View Full Version : I know it's early to be asking about CHRISTMAS
I know it's early and yeh we haven't even been away to Orlando for our summer holiday yet, but I have never been at Christmas, and there are a few things I would like to know.
1)I know in the states they celebrate thanksgiving but do they still have turkey at Christmas and is it easy to buy them fresh - not frozen?
2)Do they have Christmas pudding if not can it be bought?
3)Can you get real Christmas trees delivered to your house?
4)Can you buy parsnips in the US? (these are my 6 year old daughters favourite)
I am a real believer that when you are in another country you should eat the local fodder. But I have to make Christmas day very traditional for my little girl - we have to let santa know we will be on our jollies this year!
Once again sorry for being too organised, but it will put my mind at rest.
Thanks everyone in advance!:)
Andrea
1) Yes they do have turkey at Christmas but I don't know about fresh as we never do any cooking!
2) No they don't have Christmas puddding and normally you can't take it as it contains fruit and an animal product (suet). You could try but you'd have to declare it at Customs so be prepared for it to be confiscated. You'd probably be able to find one to buy at a store that sells speciality British goods though.
3) Don't know about delivered but real Christmas trees are on sale on the 192. They're usually in spare land areas and look out for a large white tent! The normal thing to do seems to be to strap/rope it to the car roof or have it sticking out of the boot/trunk. They don't seem to have the same regulations about transporting things as we do here.
4) Never seen them but that doesn't mean that they don't exist, although whether they have the same name I don't know.
I know you'll probably think this is a daft suggestion but why don't you go for a traditional American Christmas instead of transporting your British Christmas? You can always have your British Christmas meal either before you go or when you come back and you can have a new experience of how Americans celebrate with their Christmas fare.
When we were there for Easter you could buy prepacked fresh turkeys at Walmart and publix. They were made by Butterball although they all seemed to be mainly medium sized,weighing about 9-10Lb.
Mum had decided that as Easter Sunday was our rest day she would cook Easter lunch The turkey was very good and we all loved the american stuffing.
When we were out last Christmas we bought a chicken, but they did have Turkeys as well.
For desert we bought a large mincemeat pie and had that with cream. It was really nice. I think we got parsnips, but can't remember? I will have to ask my husband. I am sure he will!
For the benifit of future guests we decided to buy a seven foot artificial christmas tree with over 600 lights already attached, you just stack it together, pull doen the branches and plug in[msnsmile2] We bought some decorations for it from the UK, plus some extra ones out there and then sat back and enjoyed it. If you have already booked somewhere up ask the owners as they might already have a tree for you to use. I know the people who have booked ours up for Christmas where delighted to find out that they would have a Christmas tree. Some of the owners really go to town with lights outside too! We did not get around to that this time. Maybe in the future, but the rest of the neighbourhood made up for it.
Some of the house you would not believe. It is worth going over at Christmas just to see them [msnwink]
We put out a carrot and a drink for Santa and his reindeer as we do at home, and my son recieved a special "Thank you" from Santa himself[msnwink][msnwink]
andrewmckay5
07-07-2004, 20:29
We're out this christmas and looking forward to the Celebration snow!!
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by andrewmckay5
We're out this christmas and looking forward to the Celebration snow!!
[/quote]
What is the Celebration snow - presumably it is from a machine but when is it good to go and see. We are out 16th Dec - 2nd Jan
Andrea
Are you in Orlando for the whole holiday Andrew or doing spending some time at the Gulf?
It's never to early to talk about Christmas!!
Haven't seen any 2004 dates for the Celebration Snow falls but last year, they had nightly snowfalls over Thanksgiving (28-30 Nov) and for the whole of December. It's something I'd love to experience. Has anyone got any pictures?
I take that back, it looks like the dates have been picked for 2004.
Snowfalls from 26th November to 31st December.
Here's the Town of Celebration Website for more info on events and times etc. but I'm sure someone will post with some more info for you.
http://www.celebrationfl.com/market_street/plenty_to_do.html
andrewmckay5
07-07-2004, 21:49
Hi Ruth,
flying out on the 18th for 3 nights in Orlando and then down to the Gulf.I'm flying back on the 2nd but the rest of the family are staying on till the 8th-last 2 nights backin Orlando.
I have the Celebration leaflet here and aswell as snow ther is photos with santa every night and "pet" photos with santa every wednesday!!! Plus strolling carolers and holiday entertainment.
andrew
Thank you everyone.
