Santa and others giving out free goodies to kids (a chocolate sampler, a coloring book, glow-glasses). Plus sparklers. 

Sparklers in front of the tree

More sparklers!

Santa posing with Audrey

We also took part in another Dundee Christmas tradition this year: the Singing Kettle Christmas show (I won the tickets by following a link on Twitter - even better!):

Specific instructions on attire

She's ready!

Though it's not certain he is...

Making use of the reindeer antlers sent by Nana

We still have another month and it is packed with Christmas possibilities - Christmas Fayres (yes, spelled like that) and events, many free, and the general festivity of a city that's decked with boughs of holly and where people have a little more fa-la-la-la-la than for the rest of the year.

And that, I will miss.

Christmas Light Night 2014 or Church and State, No Separation

Friday the 14th of November, 2014  marked the annual Christmas Light Night in Dundee. 

Waiting for the lights to be switched on

This is the night on which the Christmas tree in the city centre is switched on, and the Christmas season officially begins (at least from the point of view of stores and shoppers, if not the church).

If you are reading this in the US, you may be saying, hold on a minute here - the city government puts up a Christmas tree in the centre of town? And throws a party, complete with a torchlight parade, music, dancing, an appearance by Santa, fireworks (set to "Let it Go" much to the delight of the girls) but ALSO the aforementioned Christmas tree, lighted decorations with Christmas themes, and a Nativity play? What happened to separation of Church and State?

Reform Street greetings

The answer, as far as I can tell in Scotland, is "it doesn't really exist."  The common perception is"Well, everyone is Christian anyway, so it doesn't matter."  According to the 2011 census in Scotland, 54% of people say they are Christian, while 37% claim "no religion."  Muslims are 1.4% of the population, and all others (Hindu, Jewish, Sikh, or Another Religion) are .9% of the population.  Audrey goes to a Catholic school which is part of the state-supported school system - she went because there were places there, not so much because we wanted her to be in Catholic school, but it is tuition-free - again, a big no-no in the States, and a big so-what in Scotland.

So, Christmas Light Night 2014. 

The Christmas Tree, lit up

The City Centre gets a teacup ride for the occasion

...and really large Disney balloons...

Preparing to go out, with our Santa hats

Bonus: One-minute video of the Light Night event during which the band plays a cover of A-Ha's "Take On Me" on the bagpipes. Seriously Awesome.

About Scottish Christmas Decorations

So today I'm taking a break from the "What's Up Scots?" series to reflect on Scottish Christmas decorations.  I don't mean the decorations that graced the Dundee city centre and the West End for more than a month, though they were quite nice and made me feel festive every time I walked past the lit-up trees or banners.  

Tree in city centre, Dundee

Decorations in city centre, Dundee

 What I really want to talk about are two specific Scottish decorations, one of which was sent to us here in Dundee all the way from America (I know, we call it the United States, but everyone I talk to here says "America" although I have yet to test whether this usage refers to just the U.S. or all of North (and possibly South) America). That decoration is the Bagpiping Santa.  I like the Bagpiping Santa.  He was not made in Scotland, I am almost certain. And I really don't see all that many bagpipers, except in the touristy parts of Edinburgh, or on special occasions here in Dundee.  My boss' son is a piper, so we may even have a higher bagpiper-quotient that typical Scots. But there is a bagpipe song called "Bonnie Dundee." In fact, Americans may even recognize this song - it sounds, to me, like what the stereotypical "playing bagpipes" sounds like. This is a Youtube video of a piper playing Bonnie Dundee on the bagpipes. Based on his shirt, he Glaswegian instead of Dundonian, but we won't hold that against him.  Anyway, Bagpiping Santa is not only nice to look at, he reminds me of Scotland and its traditions, and I'm sure he will continue to do so after we return to America, and each year we'll take Bagpiping Santa out of the box and display him somewhere, and say to the girls, "Do you remember when we lived in Scotland?" Audrey might - Claire, who knows. But we'll have Bagpiping Santa to remind her.

Bagpiping Santa

The second decoration I want to talk about is the knitted Christmas pudding.  I had been looking around for a truly Scottish Christmas decoration, and I didn't find it. But, at Edinburgh Castle after Christmas, I did find a decoration that was at least made in England, and that was something I wouldn't be able to find in America - namely, a Christmas pudding.

Knitted Christmas Pudding

I still have not quite grasped the concept of a pudding. It kind of means "dessert" as in, "What are we having for pudding?" But it also refers to a specific kind of dessert that I would classify as a cupcake, or maybe something like a Chocolate Lava Cake, with the chocolate syrup inside the cake (at least this is what the Tesco microwavable pudding I got was like).  Confusingly, pudding can also be a meat dish, something you eat with breakfast (red or black pudding) or, according to "All Recipes UK," a boiled dessert that may also be called a "Clootie Dumpling."  Which you can also apparently make in the microwave.  "Microwave Scottish Traditional Food" is going to be a subsequent blog,around Burns Day, because I also have heard about....wait for it...microwavable Haggis. 

Anyway, the knitted Christmas pudding will bring to mind all of this whenever I hang it on the tree, as well as what the knitted pudding makes Paul think of, which is also prevalent in Dundee, left by dogs on the sidewalks (with no cherry on top.) I leave it to your imagination.  

 

   

White Elephant 2009

So tonight we had the annual Grad Group White Elephant gift exchange. It's always one of my favorite holiday things but this year it was especially bittersweet because Ben, Gretchen and Lily are leaving us, getting in the car in just a few days to drive to New York, and a new pastor post for Ben. There were lots of hugs and "Merry Christmases" at the end of our meeting, and even a hug from Lily to Holly that turned into a tackle, sending Holly falling (almost) into a couple of big-ish rocks in our front yard (and fortunately not the saguaro cactus that was about a foot away). As Ben said, "That will be a goodbye to remember!"

But while we were celebrating, we were too busy to be sad. We took a group picture, ate potluck food, and then all checked in as Lily (2 1/2), Audrey (1 1/2) and Elliott (11 months) competed for airtime. Then came the White Elephant. Everyone had brought an item, so everyone, including Lily and Audrey, got a number, and the games began. The most popular item was a pair of books, one a Tucson hiking guide and another a book on desert gardening, which were stolen the maximum 3 times. Hale ended up with the big box, with two tray tables and a giant stuffed bear inside, although Lily ended up going home with the bear, who will likely be her pillow on the cross-country trip to come. And Paul ended up with the "classic" white elephant gift, a Christmas Yoda (see picture).



As we gathered outside to say our goodbyes, Lily discovered that when she cupped her hands around a colored Christmas light bulb on our porch, her hand turned green or blue or whatever color the light was. She loved this and kept doing it, causing Audrey to start running from light to light, cupping her hands around each bulb, just like Lily. It was a sweet moment of them playing together - something to remember as we go our separate ways.

So as we start this Christmas week, Godspeed, Ben, Gretchen and Lily, and know you will always have a place here in our hearts and our homes in Tucson!