As a self proclaimed 'Christmas tragic', it is my responsibility each year to ensure our family have ALL the necessary Christmas trimmings here in Bangalore. Now, while living in India, there is added pressure to have it all at home, as you don't see very much festive cheer in the malls, restaurants or shops. So, the house is always decorated early and stays up as long as I can stretch it out for. However, finding everything you need can be somewhat of a challenge.
We need to be super organised when it comes to presents and usually try to get things delivered to our fabulous friend in Hong Kong who collects them all for us. We have managed to visit HK the last 2 years running which allows for a fun weekend but also a great shopping trip !! Of course, things have improved greatly with international shipping with many shops, Amazon and Flipkart here in India, but it is often fraught with danger with things getting stuck in Customs for months and then having to pay extra duty to get them out….... We still have one Christmas parcel stuck in customs - it may end up being a good Easter gift !!
Next on the list is food…….. I start planning Christmas when I am home in Australia in July. iu have to remember to bring the dried fruit back for the cake and pudding, the Bunderberg rum, the extra crackers, the list goes on. Again, the trip to Hong Kong allows me to pre-arrange an order with my old butcher to bring back a fabulous Australian ham and a delicious Danish Pork Roast. We then spent a fun hour or so in the supermarket in Kowloon stocking up on other goodies like cheese, crackers, bagels, stocking stuffers, some cherries, limes, and even some delicious cereal. Not a chilli in sight !! We went with empty suitcases and filled them up very very quickly. Of course, one of the first purchases in India was a chest freezer to ensure we had space for all of the above…….
The boys and I spend the weekends leading up to Christmas baking, decorating and wrapping presents. I try to have carols on as much as possible, but the boys tend to take over the music options these days :( This has been our 7th Christmas away from Australia, and we have made our own traditions and are now quite used to it just being the four of us. Not sure how the boys will go when we have to share it again and work by someone else's timeline and food options !!!
Christmas as an expat, does require a lot of preparation, and there are no quick last minute dashes to the supermarket for things you may have forgotten but we manage to make it a fun and festive day and we hope you all had a lovely Christmas day with family and friends. x
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| Max's Peppermint Mocha Cookies |
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| Santa has arrived !! |
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| this is how you should always start Christmas Day |
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| mmmmmmm, HAM !!!! |
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| A touch of India at Christmas |
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| WOW - that will last a few days….. and it did !! |
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| Those Christmas smiles |
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| everything they wanted !! |
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| An annual family shot |
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| An afternoon game of boules |
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| and then on to Yahtzee ! |
Wow, good on you for being so organised. As expats we have had Christmases all over the world, some more successful than others - Finland, China, Thailand, UAE. We haven't been back to Australia once in 13 years for Christmas. It is hard making your own traditions elsewhere and yes, does take planning. My girls have both moved back to Australia last year and had their first Christmas with family since they were little - we didn't get there :( unfortunately. It was a different Christmas for them being with all the cousins and extended family and us just being the two of us this year. We need better planning next year to ensure we are all together again.
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