No more "chestnuts roasting on an open fire"??

Tradition: The missing ingredient in the Christmas pud

Last updated at 12:30pm on 11th December 2007 Comments (4)

Coins in the Christmas pudding are heading for the history books

Coins in the Christmas pudding and chestnuts roasting on an open fire are heading for the history books as Britons reinvent their Christmas celebrations.

One in four of us will be sending up fireworks on Christmas Day and two thirds of adults will treat themselves to a glass of champagne at breakfast.

But only three per cent will put coins in their puddings and just five per cent will be bothered to roast chestnuts.

According to a survey yesterday from UKTV, stocking fillers are also disappearing - 69 per cent of the 3,000 questioned said they had no knowledge of the tradition of adding walnuts and tangerines to Christmas stockings.

Christmas cake may be going the same way with more than half the country preferring alternatives such as trifle, chocolate logs, stollen and panatone.

But even though a family game of charades is likely to lose out to an interactive DVD or computer game, all is not lost.

Decorating the tree and giving presents remain firm favourites.

Brian Turner, the celebrity chef, said: "We may be in danger of losing some of our culinary traditions - such as putting a penny in a pudding, roasting chestnuts and filling stockings with tangerines and nuts.

"But there are lots of new rituals such as the champagne breakfast and eating stollen and panatone that we can really embrace."