The Big Smoke

Jon Randall

Jon Randall, 30s
Editor of Pentacle magazine, Pagan
'Winter Solstice or Yule on December 21 is our day. As it’s the shortest day and longest night of the year, we perform an all-night vigil; there’s an old superstition which said that the sun wouldn’t return [unless the ritual was performed]. There is also a big feast with about six members of the coven who come over. The other members have families and, so the kids don’t feel left out, they do also celebrate on Christmas Day. We exchange gifts and usually eat roast ham, baked goods and red wine. Someone always brings Pringles which are a last-minute contribution from a service station on the way. Then we have cakes and share a chalice of wine which is blessed by the high priest and priestess of the coven. Then we play games like snap-dragon, an old parlour game, where you flambé sultanas and try to take more out of the fire than your competitor. It's a great night. Feature continues

‘Then, on Christmas Day, I usually work and plan the year for the magazine. It is a day I give myself to think of my hopes for the next year. I used to do my VAT returns! Then I will probably cook some comfort food like roast beef and maybe have some other Pagans over to share the meal.

‘I don’t feel like I am missing out at all; it’s just not my day. London is a multicultural city and the diversity is nice. A lot of the time there will be shops open, staffed by people who don’t celebrate Christmas, so it lets everyone celebrate at different times. If everyone celebrated on the same day it would be very complicated.’
www.pentaclemagazine.org

Deiniol Heywood

Deiniol Heywood, 34
Curator of St John’s church, Hyde Park
‘The run-up to Christmas is relentless and hard work but is always really fun. We have lots of children in our parish so there are nativity plays, carol-singing and the vicar’s parties. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day go together for me as I work on both. At 5pm on Christmas Eve we have the Cribs Service for the kids which is attended by up to 150 children. Then it is Midnight Mass at 11.30pm which is a huge service with a great choir and a brass quartet playing. We have lots of local families, visitors from all different countries and the post-pub crowd. We also have people from different religions attending, often people from mixed-religion marriages. It adds up to a couple of hundred people and is a really great celebration which goes on for about an hour. I preach the sermon on Christmas Eve and the vicar presides over the Eucharist, then on Christmas Day we swap so that our sermons are fresh and original. I try and connect to people by relating to their lives and showing them that God coming into their world is fun and enjoyable.

‘On Christmas Day itself, the service starts at 10am and is geared towards families. It is nice for the parents as it gives them an hour off cooking and gets them out of the house. It is a special service and all the best stuff comes out for it. Then by lunchtime I am finished. The only problem is that I can’t go to visit my family because I am working and my mother is also a priest so she can’t come and see me because she is working too. We usually have a big, traditional meal in the afternoon but I am so tired that I always fall asleep in my turkey. This year we are going to eat out at a restaurant on Edgware Road, as many places are open and I know all the businesses. Often I will invite other clergy friends who are away from their family because they are also working. Then for the rest of the day it is the traditional Christmas with chocolates, relaxing in front of the telly. Even though I have to work, I love it as get to do everything: I see friends, eat and work. It is an enjoyable job even though I am knackered by 3pm on Christmas Day, but then who isn’t?’

Alison Scally

Alison Scally, 49
Head of services, Age Concern, Barking and Dagenham
‘This will be my first Christmas as a grandma so my 16-week-old grandson will be joining us when we go along to visit the Galleon Centre, which is where frail old people can come and spend Christmas Day. We have our present opening on Christmas Eve and then at 11.30am on Christmas morning my family will all head on down. I have two daughters aged 19 and 22 and all their lives they have come with me to visit people on Christmas Day. It is our own tradition and we try to bring the spirit of a family Christmas to people. There can be up to 24 older people and about four staff and we help out with the teas and dinner. It is a lovely relaxing day with gifts, games, music and lots of time to chat and eat mince pies. People like to reminisce and tell old stories and I like them to feel that they are part of something. The people who come to the Centre usually live on their own and are isolated and vulnerable so it is very important for them. I think that Christmas is the worst day to be all on your own and so I want to brighten someone’s life up for a few hours, as I am lucky enough to have my family around me.

‘At about 3pm we head home and do our own family bit. I have a husband who doesn’t like hot poultry so I cook the turkey on Christmas Eve and prepare the vegetables to make it easier the next day. I think Christmas is a time for tradition and I like to do all the extra bits and trimmings but it doesn’t take too long. We also go to Midnight Mass so that we are free on Christmas Day. It is definitely still a special day as we can all spend Christmas together but also help others.’

These centres rely on volunteers and donations (www.ageconcern.org.uk).

Christmas Day in numbers
Around 100,000 people in London work on Christmas Day.

140,000 work on Boxing Day, and around 145,000 on New Year's Day.

Those most likely to be working are care workers, members of the emergency services, customer services and technical-support workers.

2,952,000 Londoners get the Christmas period bank holidays off but aren't paid for them.

If you're not otherwise engaged, plenty of London charities are looking for keen volunteers over Christmas, including homeless charity Crisis (www.crisis.org.uk), the Alzheimer's Society (www.alzheimers.org.uk) and the Salvation Army (www.salvationarmy.org.uk).