How do you celebrate the holidays? Are you all about homemade baubles and making sure that your tree is perfectly preened or are you happy with dusting off the same old spiky artificial number you use every year? We asked the Mob team what their family gets up to – and, most important, what they eat – during Christmas.
Mob’s Christmas Traditions
Want to know how the Mob celebrates Christmas? We asked the team how they tend to celebrate the holiday with their family. Did someone say carolling?!
The Mob squad pre-Christmas.
Sophie Wyburd, Head of Food
“The extended family comes to visit on Christmas Day, so Christmas Eve is the time where me, my sisters, and my parents get to celebrate with just us. We tend to go and do a silly activity – previous years have seen us going bowling, doing karaoke, and going on ice dodgems – then heading out for some dinner anywhere that is still open as London winds down for Christmas. It marks the beginning of relaxing into the Christmas break for me, and it is always an evening filled with laughter and lots of beer.”
Lizzie Davis, Senior Partnerships Manager
“My family and I always spend Christmas with our friends that we grew up with. We never do turkey and always theme our Christmas dinners. A few years ago we did Italian, and this year we're going for steak. The mums are amazing cooks and my friend, George, used to be a chef so the food is always delicious. The day normally ends up quite messy… one year someone chipped a tooth and I dented the ceiling while attempting the Dirty Dancing lift.”
Toby Clarke, Video Producer
“In our family, we have this thing called 'The Christmas Drive' where we decorate the inside of our car as if it were a Christmas tree. With excessive tinsel, baubles from the ceiling, Santa hats, an angel on the dashboard – the works! Then we drive around central London looking at all the light displays drinking mulled wine and rum and loudly singing Christmas songs. It gets very rowdy after a few Christmas drinks and is a lot of fun.”
Danny Dudas, Personal Assistant
“I am from a Hungarian family. On Christmas Eve we don't usually eat meat. Typically we eat a traditional bean soup and something I could only describe as poppyseed bread pudding? Fish is also a popular alternative. On Christmas Day, we used to go to my grandparents’ house and spend some quality time together. Meals included various types of meats, Russian salad, and potato salad. And it's a must-have to eat sarma, a dish where mince and rice are mixed together before being wrapped in sour cabbage and cooked.”
Michael Sladden, Head of Operations
“Wake up, open presents, pick up gran, eat too much chocolate, dress nice, eat a huge lunch (we do chicken), go for a walk, get annoyed with gran for forcing us to watch the Queen’s speech and The Two Ronnies, drink alcohol, and fall asleep on the sofa.”
Jake Gauntlett, Head of Content
“The real Christmas tradition is sabotaging my day by going out for as long as possible on Christmas Eve. Then it’s an early call time for a fishy breakfast before crushing my mum at a board game. Next up, we skittle on down to a family friend's house for copious amounts of mulled everything and some delicious food before, in true Christmas spirit, the two daughters have a cataclysmic falling out rendering the rest of the night awkward and hilarious.”