We’ve covered how Muslims spend Christmas as well as the Jewish community.
But do Sikhs spend the day any differently?
Although, like Muslim and Jewish people, Sikhs don’t celebrate the religious meaning behind Christmas, the festivities are a good time to spend time with family and eat everything you see.
We spoke to several Sikhs about what they actually do on the day. Here’s what they said.
Death is a natural part of life but that doesn’t stop it hitting you like breezeblock to the face when it comes.
When you lose someone incredibly close to you, there is no pain like it.
No words offer comfort, no actions make the pain less, but if you’re heading into your first holiday period without someone… Read the full story
We’ve long dreamed of visiting bunny island, cat island, and puppy island.
Basically, any place that’s overrun with animals sounds absolutely glorious. Just think of all the tummy rubs and tiny paws.
It looks like we may have to add Prigorodny, just outside Barnaul, Siberia, to our list of places we need to visit.
A Russian woman who owns a farm in Prigorodny has found her land absolutely overrun with cats. Hundreds of cats. Hundreds of big, super fluffy Siberian cats, to be exact.
It all started back in 2004, when Alla Lebedeva and her husband Sergey looked after a cat called Siberian cat… Read the full story
Seasonal affective disorder – often referred to quite fittingly as SAD, is a type of depression that comes and goes in a seasonal pattern.
It’s sometimes known as the ‘winter blues’, because the symptoms become more severe during the darker, colder months.
Symptoms begin in the autumn, as the days get shorter, and they’re most severe during December.
Symptoms of SAD typically include a persistent low mood, a loss of interest in everyday activities, irritability, feelings of guilt and worthlessness and feeling lethargic.
Unfortunately, with these symptoms being most severe during December, it can be hard for someone who has SAD… Read the full story
One mother who absolutely can’t stand doing Elf on the Shelf – but sucks it up every year for the sake of her kids – found a solution to her problem. By accidentally burning her elf.
Brittany Mease has been moving Elfis around every Christmas for five years. However, this year he arrived on 1 December with a broken leg, and blamed it on the kids for leaving their toys out. He had apparently ‘tripped’ and broken his leg – and he even had a cast on it.
Elfis – aka Brittany – left a note for the kids explaining that he was on strict bed-rest orders and couldn’t… Read the full story
While we spend the best part of the last few months of the year getting excited for Christmas, there is one good thing about it coming to an end – and that’s the Boxing Day sales.
The high streets flood with people looking for a bargain, rushing around for the best discounts on the snazziest stuff. And of course, you can do all of this without the rush – thanks to the beauty of online shopping.
But one retailer won’t be taking part in the online sales – and you’ll be gutted to know that’s Lush.
Lush’s decision to avoid an online sale doesn’t come as too much of… Read the full story
If you’re looking for some Christmas makeup inspiration – and by that we mean if our eye makeup and lip art guides weren’t enough for you – look no further, because sequin lips are here and they’re as dazzling as ever.
Sequin lips are just what they sound like – lips covered in sequins.
Vlada Haggerty shared a number of sequin-themed looks to her Instagram, a style she created in a collaboration with Buzzfeed.
She created the styles in different colours, including red, pink and gold.
Vlada used liquid lipstick from Jeffree Star Cosmetics before covering her lips in sequins from an art supply store.
35-year-old Kimberly D. Hemperly recently held a surprise party for her husband, Jason, 38, to celebrate his vasectomy.
Kimberly and Jason, who are from Washington State and have two children together, a daughter, 4, and a 5-month-old son, decided after the birth of their son that they were happy as a family of four – and decided against having any more children.
‘We were fortunate enough to be blessed with one of each and saw no need to keep trying for more,’ Kimberly told Metro.co.uk.
Jason underwent his vasectomy procedure on Thursday, deciding to have it done so that Kimberly wouldn’t have to go under the knife again – given… Read the full story
It’s Christmas Eve Eve, and we’re super excited to be able to get into our pyjamas from tomorrow night for two days of absolute bliss doing nothing but indulging on Christmas foods, drinking copious amounts of prosecco and lounging around watching Christmas films.
And Missguided has just launched a new range of Disney-inspired t-shirts to help us do all of the above in total comfort.
Missguided has followed in the footsteps of Primark, who’ve blessed us with a number of Disney-inspired fashion items, including Beauty and the Beast slippers, Eyeore slankets and Beauty and the Beast-inspired clothing.
An 8-year-old dog has landed himself an office job thanks to his proud owner.
Sarge, a shepherd mix, works at All Phase, an insurance restoration company in Littleton, Colorado.
While Sarge loves going to work to see his coworkers, he has some very important duties to carry out around the office – including helping with workplace morale and acting as a mascot for the team, as his owner, Jennifer Gibbs, is busy managing the accounts.
Jennifer’s family adopted Sarge when he was just 7 weeks old. He’d been turned over to animal control by a backyard breeder who couldn’t afford to care for him.
