Christmas & New Year’s Away from Home
After a month in the United Arab Emirates, we are still enjoying life and exploring new sights and ways of living. December in the UAE was the first time we as a family celebrated Christmas and New Year’s in a very different setting from the Northern European winter – and it was quite an experience.
Christmas Songs, Palms and Desert
Will it feel like Christmas when we are not celebrating at home, when it is it warm outside and when we are in a Muslim country? And will Santa be able to find us? These were some of the main concerns Niklas and Frederik had before we left for Dubai in early December. The Christmas month is as magical for them as for other children and while excited about travelling to the sun and warmer climate, these questions kept popping up.
After a few weeks, we could conclude the following: Christmas decorations, trees and candy are also found in abundance in Dubai, Christmas songs control the English-language radio stations and you meet Santa Claus in every mall. Untypical: having to wear sunscreen every day in December and being able to jump into the outside pool all the time, songs about white Christmas when all we see is sun, desert and palms, and of course being away from all the Christmas gatherings with family and friends which take place during December (although even in Denmark/Germany these would have been restricted due to current COVID numbers).
Christmas Eve with a Twist
For Christmas and New Year’s Eve, we had decided to explore Abu Dhabi, which is just an hour’s drive from Dubai. For Christmas, we had booked a hotel apartment so we would be able to cook on Christmas Eve and make the evening resemble a bit what we had at home. Those plans were quickly discarded as we checked in to our hotel and found a limited equipped kitchenette and a working desk with just two chairs instead of a dining table with enough room for a family of four!
However, this turned out to be an advantage as we took on the approach: When away from home, don’t try to imitate being at home but find new ways of doing things – and include traditions to the extent possible.
Hence, on December 24 our first activity was a trip to the beach where we jumped in great waves and had lots of fun. For lunch, we managed to cook the traditional Danish Risengrød (after a long search for the right grain of rice in the days before….) with an almond in and Frederik and Michael won the Mandelgave (a gift for the ones finding the whole almond in the Risengrød). This was followed by Pakkeleg (the Gift Game), another tradition where you play with dices for small gifts and most importantly steal gifts from each other. Rather than playing this after dinner as we would normally do, we played out in the afternoon sun wearing summer clothes.
We went for a peaceful dinner which had nothing to do with a traditional Christmas dinner but was just as cozy and it was great to eat outside on Christmas Eve. Back in the hotel apartment, the kids’ last big concern was resolved as it turned out that Santa did indeed know that we were in Abu Dhabi and had delivered a few presents while we were out for dinner. Luckily for all of us, the presents were fewer and smaller than in earlier years as they would otherwise not have fit into our already overpacked car when we had to leave for the next destination.
New Year’s Eve: Catching up with Friends
During the last two years of COVID, there were many friends we have not been able to meet up with for a long time due to limited travel. Since this summer where we started our time off, we have been able to make up for this and met many friends whom we had not seen for very long. New Year’s Eve was one of these times – by complete coincidence, friends living in Bangkok were in Abu Dhabi at the same time as we were, and we arranged to spend the days around New Year’s together.
Having travelled on our own for a month, we all enjoyed catching up with friends and had lots of fun exploring Yas Island, where we were staying, including its many theme parks such as Warner Brothers’ World, Yas Water World and Ferrari World. And we had a great in-room hotel party with take-away pizza, locally bought beer and wine and 80s music to ring in the New Year!
We will all long remember Christmas and New Year’s 2021/2022 – for being uniquely different, for being great fun, for being relaxed and spontaneous and for being a holiday where we spent much more time together. Fingers crossed that 2022 will offer us all many such experiences.
