Tell me about your overseas Christmas

[CeciliaMcFlange]

I'd like to hear how global MNs are spending Christmas, where will you be? What will you eat? Who will be there? Who will you miss?

I'm in South Australia, in a small town in the Adelaide Hills, it will be 35 degrees and we'll have lunch with my husbands family. We all bring something for the lunch, I'll do salads and dessert - probably a choc cheesecake for the kids and thinking about Prosecco Jelly with Aperol Granita for the grown ups.

We eat outside, the kids play and much wine will be drunk (dh in the wine biz). Hopefully the local Koala will make an appearance. Then off to friends for the evening where the kids can swim. After 15 years of living here I am now used to, and love, a hot Christmas.

However, all my family are in the UK, I will miss them horribly. Would love to be home for a cold Christmas one year and my children are desperate to be somewhere snowy!

I’m in the UK, but that’s “overseas” for me. It’s wet but not that cold. I will duly go to my in-laws and eat my Brussels sprouts, because that’s apparently what is done here! It will be a quiet Christmas as there will only be the four of us.

I’m in Tropical North Queensland. It’s our first Christmas in Oz and luckily DH is off for the day (nurse).
We’re going to the beach to watch the sunrise then to friends for dinner. We don’t have DC so it’ll be fun to spend some time with theirs.
Evening time we’ll head home, open a bottle of vino and FaceTime all the relatives at home.

Where are you from Kescilly? Will you get time to speak with your family & friends?

@CeciliaMcFlange I’m from the US but my immediate family doesn’t celebrate Christmas. I’ve already missed the two big holidays with them and couldn’t really call for complicated reasons.

So in some ways it’s easier, I’ve already gotten past the worst of the loneliness. I do miss celebrating Christmas with friends though, and all the cold and snow and the American traditions I had.

We’re up in Bay of Islands NZ. We’ll open presents in the morning, head out to the beach and bbq, home for a traditional dinner and tuck into cocktails in the evening.

Posting just outta nosiness.

Alternative cultures fascinate me.

I'm living in U.K. Now but I've lived in other European countries but we did Christmas the same because was there as army dependent so not integrated into the local community fully, though had friends/neighbours who did things differently and we'd discuss the differences, also discussed with wives who were locals who'd married army chaps.

The reactions to things we consider completely normal were sometimes hilarious! But equally I'm sure our reactions to the norm in whichever country's traditions we were living in were the cause of much amusement too!

Christmas crackers in particular tended to produce type faces!

But I've found even within same country people all do things slightly differently. I've noticed that within other countries too.

I love all the differences in the traditions and the history of them.

We're in a small village in the middle of the Prairie in Canada, near the Rockies. We're spending Christmas Eve with friends and will be partying with all the kids playing in the basement and all the adults hanging out upstairs. Then Christmas Day is just us, we will stay in pjs, watch Christmas movies and open presents. We are having local rib of beef for lunch (from the ranch 3 miles down the road). Then in the afternoon we will walk the dog on the prairie and then back into pjs. Boxing Day we are hoping to go skiing and then the day after is more time with friends. We miss family in the Uk but we talk on skype and this is too big an adventure to miss out on

Do you have snow ThePoliticiansPraiseMyName? We have Canadian Cousins in Toronto and were hugely impressed that they chose their house with a very flat garden so they could fill it with water in the winter and have their own Ice Rink . (They're big ice-hockey players).

We only have a little snow just now but considering that last year it snowed heavily at this time of year then never left until mid April I'm quite happy about that! There is snow on the slopes an hour away so that is good enough for me

Cecilia I am also in a small town in the Adelaide hills! But I will be working all day (probably followed by the beach near work and a drop in to drink gin with my friend on the way home)

We're in Texas, weather should be 22C, will be cooking standing rib of beef for 11 (friends coming round for lunch) with a British touch of Yorkshire puds and roast potatoes with Christmas pudding for dessert (also a chocolate lime cheesecake). We'll open stockings early, then presents, maybe go for a walk etc. Not too different from the UK although we normally BBQ on Christmas Day (lobster tails and steak)....

Before Texas, we lived in Singapore and always went out for a huge Christmas lunch with buckets of champagne at a posh hotel, followed by laying in the swimming pool for the rest of the day.....

I am in China so it's a normal working day - although dh has taken a day's holiday. We wil be at home, play games and cards and then out for an evening meal at local restaurant.
No stress,no need to stock up on food as everything is open - I love it!

We are in Chicago. No snow this year 😞
But we have family staying and we are looking forward to showing them the city.
We have saved a turkey from thanksgiving and made our own mincemeat. So it will all be quite traditional UK. We will take them out for hotdogs though later in the week.

