Christmas: Our Way

I love Christmas, I really do. I know I should have written this post before the much anticipated big day came and went, but I was so gloriously lost in a sea of festive spirit that I didn’t find the time to put my yuletide happiness into words.

So here we are, a few days into the New Year, and I’m only just managing to pull myself together and reflect on the whirlwind that has passed. As usual, I feel that I was swept up in a cotton wool world of Christmas joy before being unceremoniously dumped in a whole new year. I’m slowly brushing myself down and pulling myself together, but that’s for a whole other blog post…

So it begins in January. Yes, January, when I scour the new year sales for all the cut price Christmas goodies that I know I’ll be really grateful for in a mere eleven months time. I’m mainly on the look out for fantastically reduced crackers and cards, but any bargain basement Christmas trinkety knick-knacks also pique my interest. Only then can I put Christmas on the back burner and move on to the requirements of the year ahead.

Imagine my horror, however, when my annual New Year pilgrimage to Debenhams ended disastrously when the sales assistant casually informed me that all their reduced Christmas crackers had been sold. Sold! Obviously in the deep recesses of Doha suburbs and compounds there are other deranged people like me who think ludicrously far ahead. So I hotfooted it over to M&S in the hope that there would be at least a few boxes of glorious crackers waiting for me. Nope. The hoards of thrifty forward planners had emptied the shelves there too. So unfortunately, this year, my mission is woefully unaccomplished and come December I’ll be paying through the nose for ridiculously overpriced bangers and plastic tat.

It’s all right Sarah. Breathe. Move on.

So of course we have Valentines Day, Easter, birthdays, family holidays and Halloween to fill the gap between yuletide festivities. But come October, I’m already keeping a beady eye open for possible Christmas gifts. At this time, I often find myself purchasing irresistible bargains that I know my kids will absolutely love. I tell myself to put a lid on my excitement and keep them for Christmas day. Unfortunately, however, no Christmas gifts I have ever bought in October or November have made it to December. I’ll find any reason to see my kids’ faces light up with the joy of my thoughtful purchases. ‘You finished dinner? Wow! That deserves a special treat!’ ‘You can’t find your socks? Don’t worry, I’ve got something that will cheer you up!’ You get the picture. I’m weak.

Two of my children have November birthdays, which usually see me up to my ears in party preparations, but once the second birthday has passed, on November 18th, that’s when the Christmas planning moves into top gear.

Of course, Christmas here in Qatar relies on a tremendous amount of drive to whip up your own festive spirit. There are no streetlights or public decorations or festive TV ads. So the few shops that actually put up a tree or two, sell Christmas goodies and play some festive tunes (thank you M&S!) really help to put a spring in your step.

On the first weekend in December, we dedicate a family day to decorating the tree and putting up our decorations. George makes mulled wine and we enjoy a roast meal followed by mince pies, to really get us in the mood. Each year, the children take turns to put the star on top of the Christmas tree. This has turned into a ceremonial affair that carries an enormous amount of pride for the star bearer, while envious siblings look on and count down the years until it’s their turn.

One of my January purchases a few years ago was a beautiful felt Christmas tree advent calendar from Pottery Barn, with large pockets waiting to be filled with treats. Every morning in December, the children gather around as we count the days until December 25th and fill our bellies with sweet delights.

During December, Christmas music blares from the kitchen speaker with shameless persistence, with Justin Bieber, Michael Buble, Rod Stewart and Mariah Carey helping to set the mood. Outside of the home, however, we have to try hard to seek out any festivities. My youngest daughter, Ivy, was singing Christmas carols in the school choir at the British Embassy this year, which helped to fill us with festive spirit, but, apart from that, yuletide shenanigans were very few and far between.

One of our Christmas traditions here has been visiting the Radisson Blu on Christmas Eve for a wonderful Christmas sing-along with the hotel choir. They give out mulled wine and mince pies, then Santa comes down in the glass lift bearing a big sack full of presents for the children. As a family, we love nothing more than belting out a few festive tunes together, feeling certain that we sound utterly delightful, so this much-anticipated event has always helped to put us on a Christmas high. This year, however, there was a directive from the authorities to all hotels warning them not to proceed with any choir events. It was disappointing, but all the more reason to look inward and place emphasis on being together as a family and generating our own happiness. And happiness there always is, in abundance…

Cosy family Christmas movies, wrapped up in blankets on the sofa, lots of Christmassy treats to eat and drink, mulled wine and mince pies with friends and Christmas craft parties with the kids, all help to put us in the mood. Of course, when my sister arrives from Dubai with my niece and nephew, it really helps to put the icing on the Christmas cake.