While Sarge has enjoyed a loving family… Read the full story
If you’re yet to decide on an outfit for all the post-Christmas and New Year’s parties you’re going to be attending right up until 1 January, you may want to think pink – because we’ve found the perfect purse to accompany it.
Introducing, the Secretly Smashed Cross Body Bag.
It’s a glittery pink bag that’s decorated in the words ‘Secretly Smashed’ – oh and it turns into a flask, so that you can continue to pre-drink as you queue up to get into a club.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year – unless you work in retail, in which case it’s a living hell.
Christmas Eve is traditionally a day to spend with family, relaxing, frantically wrapping presents you forgot about and having the cosiest of times as you prepare for the copious amounts of food to be consumed the following day.
But spare a thought for those who have to work in the nightmarish environment that is a shop during this ‘wonderful’ day.
From the moment the shop opens there are already a small group of ravenous… Read the full story
Before some bright spark came up with a clever advertising slogan and made loving or hating Marmite a national pastime, Brussels sprouts surely held the crown for ‘Most Divisive Food’.
Childhood memories of being force-fed feet-flavoured mini-cabbages persist as a traumatic experience for a large proportion of the British population.
Pale, soggy balls of sadness left until last, not because they are so tasty, but because their owner hopes to escape them.
While some relish the distinct and bitter taste of the sprout that’s become so synonymous with Christmas dinner, it’s a… Read the full story
We know that the lungs are very delicate organs – which is why lung cancer is such a miserable disease.
But new research suggests that you might be able to reverse some lung damage, even if it’s smoking-related.
Scientists from John Hopkins School of Public Health claim that eating two tomatoes and more than three portions of apples a day might slow down the decline in lung function.
But it only works when both fruits are fresh – canned alternatives don’t work.
In the UK currently, around 1.2 million people are living with some kind of lung cancer, and 90% of those are thought to have smoked, so this new research could… Read the full story
If you think our obsession with spending all our mortgage money on coffee is a recent phenomenon, think again.
People have been blowing their pay packets on espressos for time.
And here’s proof: an ’18th century Starbucks’ has just been discovered in Cambridge.
More than 500 pieces of 1700s drinkware have been found in an unused cellar at St John’s College in Cambridge.
It was thought to have been once owned by a married couple called the Claphams, who run the place between the 1740s and 1770s – and the mugs and vessels still have their name emblazoned on them after all these years.
And that’s rare, according to Craig… Read the full story
Are you hoping to have a big family?
Do you want a little Von Trapp situation of your own some day?
Well, friend, you might want to keep that IUD in because according to a new study, we all turn into gremlins after having two kids.
Yep, having more than two sprogs renders women less attractive than their smaller family contemporaries.
The study, led by Jagiellonian University in Poland and involving scientists from Bath University, asked more than 500 people to judge photos of middle-aged women.
And those with more kids were deemed to be the ‘least beautiful’.
Why? Because going through the rigmarole of child rearing takes its toll… Read the full story
Picture this: You’re at a holiday party catching up with friends as you scroll through Instagram.
You see that everyone on your feed is also out having fun, only they have pictures to prove it. So you gather your friends for a group shot.
At the end of the night, you go back to Instagram to post and marvel at other people’s punny captions and perfectly-filtered photos. You can’t quite put a finger on why, but you feel left out. Why should you, though? After all, you did have a fun night of your own.
Does this sound familiar? If so, you’re not alone. A study covered by TIME in May explained that Instagram contributes to ‘social comparison’ and may actually be the worst social media platform for mental health.
According to a survey taken by 1,500 teens and young adults, the platform causes great anxiety related to FOMO, otherwise known as ‘fear of missing out’. This makes sense, considering that… Read the full story
Cats don’t give a crap what day it is.
It’s Christmas every day when you’ve got furniture to scratch, Dreamies to eat and humans to pet you.
And they definitely don’t care if you’ve spent hours carefully, tastefully decorating your Christmas tree.
For Christmas trees are basically glorified scratch posts with baubles hung for their entertainment.
Every part of a Christmas tree presents new and exciting toys:
It doesn’t matter how old you are, Christmas involves some unbreakable traditions.
And the main one is eating chocolate any time, any where, any how.
In fact, according to a recent poll by Ladbrokes Casino, having chocolate for breakfast is the UK’s favourite thing about the festive holidays.
More than 2,000 Brits were asked what they loved best about Chrimbo and researchers found that we love three things above all else: breakfast chocolate, Christmas coffee cups and time off work.
One in 20 also said their favourite thing was that Christmas is ‘an excuse for a kiss under the mistletoe’, while 10% voted for post-Christmas dinner naps and the… Read the full story
Divorce sucks at Christmas.
Don’t get me wrong – divorce sucks at any time of the year – but it’s worse at Christmas, what with all the singing and the happy snowmen and emphasis on family togetherness.
My parents got divorced when I was 13, which means I have now had well over double the number of ‘split’ Christmases (Splitmases, if you will) than Christmases with my family intact.
I have learned a lot, namely that it… Read the full story
