Christmas is all about being with family and friends, which is not always possible for the

expatriates. However they still try their best to make the most out of this festive season by celebrating in their own special ways. Some expats talked to THT reminiscing how Christmas in celebrated back home and also shared their most cherished childhood memories.

Celebration with friends

Last year I wasn’t keeping well so I couldn’t celebrate Christmas, but this year I am planning to have a nice Christmas Eve with my Nepali friends. I have already kept two Christmas trees and I love decorating Christmas trees with lots of ornaments. My Nepali friends often invite me for Dashain and Tihar and I celebrate Christmas with them. I have already started inviting people for the Christmas Eve party.

‘Christmas in Kathmandu’ sounds so nice plus when you are with friends every occasion is fun. So, I never miss anything about America. People who help me around my house are like my family now and I like to spend Christmas with them also. Maya, one of my helpers has two daughters and I buy presents for them. On the day of Christmas we all gather together and exchange presents. I enjoy watching their reactions when they open their gifts. I play Christmas songs while opening the presents as it creates a festive ambience. About four years back they gave me a shawl and that is my favourite Christmas gift ever.

As for food I have taught Maya and now she cooks for Christmas. Earlier it was very difficult to find turkey’s in Nepal but now its easily available. So for Christmas I prefer to have stuffed turkey, pumpkin pies and sweet potatoes.

Childhood memories

Like any other child the best thing about Christmas for me were presents. I knew that Santa was supposed to come at night so I would sneak out in the middle of night to check if he had come.

Barbara Adams, Social Worker

Busy at work

When my children were small I used to have a small Christmas lunch at my house but now I mostly focus on my restaurant. I have a special menu for the Christmas Eve. I also decorate my restaurant for the festival. Although I bring new dishes every year there are couple of dishes that I always have in the Christmas menu. Foie gras a French speciality is something that I prepare myself every year. Then there is the Christmas log that is also a must for Christmas. Sometimes I am not able to get all the ingredients so I have to somehow manage and accommodate. This year my son is helping me out at the restaurant, he has just returned from France and is very good in the kitchen.

I believe Christmas is the same everywhere, people go to the mass and they put gifts under the Christmas tree or in stockings. Family and friends come together to celebrate the festival.

Childhood memories

I always liked opening the presents kept under the tree, I remember once I got this electric cooking range for my doll, I was around five or six years old and I just loved that gift. I can also never forget my Christmas in Kathmandu as I got married on December 26.

Caroline, Owner, Chez Caroline Salonde

Thé Café Restaurant

A summery Christmas

Christmas is a bit different in Australia as its summer there at this time. Australia has its own typical Christmas image, which is different from other places. Like Santa on a surfboard and six white kangaroos pulling the sleigh instead of reindeers. We even have a local term for that — ’six white boomers’.

I am not used to cold climate during Christmas so it’s a bit unusual for me. However one thing common about Christmas everywhere is being with your family. For me Christmas means having a relaxing day with my family and I also go to the church on Christmas morning. Last year I had gone to Australia to celebrate with my family, but this year I am going to Manila to celebrate Christmas with my wife’s family. It is also a day to remember the less fortunate people, last year my wife and I served traditional Christmas lunch, with a charity group, for the homeless people in Canberra.

Due to the weather even the food is a bit different in Australia, we eat a lot of salad, fish and prawns or cold meat with salad. Personally I don’t like turkey. Then there are other traditional dishes like minced pies, plum pudding among others.

When I am not in Australia during Christmas I miss being with my family. Most families start decorating their Christmas trees from early December, however my daughter doesn’t let us do that until her birthday is over.

Childhood memories

When I was a little child I would prepare for the arrival of Santa. Children often put up stockings for gifts but I used to put up pillow covers. I remember I was very greedy. My mum once took me to a departmental store and there I asked Santa for a helicopter. I was very disappointed to find a toy helicopter under the tree that Christmas, I wanted a real one. During my childhood it used to be a family day as my grandparents would come and we all would go to the beach.

Graeme Lade, Australian Ambassador

Traditional family affair

Christmas is a very important time of the year and I try my best to be with my family. However this time I won’t be able to go back home due to my packed schedule. And it is very rare that I am away from home during Christmas. I won’t be doing much except for attending mass.

People from different parts of France celebrate Christmas in different ways. For instance in Provence people celebrate the traditional Latin way. They have a tradition called Living Christmas, where people enact the birth of Jesus in church. While in Paris people go for family dinners on Christmas Eve and then for midnight mass. On the day of Christmas they have a family lunch and open their gifts.

I am missing the whole Christmas ambience of France. The streets in Paris are covered with lights,

there are strings of lights everywhere. Big department stores are all decorated

for Christmas and everybody starts shopping from

early December.

We also have 12 traditional food items especially prepared for Christmas, this is a Roman tradition still being followed in some parts of France. We basically eat goose, duck, seafood and of course cheese. The traditional Christmas log and foie gras are special delicacies in France in Christmas.

Childhood memories

As a child it was receiving presents at night or on Christmas morning that I liked the most about Christmas. Besides the Christmas tree every family keeps a crib, and at midnight we place a figure of Jesus symbolising his birth, I still remember doing that when I was a child, which is a tradition I still follow. As for gifts I was always fascinated by military toys.

Gilles-Henry Garault, French Ambassador