… Is - at least I’ve been told - that it’s no longer just as simple as wondering whether one should erect a pine tree in the sitting room during December, to try and fit in…
I blame Nigella “Pat the pork dry. Season the meat with kosher salt and pepper” Lawson myself…..
Photo downloaded from somewhere else. Buggered if I can remember where, though..
Song playing as this was published: Death Cab For Cutie: I Will Follow You Into The Dark
Recently I had to pick it up my mum at her office. Which was barely recognizable as one. Looking at it I struggled to believe that BigDepartmentstore is still selling Christmas ornaments - and that they were not all hijacked by the employees of shipping and transport. (Now were RhineBlaze is working - Christmas ornaments are a fireing offense. And I now somehow begin to see the merits of this policy.) Even my mother’s Turkish colleague has a christmas tree and the odd bit of festive decoration, including the odd chocolate Nikolaus. So is she a chocolate muslim? The tree is not really Christian anyway - neither are quite a lot of things we associate with the Festive Season. So what about me and traditions that are not my own? I go to the Bonfire in my local park, get a Poppy and don’t mind the Haggis on Burn’s night or odd pint on St. Paddy’s/George/Whatever-Day.
Okay, okay, fair enough, I’ve spent the day writing out Christmas cards on behalf of the local branch of the Atheists Society, but Ham for Hannukah?
Hmm, aliterartions don’t need to be kosher?
Besides wishing people a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year is nothing you need the Atheist Society for - unless you have so many cards that you need help with putting them in envelopes and labeling them… oops, this is one of the things I don’t even intend to integrate - only our admins get Christmas cards from me (and a bit of Chocolate
The twice yearly Jewish problem.
RhineBlaze: It’s not the alliteration, my business brain is just bitter because I didn’t think of the massive Ham for Hannukah market first. I reckon my special Ramadan Lunch Box will be a winner, though.
I am thoroughly disappointed! No Etruvian Hannukah Ham - and I made such nice pictures on site - surely they would have been very promotional. Especially the one with the canal boat. And to avoid more grief - you can already get halal Ramadan Calendars in Germany (found them on the web by chance). Anyway, don’t you Northern Lads call Lunch Dinner?
What the blue-blazes is ’spiral ham’? They make it sound like the pig was tortured by the Guild of Ropemakers before death while the local Alan Rickman strokes his spoon gleefully.
And is Chanukah the equivalent of the inevitable Bond-fest round Christmas, but with Jackie Chan films instead of an overdose Smugger Moore (or possibly Chaka Khan… and now through poor grammar I’ve just had the strangest vision of a woman sinking half of Venice by voice alone… and now my mind has remembered the seatless chair. Moving swiftly on…)?
Incidentally, Ms Lawson (why does that title always make me think of draught and gross tonnage?) in her programme tonight served ginger glazed ham (cooked in ginger ale, which is just weird, both in itself and its use in cooking).
Christmas in Germany is still a no-nonsense affair. We here at Penguin HQ don’t get too excited about it anymore - some tinsel on the Benjamin plant and antlers for the cat do just fine - but there’s none of this PC nonsense one hears about from the Anglosphere.
(The craze for lighting up one’s house like a, erm, Christmas tree, has unfortunately gained ground here in the past few years though).
Anyhoo: I don’t know exactly about (C)Hannukah, I left the UJS just after the “We’ve Got Free Tickets To Go and Watch Schindler’s List At The Cinema/Is Eating None Kosher Popcorn Really Appropriate?” Incedent.