Also in South Australia. Hate hot Chrismases. Haven't felt at all Chrismassy in the 13yrs I have lived here. We spent a Christmas back in the UK a few years after we came here, and it's everything I remembered it to be, and I miss it like crazy!

We are staying at home and dh will cook a Turkey on the Weber. Probably have the full roast as dh likes it. Kids will cool off in the pool later in the day.

In North America here and we have snow so we have a lovely meal inside and then outside for some sledding. We dress up pretty warm otherwise I don’t last long outside as it gets very cold. I personally enjoy sitting by the fire eating and drinking while the white stuff keeps dropping outside. It’s beautiful and just like all those YouTube clips of snow falling from the sky all day.

We are in Melbourne, first Christmas away from home though when visiting DHs family from the UK we flew back on the 23rd a few times.

It is really unchristmassy and I have never felt less festive despite best efforts. We will go to his Dad and Step Mums for Christmas lunch, were meant to fly to his Mum and Step Dads in Canberra this weekend but couldn’t as DD has an ear infection 😬

Has been a horrible year and wish we were in the Uk as my sister is ill with cancer. Doing my best to make new traditions like pancakes on Christmas morning and maybe going to the beach but honestly can’t believe we are two sleeps away. Think it’s all about planning fauxmas in July!

It's our first Christmas in Australia, we moved in August. I'm also in a small village in the Adelaide Hills (I LOVE it here), it's a small world! I've just done all the last shopping today, at the farmers markets and supermarket, kids are playing in the paddling pool as it's pretty hot just now and I'm having a cool drink and starting to plan everything. We're off work as of 5ish tonight, and planning a quiet but fun family Christmas, lots of food, booze, sun and paddling pool, and feeling very thankful we got a house with air con! Boxing Day we are planning to head to the beach with a huge picnic and play there all day.

It's novel having the whole day to ourselves (apart from lots of FaceTiming family of corse), and having such beautiful weather forecast! We're really looking forward to it.

Merry Christmas all!

Oh Cecilia and MrBob I know it's totally out of season but any idea where I can get Brussels sprouts? DH has specifically requested them and so far I've let him down...

We’re about an hour outside Newcastle in NSW, Australia and it’s our 10th Christmas here.

We’ll be celebrating with the in-laws (FIL, MIL and BIL) as our house if the biggest and has the best aircon. I’ve decided this year to have a sit down English style Christmas lunch with a few Aussie touches (prawns and pavlova).

MIL has her family traditions that she spent years trying to ram down my throat but this year it’s my house, my kids, my rules.

We’ll spend the entire day trying to manage BILs dog, our dogs and our rabbits while plying MIL with alcohol so she doesn’t complain too much about he fact she’s not hosting (she’s not really that awful but she’s much easier to deal with after a few drinks).

Then once everyone has gone home I get to stay up very late to call my parents and speak to my brother for our annual chat.

Even after all these years I can’t get my head around having to deal with aircon, bags of ice and sunscreen.

We are in Perth WA and its going to be 34 deg on Christmas Day, We are getting up and doing presents and a big fry with Irish bacon, sausage and pudding. Then we spend the morning on the beach then home for a proper christmas dinner. We will just chill out for the rest of the day and skype all our family at home.
I love a hot christmas but would love my boys to experience a proper Irish christmas now that they are getting older.

I spent a number of Christmases in Bangkok with my parents and it was always a bit odd. It was super commercial and Americanised with the ex-pat community.

We once ordered a ready cooked turkey to be delivered for Christmas dinner from one of the hotels and it was caked in Star anise and coriander. It was bizarre.

Ohhh! And there was also the time the made wanted to help cook "Christmas Food" and used brandy butter instead of normal butter. Everything tasted bizarre.

Random question

Are Brussels sprouts only really considered a Christmas veg in the Uk?

I'm South Island NZ at the moment. It should be pretty hot here on Christmas Day.
DP is working all day so I'll pop to a friends at lunch time. They are hosting an 'orphan' Christmas but I only know one person. Hopefully everyone will be nice!
If DP finishes early enough we will head to the lake for a swim and a sundowner.

I don't feel particularly festive! I prefer winter Christmas's for sure

I'm in Melbourne and having a Christmas breakfast at a friend's house with DD, their children of much the same age (20s). It's weirdly at 11.00., so is it really brunch and I've been asked to bring rocket from my veggie patch. Naturally DD and I will have already unwrapped pressies at home beforehand. It will be 26, lovely temperature, so down to the sea with the dog in the afternoon.

It's my first Christmas without overseas visitors since DH died, so different, as DD will be off doing her own thing after the "breakfast".