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What gets you feeling Christmassy? Scoffing packets of mince pies? A mad dash down Oxford Street on Christmas Eve? To get you in the festive mood, Time Out staff share their traditions from this time of year. Spoiler: they mostly involve eating and drinking. We’re not sorry.
A festive pint
I go to The Myddleton Arms (ideally the fireside table) with my idiot dog-son Kronus and drink a Pint of Christmas. This is when you pour a shot of Tia Maria (or any coffee liqueur) into a pint of Guinness. It has mildly hallucinogenic qualities and tastes of unalloyed festive cheer. Joe Mackertich, editor
A Christmas pub crawl
A few years ago, a couple of friends and I decided that December – with its office parties and mulled wine soirées – wasn’t quite boozy enough, and planned a 12 Pubs of Christmas pub crawl with all our old uni friends and former housemates, on a Saturday a few weeks before Christmas. Since then, it’s become a bit of a tradition. Each year, we plan a new route, taking in 12 great public houses in a different area of London, and invite all our old and new pals. We don’t do any of that lame organised fun stuff like costumes and rules. It’s just a great way of catching up with everyone while also getting better acquainted with one of London’s finest assets: its boozers. Maybe this year we’ll actually make it round the whole dozen. Rosie Hewitson, events editor
A festive soundtrack that’s actually nice to listen to
I’m such a scrooge that I don’t have any London Christmas traditions. But the one festive thing that never fails to enchant me is the Peanuts cartoon ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’. I watch it every December, partly because I love the characters – glass-half-empty Charlie Brown, Linus the philosopher and, of course, Snoopy the dog who thinks he’s human – and partly because, if anything is going to make me feel Christmassy, it’s Vince Guaraldi’s piano jazz soundtrack. This year, I’m going to a concert of that very music at the Royal Albert Hall, so my favourite Christmas tunes will come alive! I’m hoping it becomes an annual event, so this scrooge can finally have a London Christmas tradition to get excited about. Sarah Cohen, deputy chief sub editor
A massive Turkish feast
When my friends and I were about 14, we decided we should have a pre-Christmas meal together. We were skint secondary school students, so we each took turns to take over our family kitchens and ‘host’. The first year, we made an elaborate dinner of... pesto pasta. Eventually, we progressed to making a proper roast. As we got older, we realised we couldn’t be arsed to cook and none of us had enough space in our tiny flats to fit everyone anyway. The tradition is still going strong, though, we’ve just adapted it. Now, we go for a big Turkish meal instead – this year we’ll be at Antepliler on Green Lanes. It’s the ideal antidote to all the stuffing and gravy, but still leaves you feeling Christmas-day full. Which is more than I can say for the pesto pasta. Isabelle Aron, features editor
A mulled wine walk
Arguably closer in flavour to a hot WKD Blue than actual wine, mulled wine is not for everyone but it is for me. One of the only good bits about Christmas 2020 was the expanded availability of takeaway hot grape. I had many nice walks around London Fields with overpriced and suspiciously grainy (?!) cups of it and they were lovely. I’ve decided to continue this new walking X-mull tradition into 2021. I’ve heard the caff in Richmond Park does a very good brew. Kate Lloyd, executive editor
A steamy hotpot dinner
Picture the scene: 15 ravenous, sweaty friends fussing over a table filled to the brim with food and making a great big mess. Taking centre stage are three big cauldrons bubbling with rich, flavoursome broth: numbing chilli mala, spicy, umami-packed tomato, and creamy seafood soup bases. There’s an emergency extra fold-out table to accommodate a mass of all-you-can-eat ingredients, such as instant ramen, spam and enoki mushrooms. This is what eating at Happy Lamb Hot Pot is like. I know dipping raw food into a simmering communal pot isn’t very Covid-friendly, but this was a pre-pandemic tradition, okay? Having a hotpot is a holy, glorious ritual that soothes the soul, warms your freezing bones and leaves you so stuffed that you’re bursting with happiness. There’s nothing really Christmassy about it, but it’s my favourite winter activity. Angela Hui, food and drink writer
Opening presents to the sounds of London legends Chas & Dave
There’s a tradition that takes place at my in-laws’ house every Christmas Day. It takes place far away in the midlands but it embraces the most London thing that ever existed: Chas & Dave. Each year, we open Christmas presents to the sounds of the cockney duo, and we wouldn’t have it any other way (apart from one sad year when we lost the CD). It’s not a Chas & Dave Christmas album – that would be far too predictable. It’s classic Chas & Dave at their best – ‘The Sideboard Song’, ‘Snooker Loopy’, ‘Ain’t No Pleasing You’. I scoffed at this tradition the first time I was subjected to it, thinking: ‘What kind of Christmas have I walked in to?!’ But I soon changed my mind. The added level of joy you gain by listening to Chas & Dave while unwrapping that new pair of socks is something else. Ben Rowe, picture desk manager
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