Christmas in Dubai: part 1

It may not be Oxford Street, London or Times Square, NY, but here and there you will find festive touches around Dubai that will remind you that we are now days away from Christmas. Being from the Southern hemisphere the fact that it isn’t snowing hasn’t made it feel less festive, we are used to summer Christmases spent swimming and braai-ing so the blue and cloud-less sky hasn’t felt any different for us, although there is a slight chill in the air now dusk and dawn which is most unexpected. Yes, temperatures have been as low as 15 some mornings on our way to the gym, which doesn’t sound that bad until you remember that a few months back we were hitting highs of 50+.  Yes, I have even decided to buy some slippers as my toes are cold. But I digress. Due to the sizeable number of Christian expats living here, estimated to be 316,000* people over 19 denominations out of a total population of 4.3m**, 3.7m of which are foreigners, stores are carrying a good range of yuletide rubbish, from your traditional (Christmas trees and stockings) to the absurd (blow-up snowmen), which should help with getting you into the xmas mood.  Christmas day itself is not a holiday here, although my company does give us the day off, whilst Stu’s doesn’t.

Dubai being Dubai there is, of course, no shortage of holiday season food on offer, from Christmas day buffet lunches at most of the swanky hotels, which include champagne in some cases, to festive mr-delivery type offers (no I am not joking you really CAN get turkey as take out). Is it just me or is that really sad? Instead of spending a small fortune on an average meal somewhere we have invited some friends who are still in town to join us at home to share Christmas day lunch with us. Stu will be doing an organic chicken (or two) on the trusty Weber, along with a lamb roast, and some veggies. I have put the tree up in an attempt to get into the swing of things, and we have bought crackers, holiday napkins and sparkling lights for the occasion. We are even doing a “secret santa” thingie as well, each person will get a small gift from an unknown lunch companion to open on the day, at least that will make it feel like Christmas too!

I will let you know how it all went in part 2, but until then I wish you all a wonderful holiday season and a very merry Christmas.

p.s. I know that I have probably missed something interesting, so if there is something specific you would like to know (Fio) then please comment! ☺

*This clearly doesn’t count people like us who don’t actually attend a church but still celebrate the religious/traditional holidays
** Source: World Christian Database and US State Department.