Christmas - both sides of the Pond

[angieh]

There is an advert on UK tv atm using lyrics from a song by Johnny Mathis that set me wondering .........

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Ev'rywhere you go;
Take a look in the five and ten glistening once again
With candy canes and silver lanes aglow.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Toys in ev'ry store
But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be
On your own front door.

I have no idea what "the five and ten" is or are - can one of our American friends help me out please?

Then I started wondering how many other differences we could find to anything Christmassy either side of the Pond.

Anyone else????

[Mags]

Could the the Five and Ten be a retail store selling a wide variety of in expensive articles ................ similar to our Poundland stores here?

As for differences across the Pond, I've noticed that our American members tend to call Christmas - "Holiday".....

[yola]

Yes, I think they also call it a 'Five and Dime'?? It's a cheap store that sells lots of different things a la Woolworths Eileen, HappyKatz, Tink . . . help!!

[Moli]

They have a 99 cent store over here, similar to our 99p one...

[dandysmom]

Spot on: five and ten or five and dime stores are/were stores with a huge variety of almost everything you could think of, inexpensively priced. Murphys and Woolworths were the largest and best known. Murphys went out of business shortly after I retired; miss it very much!! I believe Woolworths still operates; not here in Washington, unfortunately.

Murphys used to have a lunch counter where you could get a light meal (hot dog, soup, soda, etc); and they roasted their own nuts...walking outside the aroma of peanuts would lure you inside! They sold pets also many years ago: you could buy goldfish, baby chicks at Easter, budgies, etc. My mom's budgie came from there. Oh, and plants also ....
Oh wow, did not mean to take you down memory lane!

[Moli]

That is what I really like here, the shops sell everything and anything, and are much cheaper than the UK, and have a better selection...

[angieh]

I'm afraid Woolworth's is on the way out now too Eileen - they used to roast their own peanuts too and I remember the gorgeous smell. There was something very nice about those peanuts bought and eaten still warm!

Well, that's cleared up my query about the "five and ten" - must mean dollars though, not cents surely?

[yola]

Cents Angie (a dime is 10 cents)!

[angieh]

Coo - I'd forgotten about dimes!

[Tink]

LOL..i tried googling and this is what someone's blog said who moved from the UK to USA about his take on christmas:

"They don't do Christmas Crackers. 'nuff said. And there are Americans out there right now reading this thinking 'What the he** are Christmas Crackers"? Brilliant. Oh, and don't expect a batter/yorkshire pudding either with your gravy. You're going to get a weird sweet potato and marshmellow combo mix instead, duh.

Father Christmas / Santa Claus

There's also no Boxing Day in the USA.

We have Fairy Lights, Americans just have Christmas Lights

Mince pies in the USA are called sweet pies

They don't use the word pantomine

The first time I went to a carol service at Christmas I was rather confused ... There are at two different major melodies for the song 'Away in a Manger' one, "Cradle Song"[1], more commonly encountered in the United Kingdom; the other, "Mueller"[2], more commonly found in the United States. The same goes for 'Oh Little Town of Bethlehem' which has a completely differen tune. "

That's all i could find