This is all heavily dispersed with interludes of wrapping. For hours upon hours I’m tucked away in my walk-in-wardrobe, like an efficient machine, trying to cover mountains of gifts as quickly and quietly as possible. When the last parcel is finally taped down, I begin to know what it feels like to win gold at the Olympics, scale Mount Everest or come first in a marathon. Because it’s exactly the same. Kind of.

Then comes the protocol involved in the intense build up to the big day. The night of Christmas Eve is electric with excitement and anticipation. We put together a tray for Father Christmas and his reindeer: A mince pie and a sweet tipple for the big guy and a carrot and water for his trusty steeds. Then, in our Christmas onesies, we trail up to the roof, where he usually lands, and set it down for them. A bit of star gazing always ensues, when we try to spot him in the night sky. We thought we might have sighted his sleigh this year but, alas, as it came closer it turned out to be nothing more than an aeroplane twinkling in the darkness.

For once, everyone is desperate to go to bed and get to sleep so that they don’t risk missing out on a visit from Santa, and pretty soon, all the stockings are laid at the bottom of the beds and the children drift off with glorious, heart-melting smiles on their faces.

I then rush around like a maniac, laying the Christmas table and putting the last minute touches on everything before I, too, can rest my weary but immeasurably happy head.

On Christmas morning we’re invariably woken at some unearthly hour by excited squeals and the sound of wrapping paper being ripped up. I’m sure Santa would feel ever so slightly bereft if he saw his meticulous wrapping, which must have taken many hours to complete, unceremoniously torn apart in a matter of minutes. But hey-ho.

There’s always an undeniable sense of magic in the air and everyone’s riding on a delirious high. The children are thrilled with their gifts and my husband and I delight in their wonder and happiness. It always touches me how all our kids want us to watch them open their presents and call out for us to share the joy. Then we follow a trail of glitter that Santa always leaves in our house, from the bedrooms back up to the roof, and we collect the tray of offerings, which seems to have been eagerly consumed, with only a chewed up carrot stump left.

After breakfast we shower, primp and preen ourselves ready for the day to roll out before us in the traditional way. George opens a bottle of bubbly so we can enjoy champagne and pineapple juice around the tree (with lemonade for the kids, which is a rare treat in our house!) and I arrange a few platters of savoury crackers for us to snack on. This year my sister, Emily, brought a range of mouth-wateringly delicious homemade vegan cheese from Dubai, which were divine.

As we fight to choose prime positions on the sofas, the youngest child chooses one of the gifts from under the tree and hands it to the elated recipient. We all take time to watch the gift being unwrapped before the next youngest child chooses another gift for someone else. And so the day the day continues in this way, until, many hours later, every last gift has been torn open and the tree seems shockingly naked.

For some reason, it’s become tradition in our family for George to cook Christmas lunch. He seems to take great pride in whipping up a festive feast for everyone to enjoy, and we all absolutely love it. I say lunch, but it’s usually very late in the afternoon or early in the evening when we get to finally sit around the table and enjoy our family meal. We cross arms and pull our crackers together, before stuffing our faces, sharing our cracker jokes and playing after dinner games. It’s brilliant. I always end up reflecting on the scene and counting my abundant blessings. I have a wonderful family who mean the world to me and nothing beats these magical moments spent with them.

I still get a thrill from going to bed on Christmas day in my crisp, new pyjamas, soaking up the smell of a new book whose pages I lovingly caress and enjoying bedtime chocolate treats.

On Boxing Day, we enjoy another meal around the dining room table with all the sumptuous leftovers, pulling more crackers and sharing more fun, before watching new movies or absorbing ourselves in the wonder of new toys and gadgets. By the time the 28th comes along, we’re all ready to blow away the cobwebs with a brisk walk out in nature. So, after another family meal, where we pull yet more crackers (do you see now how many crackers we get through?!) and tuck into a savoury feast packed full of rare and delicious food treats, we head into the great outdoors. This year, we went to Al-Shahaniya stables where we jumped over streams, climbed trees and strolled through parsley fields. It’s sounds unreal for a desert country, but its truly a little oasis in the desert and we can’t get enough of it.

Thankfully, the post-Christmas lull is tempered by Ruby’s birthday on 30th December and anticipation for New Year’s Eve, so it’s still a lively and exciting time in our household.

So that’s it. A host of time honoured traditions that have strengthened through the years and firmly shaped Christmas in the Tavola house. I do feel that as much as we need spontaneity in life, it’s also familiarity and consistency like this that helps to give the children solid foundations and a grounding sense of stability. This is especially true for families like ours, that aren’t living in their home countries, to show that, whatever else may change in life, our traditions and togetherness as a unit will remain constant.

Most of all, I just adore spending quality time with all these people who rule my heart. Being surrounded by their joy and light is truly uplifting and is the best Christmas gift I could possibly wish for.

Now if anyone in Doha could tell me where they’re still selling heavily reduced Christmas crackers in the New Year sales I’d be eternally grateful….