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.