There are a number of seemingly strange things we do at Christmas time that have wormed their way to the status of tradition. When you stop to think about them from time to time, they really are a bit odd.

Or when you teach students from another country who have no idea what a ‘bon-bon’ even is, then you start to question what some of these standard festive activities must look like to the outsider.

You do also have to wonder who first decided that wearing coloured paper hats was a good way to remember the birth of the Messiah.

Here’s a clip from Michael McIntyre, humorously reflecting on some of the traditions that occur at the Christmas table and on other special days in the Christian calendar (that suggest a propensity for eating).

I was amused.

Yours in a coloured paper hat,

Alison