It's crept up on us but with the Frankfurt market here in town, seasonal adverts and decorations throughout the city - we can safely say we're in the Christmas period. Plenty of time honoured traditions for many families. I'm here to see which ones people here treasure most.
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00:00 Christmas for us is really special, but I am a mother of nine children.
00:05 So as a mum of nine kids, the most important things is time and love.
00:10 So maybe it's not all about the presents, it's not all about what you can give to somebody maybe, in those sort of ways.
00:18 I think it's traditional for us that as long as the kids have got some sort of presents,
00:22 and they understand why we haven't got much, because we've been through a lot of diversity.
00:27 And that's true, we just got housed and stuff, before that we were homeless and things.
00:32 So to us the most important thing is to be together as family, spend time with my mum.
00:38 What makes me feel Christmassy? I think Christmas is for children, but it's a lot about Christianity,
00:44 and that is being stifled in this country for very different reasons.
00:48 And I think that's very sad that even schools can't teach Christianity anymore.
00:56 Really the only Christmas tradition in a non-Christian household now for me is just being around family,
01:06 and being with friends, and sharing that time of year to just come together and have a nice time,
01:13 and forget about the worries of the rest of the year.
01:17 Yeah, so for me it's spending time with family for Christmas, that's the biggest thing.
01:22 When we grew up we didn't have much money and stuff like that, so our days were just having family around.
01:27 Because there was a lot of us, it would look like there was a lot of Christmas presents,
01:30 but we'd only have a few each, but we kind of liked that.
01:32 Dinner time was the most important obviously, they always say this.
01:35 I'm a food lover as well, so it's a great time for me that, seeing the land of the grandads,
01:40 and just having good memories on that day, because you only get it once a year.
01:43 So for me that's the most important, definitely not the presents so much, just the family time.
01:47 And that's it, yeah, perfect man.
01:50 So I think the market's definitely a sign of obviously Christmas, and it feels very Christmassy in Birmingham.
01:56 With all the markets, and the lights and everything like that, so I think that's a really nice start to Christmas in the Midlands.
02:05 So obviously Christmas comes down to, it's a religious tradition for a lot of people,
02:13 but with England being so multicultural now, it's not only that,
02:17 it's a tradition for everyone, so me and my family, we're not Christian.
02:21 However, every Christmas, we go to the old people's home next door, we all go for a drink at the pub with them.
02:28 It's just nice, it's something, that's how I know it's Christmas time, when it's ready.
02:32 And you look around, you'll see everyone in their Christmas jumpers and that, some people like it, some people don't.
02:37 But it's just a feeling that you get of the year, because you know it's about a time where the year's about to end,
02:43 things are about to reset, and it's probably one of the only times you get that time with your family where the whole of England's closed.
02:52 Nothing's open, so people are not outside, they're forced to be inside.
02:56 And you're with family, you're with loved ones, and that's the type of things that we live.
03:00 late.
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