We are out to see our newly built home in August and the idea of returning again in December, I can't wait. We went to Lapland two years ago, so my daughter has quite high expectations of Christmas!
It will be great to see some snow - because we never seem to get any in the UK when we want it!:D
Thanks once again
Andrea
We have now spent two holidays in Orlando at christmas - it is FANTASTIC, we all had a great time. During our first visit we were maried on Christmas Eve and the second visit was for the completion of our home - both very memorable experiences.
You can buy Turkey, I can't remember seeing fresh ones, but they definitly had lots of frozen ones, - all sizes.
My mother brought 12 mini christmas puds across - I don't know if she declared them, but would have thought that the dog's would have sniffed them out if she hadn't - Anyhow she didn't seem to have any trouble !
As already said you can buy trees, they sell them everywhere including the supermarkets - we bought a fibre optic one which is rather nice.
Couldn't say about the parsnips - sorry, I seem to think I have seen them but couldn't be sure.
We told our children that santa would leave big presents at home and we did all the shopping and wrapping before we left for big things and bought smaller presents while we were across. We also wrote to santa so that he knew where we would be. Our children are 13, 7 and 3 so Santa and christmas are very important to us all - so I know why you are getting yourself organised !
You will all have such a great time and in your new home also.
Andrea, here are a couple of pictures I took last Christmas of the "snow" and Christmas Tree at Celebration.
http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums/Data/karen/20047821405_Celebration-Snow.jpg
http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums/Data/karen/200478214047_Celebration-Xmas-Tree.jpg
the pictures look great karen, got me excited now we hope to be staying in our villa for the first time at christmas about 8 of us hope to be going our kids are alot older 15,17 & 20 but they still get excited, celebration looks a must for christmas eve,
just out of curiosity what would the menu be for a traditional american christmas dinner:D:D
Tony
Karen, those photos are terrific. The Celebration Snow or Autumn leaf fall is something that I've always wanted to see.
As to Sully's question about a traditional American Christmas menu, I too am intrigued. I'm hoping you can answer a question I've had for a while. I was invited to ThanksGiving Dinner and made the faux pas of removing a bowl of pink Blancmange from the table to make room for the Veggies. Apparently it was supposed to be eaten with the main meal, it was very sweet but I still don't know what it was. Hopefully your traditional US menus will include it.
The pictures are superb and remind me of what I will be missing this Christmas as we are unfortunately not going to be able to go to Florida this year and have to stay here.
Last year our son was studying in America and suffering English food withdrawal pangs and requested Christmas puddings be taken out to him at Christmas. We got in touch with the correct department and sent them the recipes we use for Christmas pudding and mincemeat. They cleared them for travel as they were made not using suet and we used butter instead. Tasted fine. We did take a copy of the e-mail with us in case we had any problems on entry but sailed through no problems.
We also have a Christmas tree that with lights which we have left available for guests use this Christmas.
Glad you like the photos. Thank you for your comments[msnsmile2]
Unfortunatly I do not really know the full details of a traditional US menu. Hopefully one of our stateside cousins can help out there[msnwink]
I have seen references to Winter Park on the Christmas section. Could anyone tell us what happens here? I am so excited about going out for Xmas. Blott, could you advise what the difference is between Xmas there & here? We have 4 teenagers & they are really looking forward to it
Remember that the USA is a mix of many nationalities and each brings their own food to the Christmas celebrations. But here's a bunch of Christmas food for you http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/christmas/index.htm
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by blott
Remember that the USA is a mix of many nationalities and each brings their own food to the Christmas celebrations. But here's a bunch of Christmas food for you http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/christmas/index.htm
[/quote]
Seems odd there would be a Yorkshire Pudding recipe on there Blott:D[}:)]
http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/christmasdin/yorpud.htm
yorkie puds with christmas dinner is a must;):D:D
Tony
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by dbrook
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by blott
Remember that the USA is a mix of many nationalities and each brings their own food to the Christmas celebrations. But here's a bunch of Christmas food for you http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/christmas/index.htm
[/quote]
Seems odd there would be a Yorkshire Pudding recipe on there Blott:D[}:)]
http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/christmasdin/yorpud.htm
[/quote]Well, I did say there was a mix of nationalities and the British are one of them! :D
I'm almost certain that pumpkin something is part of Christmas but I couldn't see any recipes for it so perhaps I got that wrong?